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This dissertation is about how an organisation can get 'stuck' in an unresourceful state. It is based on research that focused on an organisation delivering important public services, including housing, education and public safety. The organisation's clientele covers all groups in the local region including the most vulnerable and those most at risk. Underperformance by such an organisation is of great significance to those who rely on its services. The main aim of the research was to explore the nature of the organisation's apparent inability to escape this state. The research comprised a single case study with 50 research interviews with people working in the organisation. On average, each interview lasted an hour. A feature of the methodology was an approach to interviewing most commonly used for therapeutic purposes in 'neurolinguistic programming'; this approach enabled critical questioning within the interviews. The research found that employees felt helpless to change the situation yet were able to maintain their self-esteem intact; moreover this state was being transferred to new employees. The main outcome of the research was the development of a model embodying a particular form of learned helplessness that is applicable to whole organisations. The model explains the persistence of 'group-helplessness' over time.

This study examines the relationship between managerial leadership, organisational culture and job satisfaction in organisations. The first section of the study examines three leadershipb ehavioursw hich are visionary, communicativea nd team-oriented leadershipb ehavioursT. he seconds ectiono f the study examinesfo ur dimensionso f organisationacl ulture. Thesed imensionsa re task vs. peopleo rientedc ultures,o pen vs. closed communication system cultures, tight vs. loose control system cultures and individual vs. collective cultures. This research benefits from the combination of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. The sample of the study is selected from six commercial banks that provide retail banking services in Wales. The unit of analysis for this research is bank branch mangers. The first proposition of the study examines the relation between visionary, communicative and team- oriented leadership and task vs. people oriented cultures, open vs. closed communication system cultures, tight vs. loose control system cultures and individual vs. collective cultures. The correlation analysis between managerial leadership behaviours and organisational culture dimensions shows strong and significant relation in certain organisational aspects and negative relationship in other aspects. The correlation analysis between organisational culture and job satisfaction shows strong positive significance in certain dimensions like the correlation between individual vs. collectivec ulturesa ndj ob satisfactiond imensions.

This thesis explores the issue of why female managers’ commitment is so often reported as being less of that of males, despite research evidence that there is no gender difference in levels of commitment. No previous research was found which reported managerial meanings of “commitment”, usually conceptualised with an affective component resulting in loyalty and effort, and a continuance component, the desire to stay in an organisation. Meanings of “commitment” in three major engineering companies were elicited through interviews with 37 engineering managers in the UK and Sweden. The sample included sixteen male/female pairs matched on age, qualifications and job position, from top, middle and junior levels of management. The meanings important to managers were the manifested behaviours of commitment at work. The most common of the 36 elicited meanings were task delivery, putting yourself out, involvement, and quality. Overall, male meanings were more similar to top managers’ meanings than female meanings. Top women’s meanings were similar to those of top men, sharing meanings of being proactive/using initiative, being ready for challenge, being creative/innovative, and being business aware. More women overall gave meanings oriented towards the organisation, particularly good citizen behaviours, which would be less visible to managers, whilst more men overall gave meanings, benefiting themselves as well as the organisation, which were very active and highly visible. Five types of commitment meanings were identified: Virtuous, Volunteer, Virtuoso, Vanguard and Gender-Shared. In a later questionnaire, the sample were asked to rate the importance of their 36 meanings of commitment in terms of their own view and their perceived view of how their organisation would rate them. Through gaps between individual and perceived organisational ratings, tensions were identified and mapped, providing a guide for an indepth analysis of meanings with the greatest tensions, particularly on hours over the norm perceived to be valued more by the organisation, and on getting balance, enjoying work, thinking of oneself as well as the organisation, and being people-concerned. Interviewees at all levels indicated the importance of getting work/nonwork balance, most rejecting the notion of commitment meaning working additional hours. Attitudes to managers seeking maternity/paternity leave were reported. Through the Swedish comparison, a trend was identified that where most male managers take extended paternity leave, the issue which is seen as a woman’s individual problem in the UK becomes an organisational planning issue in Sweden. Thus, perceived lesser commitment is transformed into less unplanned availability for a short period. The process of commitment assessment has also been explored and a number of dimensions drawn out, particularly the tacit nature of the evidence, the subjectivity of assessment, and the manager’s susceptibility to influence. These affect the way in which commitment behaviours are interpreted by the manager, as both males and females use impression management strategies to demonstrate their commitment. The contribution of this thesis is to the commitment field, in identifying managers’ meanings of commitment, and to the women in management field, where evidence is presented of the differences in male and female meanings of commitment, and the importance of visibility of commitment to managers. As women’s meanings are less visible than those of men in this sample, this suggests an explanation of why women’s commitment is still challenged.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the antecedents and consequences of commitment in the developing nation of Qatar. Specifically, the influence of personal variables, job characteristics, organizational characteristics, and facets of job satisfaction of employees were investigated in relation to affective, continuance, and normative commitment. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data from a random sample of 780 employees from government, public, and private sector companies and completed questionnaires were received from 544 employees representing a response rate of 69.7%. Research data were tested using Pearson's correlation, Analysis of variance, and T-Tests. Statistically significant relationships were found between affective/normative commitment and almost all of the personal characteristics. However, only two demographic variables were statistically related to continuance commitment. Results indicated that employees with a high level of education, who were male, married with dependents, with long tenure and contract employment, reported higher levels of commitment than others. Interestingly, non Qatari employees showed higher levels of commitment than Qatari employees. Relationships between job and organizational characteristics and components of organizational commitment were found to be significant, although the relationships were only weak to moderate. Generally, the results indicated that the lack of equity, inefficient personal growth, lack of job security, lack of autonomy, lack of task identity, and insufficient feedback on performance were stated as possible reasons for low commitment in this study. Relationships were also found between job satisfaction variables and affective and normative commitment. However, relationships between continuance commitment and job satisfaction variables were weak. Regarding consequences of OC, the research found that increasing organizational commitment among employees led to lower turnover intentions and more acceptance of organizational changes.

It is evident that empowerment is in widespread use as a management tool in international organisations. A comprehensive literature review identified that empowerment exists as two distinct constructs: relational empowerment and psychological empowerment. Building on this delineation, existing literature was used to develop a conceptual model of the antecedents and consequences of the two empowerment constructs. Furthermore, the impact of national culture was considered, resulting in a set of testable hypotheses concerning the cross-cultural differences in the relationships between empowerment and its antecedents and consequences. A quantitative study was undertaken to test the hypothesised conceptual model. Data were collected from India and the UK, via drop-off self-administered surveys from front-line employees of both an indigenous and multinational bank in the two cultures, achieving a total of 626 fully usable responses across the four samples. Rigorous scale development for all samples was undertaken and measurement invariance examined. Following this, the conceptual model was tested using latent variable path analysis. The results for the model were both encouraging and surprising. Similar results regarding the effects of relational empowerment and psychological empowerment were found across the two cultures. However, an examination of the antecedents to relational empowerment produced significantly different results across the cultures. Relational empowerment was found to have higher practical value as it had a significant positive effect on employee job satisfaction levels across both cultures.

Nous développons une problématique particulière basée sur l'articulation de quatre grandes dimensions : l'analyse des conflits en termes de processus d'escalade, les phénomènes psychosociologiques de communication interpersonnelle et de positionnement dans la relation (Ecole de Palo-Alto), les dimensions culturelles et enfin les trajectoires individuelles notamment en termes d'habitus au sens de Bourdieu et développé par Lahire. Celui-ci est appliqué à l'étude de trois cas de conflits, dans un centre social en France, une université au Canada et un organisme culturel en Russie. Le conflit commence au sein de relations interpersonnelles par des positionnements relationnels incongruents au sens de l’Ecole de Palo-Alto (disjonctions relationnelles). De nombreux processus « classiques » en psychosociologie se combinent : construction d’identité sociale intergroupe, facilitation sociale, polarisation, illusion groupale (group thinking), et autres. Nous analysons sur ces cas comment ces processus catalysent le conflit interpersonnel pour aboutir ou non à une socialisation du conflit. Les analyses montrent comment les aspects proprement individuels et interpersonnels, de par les positionnements relatifs des personnes et au premier chef d'entre elles des phénomènes de communication, créent des escalades conflictuelles. Une analyse en termes de stratégies d’acteurs se révèle alors insuffisante pour comprendre les dynamiques de conflit. L’ensemble des processus, dans un « complexe de situation », débouchent sur une dynamique de conflit dans lequel au final tous les partenaires sont perdants. Les analyses de cas soulignent que les facteurs contextuels (habitus, champs, cultures, dont les cultures nationales, etc.) ne sont pas déterminants, ils sont actants via leur internalisation dans les comportements des personnes dans la situation actuelle. / We develop an approach based on articulation of four main dimensions: the analysis of conflicts in terms of process of escalation; the psychosociological phenomena of interpersonal communication and positioning in the relation (Palo-Alto School); the cultural dimensions; and the individual trajectories in particular in terms of habitus in the meaning of Bourdieu and as developed by Lahire. Our global theoretical model is applied to three case studies of conflicts in a community center in France, a Canadian university and a cultural institution in Russia. The conflict begins within interpersonal relations with relational incongruent positioning in the meaning of the Palo-Alto school (Relational disjunctions). Numerous "classic" psychosociological processes are also combined: construction of intergroups social identity, social facilitation, polarization, group thinking. This analysis shows how the individual and interpersonal aspects, due to the interacting positionings of people, eventually result in conflict escalation. These cases illustrate how relational interlinks and psychosociological processes at the individual as well at the interpersonal levels turn to be out of control of implied people. An analysis in terms of actors' strategies then appears insufficient to understand the conflict dynamics. All these processes, constructing a "complex of situation", results in a social conflict in which finally all protagonists are losers. The cases analysis underline that contextual factors (Habitus, fields, cultures, including national cultures, and so on) are not determinant; they are "acting" through their internalization in people’s behavior in the present situation.

L’objectif de cette recherche est d’identifier les comportements dysfonctionnels dans les équipes de travail ainsi que d’analyser les causes de leur émergence dans un contexte tunisien. Sachant que très peu d’études sur ce sujet ont été menées dans ce contexte, une recherche qualitative exploratoire s’est avérée pertinente. Outre les facteurs individuels, organisationnels, les caractéristiques de l’équipe, les résultats de notre enquête menée auprès des membres et des managers des équipes de travail montre que l’intégration de données contextuelles en lien avec l’effet sociétal du pays permet une meilleure compréhension des comportements dysfonctionnels ainsi que des lectures plus riches et plus explicatives du phénomène. / The objective of this research is to identify dysfunctional behaviors inside teamwork. Il also tries to analyse the cause of their rise within a Tunisian context. Knowing that only few studies on such a theme have been led within this particular context, a qualitative and investigate research has proved to be relevant. In addition to individual, organizational factors, teamwork features, results of fields enquiry (which were led on members and team managers) show that the integration of contextual data related to the societal effect of the country in analyzing dysfunctional behaviors, renders a better understanding of these pejorative acts as well as deeper, more substantial, and more illuminating readings of this phenomenon.

This study investigated the relationship between employees’ perceptions of justice and work attitudes in relation to organisational structure in selected commercial banks in Jordan. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were employed. Data obtained from 308 participants of the questionnaires and 18 interviewees from ten commercial banks in Jordan suggested centralisation played a minor role in employees’ perceptions of justice and work related attitudes. Participation in decision making was not shown to shape employees’ perceptions of justice and work attitudes. Centralising authority related to performing employees’ own tasks (hierarchy of authority) increased employees’ perceptions of interactional justice and job satisfaction. Formalisation and standardisation accounted for greater perceptions of justice and higher levels of satisfaction with jobs and organisational commitment. Employees’ perceptions of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice increased the employees’ job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Irrespective of gender, tenure and age, employees perceived justice similarly. Managers, compared to subordinates, perceived higher levels of procedural and distributive justice. Employees from branches, compared to those from headquarters, reported greater perceptions of justice. The study showed that the more uncertain employees are and the more they seek to avoid ambiguous situations, the stronger the relationships among organisational structure, perceptions of justice, and work-related attitudes. Many of the conditions and reasons, whereby the effects of structural dimensions on perceptions of justice and work related attitudes were more possible, were identified. Similarly, many of the conditions whereby the effects of perceptions of justice on work attitudes were more possible were also identified. Among these conditions were uncertainty avoidance culture, risk avoidance, trust in managers, perceived bank support, and perceived managers’ support