This qualitative study has aimed to develop an understanding of leadership in the airline industry, and particularly to understand the role of organizational context in influencing the emergence of different styles of leadership in the airline industry. Interviews were conducted with 48 senior and operational managers drawn from four American regional passenger airlines. The participating managers described their own perspectives on leadership as well as their own practises. The data showed that while airlines are not held to be receptive contexts for transactional leadership, transactional leadership is more prevalent within the airline industry than the extant literature suggests.

A new formulation of structural adjustment is presented that stresses the institutionalisation of stakeholders' priorities, policy credibility, equity of impact during implementation, and the continuous renewal of national competitive advantage as major strategic objectives of corporate and national governance. This orientation dispenses with the conventional practice of applying a single orthodoxy to all settings, replacing it with a framework that incorporates the policy priorities of key in-country stakeholders together with other important social, economic, and political idiosyncrasies of a particular setting. A stakeholder-determined, context-dependent framework is used to analyse a case study involving the efficacy of efforts at improving macroeconomic management in Jamaica under a multi-year structural and sectoral adjustment programme. The result is an approach that offers the promise of connecting micro-level economic activity with macro-level performance as part of a wider strategic change management process.

The concept of sustainability has become of major relevance in management literature and business education. It has crossed the boundaries of corporate social responsibility towards new perspectives that stress the necessity of a more holistic approach to entrepreneurial value creation. Although the field of sustainability entrepreneurship has advanced in proving a definition and description of its phenomenon, current literature has so far been unable to capture and explain, both conceptually and empirically, how and why particular individuals decide to pursue opportunities with social and environmental components concurrent with pursuing economic viability. This study tackles this challenge by examining the complex set of conditions that produce the different components of this particular opportunity development process, comprising the development of venture ideas, the organization of entrepreneurial actions and the formation of exchange relationships. Based on an inductive Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis of the opportunity process of 45 sustainable ventures, this study explores 13 different potential conditions for the above outcomes, upon which it identifies necessary conditions and sufficient configurations of conditions that lead to the integration of sustainability in the different stages of the opportunity process. The study provides refined knowledge and theoretical language on complex causation that facilitate the explanation of how this process unfolds based on the logic of necessity and sufficiency. It makes a broader contribution to both theorizing and research design in the study of entrepreneurial processes and outcomes by presenting a systematic and configurational view of entrepreneurial efforts and offering a basis for understanding the integration of sustainability in the development of venture opportunities.

This study examines the impact of transactional and transformational leadership on organizational commitment as well as the mediating role of organizational justice. In today's workplace, increasing the perception of fairness amongst employees has numerous organizational benefits. What constitutes effective leadership has been widely debated. Contemporary research on employee perceptions of leadership style has revealed that these perceptions have a large impact on organizational outcomes. Leaders can positively influence such perceptions within organizations and thereby benefit organizational performance. For instance, greater organizational commitment, higher job satisfaction can result from application of appropriate leadership behaviours. To refine the scope of this study, transactional and transformational leadership are examined in relationship to perceptions of organizational justice. This study focuses especially on aspects of transformational leadership and its impact on organizational culture and behaviour within organizations in Syria. Few such studies have been undertaken so far in the Middle East and much can be learnt from extending organizational studies to non-western societies. Information was collected from 502 employees who worked in six organizations in Syria. Transactional and transformational leadership were singled out for analysis in order to assess their impact on organizational outcomes in relation to their subordinates. Two measures of organizational outcomes were selected for this study, namely job satisfaction and organizational commitment. One of the main goals of this research is developing testable hypotheses around research questions, and developing an empirically testable model linking transactional and transformational leadership through the possible mediating influences of organizational justice to individual attitudes and behaviours, specifically job satisfaction and organizational commitment. In the course of the research, four models were tested to indicate the best model that would most accurately reflect the relationship between leadership and organizational outcomes to be found in the Syrian context. Results, based on the analysis indicate that in the most validated model for the relationship between leadership and organizational commitment in the Syrian context. Transformational leadership has both direct and indirect effects on organizational commitment through interactional justice. Transformational leadership has an impact on job satisfaction through procedural and interactional justice as intermediate variable, while transactional leadership has an impact on job satisfaction through distributive justice as intermediate variable. The three types of organizational justice have an impact on organizational commitment through job satisfaction as an intermediate variable. This research tested fourteen hypotheses in order to answer the research questions. The primary research question for this study is the impact of leadership style, whether transformational or transactional, on organizational outcomes such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment within the Syrian context. A subsidiary research question concerns the role of organizational justice as an intermediate variable between leadership style and organizational outcomes. In addition, eighteen interviews were conducted to add weight to the findings from the survey results. Hence, the methodology used in the research combined both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Further research would be required to show how widely such findings on leadership are applicable, both in the Syrian context and elsewhere, but the effects of transactional and transformational leadership style on fairness perceptions in organizations deserve consideration. Another point of interest and further investigation is to assess the role of organizational justice in mediating the impact of transactional and transformational leadership on organizational outcomes.

Recent contributions to the literature on organisations have emphasised the need for constant adaptation to keep pace with the accelerating rate of environmental change. The learning organisation is proposed as one of the most effective means of achieving succesful adaptation through a central focus on learning. This thesis examines the development of the .ideas which have led to the concept of the learning organisation and the application of this concept to the management of change. A number of reasons are proposed for the current adoption of learning organisation theory, these include the restructuring and downsizing of organisations, new Human Resource Management practices, improved understanding of learning and systems thinking. Organisational change is examined in relation to learning and a number of models of change management are considered. Different approaches to the evaluation of change are also discussed and some examples outlined. Some of the elements which comprise a learning organisation are described and the relationships between these indicated. The project aimed to apply learning organisation theory to the management of change by studying firms which were intending to become learning organisations. A generic model was constructed and used to form the basis of a specially designed diagnostic instrument for the measurement of learning organisation characteristics. This took the form of a questionnaire called the Learning Organisation Research Inventory (LORI). Data were collected from two large organisations in the engineering sector via administration of the questionnaire and interviews with employees. Analysis of the quantitative data was based on nine conceptual categories derived from the literature. Factor analysis was carried out on the second data set but this failed to provide a satisfactory classification. It was proposed that further factor analysis be conducted on a larger sample. The results of the study indicated that the generic model was probably inappropriate; there were factors specific to the engineering sector and to these particular companies which probably influenced the success of learning initiatives and indicated the need for a sector-specific model. Neither organisation could be said to be a learning organisation and it did not prove possible to identify the components of such organisations. However, the lack of certain characteristics in these organisations appeared to have acted as barriers to learning. It was proposed that a learning orientation might be a more useful perspective than a learning organisation and may perhaps be easier to achieve. A new model of a learning orientation was developed from the research; it is suggested that, subject to further testing, this might form the basis for future studies of this type.

This study presents a conceptual framework for a constitutive view of risk communication in organisations managing high-risk processes. Over the last decades, multiple incidents in these types of organisations indicate that the mere communication of risk information and safety procedures does not necessarily lead to risk aversive attitudes. Therefore, it might suggest that the traditional transfer of information is not fulfilling its aim, namely to keep the organisation safe. This doctoral thesis proposes a form of constitutive communication that involves all organisational members in an open safety dialogue as an alternative to this informational approach of communication. As such, it offers a way of taking into account the interpretive, subjective aspects of communication and shows how they interweave with formal communication structures to create the possibility of ongoing safe operations. An on-shore gas-receiving terminal on the European continent was the subject for two empirical research studies. Based on multiple methods, including qualitative interviews, ethnographic data analysis, repertory grid-based interviews, and social network analysis, this study indicates how a constitutive dialogue that creates a common mindset concerning safe operations among all staff can be installed and supported. Furthermore, it demonstrates how despite the fact that every individual in this organisation has different perceptions of the present risks, constitutive risk communication leads to coordinated safe behaviour. These findings offer new perspectives on the solution-oriented knowledge about the relationship between risk communication and risk savvy in organisations managing high-risk processes. The theoretical background to this phenomenon was supported by a literature review in the field of risk communication and risk perception in organisations managing complex interactive and tightly coupled processes. These findings, together with those of the empirical research projects, were compared with insights in the theoretical fields of High-Reliability Organisations (HRO) and Communication Constitutes Organisations (CCO), and result in a conceptual framework for a constitutive view on risk communication in organisations managing high-risk processes. This research offers a number of theoretical and practical contributions to the field of HROs, the field of CCO research. It not only confirms key insights into these theoretical fields, it is also the first study that links the use of CCO to organisations managing high-risk technologies.

This study concerns facilitating organisational capability for outsourcing innovation, enabling firms to take advantage of its many benefits, (e.g., reduced costs, increased flexibility, access to better expertise and increased business focus), whilst mitigating its risks. Its purpose is to develop a generic holistic model to aid firms successfully outsource innovation. The model is developed in two stages using a qualitative theory building research design. The initial stage develops a preliminary model which is subsequently validated and refined during the second stage. Guided by the research aim, template analysis is used to inductively form an innovation outsourcing template from a literature data set assessed for its suitability. The template is interpreted as an innovation outsourcing archetype to produce a framework. This is explored, with the aid of influence diagrams, to make explicit the associations between innovation outsourcing capabilities, process and performance. The outcome is a set of propositions which constitute a preliminary innovation outsourcing model. The propositions which form the preliminary model are deductively explored to identify whether they also exist in a different data set. A methodically designed semi-structured interview survey is executed with the aid of a rich picture survey instrument to gather data for this purpose. The data is analysed through pattern matching and explanation building to explore the correlations which constitute the model. Where they correlate as predicted, propositions are confirmed. Where they do not, an explanation is sought and tested. The outcome is a validated innovation outsourcing model. The contribution to knowledge is an innovation outsourcing model which aids the realisation of performance. The model achieves this through a three-stage process which enables the alignment of capability to outsourced innovation activity, and makes actual performance outcomes, rather than expected benefits, the focus of innovation outsourcing aims.

The thesis takes the economist's concept of cost-benefit analysis and subjects it to a ‘developmental appraisal', from the management viewpoint and in respect of ‘in-company training'. In so doing it seeks to explore the contribution that the broad concept, when applied to training evaluation, can make to management decision making. The thesis concludes from an appraisal of the cost-benefit concept that differences when it is applied to in-company training compared with the economists traditional 'macro' usage, merit a different label, 'investment appraisal' of training. The place of the concept in training evaluation is then explored and in use it is shown to be subject to a great many constraints. The thesis proposes that these constraints be translated as opportunities within a 'new' framework which seeks to consider training evaluation from the management viewpoint. This framework proposes a twin role for evaluation: the conventional one of feedback to the trainer and organisation; and an additional one of identification of the key 'supportive' systems needed to meet the objectives of a particular programme. To test these roles a dichotomy is proposed between Programmed and non-Programmed training decisions, within which a classification of types of training is suggested. The investment appraisal concept is then applied to evaluations within each of these decision categories. The non-Programmed decision evaluation is conducted in an operative training situation in a rolling mill in the steel industry; the Programmed Decision evaluation is applied to a junior operative training programme in several steel companies. The thesis concludes from the results of the experiments that a useful methodology has been devised and that the major contribution of the application of the concept in practice is the opportunity it gives both for the identification of line management contribution to the success of training and obtaining of their involvement.

This is a study that examines the practices and characteristics of executive-level managers in technology-based multinational corporations. Two overriding questions are designed to be answered: 1. What do effective executive managers do? 2. How do top company executives perform their job relative to these effectiveness-based criteria? These questions are answered in part in terms of the literature and in terms of field research performed on executive managers. The research has focused on the examination of managers in environments characterized by a high degree of change. From a synthesis of research-based skills and abilities on effective executives identified through extensive literature search an "Executive Management Inventory" (EMI) was developed. Subsequent to testing and validation, the EMI was used to measure work performed by corporate managers in the international environment. The sample forming the data-base of this research comprised executive managers, principally General Managers, employed in,multinational corporations headquartered in six nations worldwide: United States United Kingdom West Germany Sweden Japan Korea The six nations were further classified into three regional clusters: Anglo-American Nordic-European Far-Eastern Differences among these executive managers are statistically tested for significance. Interviews were also conducted with successful executives representing each of the six nations comprising the data-base. Not only are conclusions drawn in the conventional way, but inferences are also made with reference to the larger population.

The aim of this thesis is to provide an original interpretative understanding of the role of organisational culture and organisational control on the diffusion of a Management Information Systems (MIS). An extensive literature review has revealed a lack of synthesis between organisational culture and organisational control in the understanding of diffusion of an MIS. The literature review was two-fold: firstly, to examine the impact of organisational culture on IS diffusion and, secondly, to examine the impact of organisational control on IS diffusion. The first stage of the review revealed that there are a number of studies on IS diffusion in relation to culture at the organisational level but a relatively fewer studies at the sub-organisational or subcultural level. The second stage of the review highlights that there is also a significant number of studies that have applied the control concept to investigating phenomena related to IS diffusion, e.g. IT adoptions and IT implementations, but very few have explicitly applied the control concept to IT implementations outcomes, i.e. IT diffusion. The review also suggested that there is scarce empirical research on IS diffusion from the twin perspectives of culture and control. Using an interpretive case study approach, this thesis was able to collect rich data, underpinned by Martin's (1992) conceptualisation of organisational culture, i.e. integration and differentiation, and Kirsch's (1997) and Ouchi's (1979) conceptualisation of organisational controls. These conceptualisations served as interpretive lenses to unearth the dynamic relationship of the application of formal controls on diverging subcultures during staff interactions and use of an MIS during the adaptation, acceptance and routinization stages of Cooper and Zmud's (1990) IT Implementation Model. The thesis' results highlight a number of contributions to knowledge. Firstly, a contribution is made in the area of IS diffusion research by proposing a conceptual model for IS diffusion. The model offers explanations on how IS diffusion could be achieved despite the existence of diverging subcultures when formal control mechanisms are applied, an implication that suggests that the IS diffusion path may not be smooth and linear but an iterative process. Secondly, a contribution is made in the area of organisational culture and organisational control theories. This thesis' results indicate that during the implementation of an MIS, staffespoused cultural values changed, highlighting that the culture may not be always stable, and difficult to change. The thesis helps re-conceptualise the existing typology on outcome control by indicating that outcome control, which is conceptualised as deliberate and forceful in nature, could also, unlike behaviour control, be exercised in measures that do not need to coerce or be forceful. Further, the thesis highlights that sanctions rather than rewards were more effective in the application of controls during the diffusion attempts of an IS. Finally, the research contributes to knowledge in the area of practice. This study provides insights on how managers may apply organisational controls to align diverging subgroup members' actions towards integrative behaviours during an IS implementation process, therefore facilitating the attainment of successful IS diffusion.