This thesis describes an empirical investigation of performance measurement management at the operational level of five organizations, ranging in size from annual revenues of under US$100 million to over US$8 billion. In attempting to identify what advice there is for operational level managers, the literature review revealed that much of the existing research does not specifically address the operational level and does not consider the distinct characteristics of the operational level. An additional literature review identified that the operational level characteristics include a real-time, short-term focus, having many brief and fragmented activities and being frequently interrupted. An empirical investigation was undertaken to investigate the characteristics of the operational level and to identify how managers at this level manage the performance of their groups. The empirical data revealed that operational level characteristics identified in the literature were valid for the participants. In particular, the participating operational level managers face severe time constraints and are responsible for as many as 75 activities at one time, all of which require objectives and measures. The conclusion drawn was that any method used to develop objectives and measures by the participating operational level managers would be used many times and should be simpler and quicker to use than those methods described in the literature. The most thorough method described in the literature was identified and selected as the basis for a set of guidelines, which was then evaluated by the participants. The conclusions from the evaluation were that the guidelines are correct, in principle, but were still not simple enough to be used by the participants. The fmdings of this research can only be said to be valid for the participants, however, the author believes that they may be more widely applicable. Further research is needed to determine how widely the findings might apply.

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Information Systems (IS) risks have been known as one of the main reasons that contribute to IS project failure. Effective management of IS risks is therefore important for the success in IS project management. Most current literature tries to identify and describe the characteristics of IS risks and risk management concept from a snapshot view. However, some argues that without a comprehensive understanding of the risk management concept through a holistic approach, i.e., process approach, little may be known about how to effectively manage IS risks. Hence, the main purpose of this study is to examine the risk management concept in IS projects. It seeks to explore how IS risks emerge during information systems development (ISD) processes, and to understand how risk management approaches are used to manage the situations of IS risks. An interpretive case study was used to illustrate how IS risks are managed during four IS projects, i.e., NLT, RPAF, 3D, and e-Paperless project. The key participants tram these projects were interviewed and asked to provide the information about ISD and risk management in their project. The information collected from the field and the relevant project documents were then analysed by using a process model and thematic analysis. The results of each case were compared and contrasted. The findings of this study suggest that by nature IS risks are dynamic meaning that they change over time, unpredictable, and emerge from situations in the project. And this is due to four conditions: antecedent conditions, contextual factors, activities in ISD phase, and escalation theories. Moreover, due to the dynamic nature of IS risks, this study stresses the importance of the systematic risk management as opposed to the risk management based on ad-hoc basis generally adopted by most IS project teams. Particularly, it is found that when systematic risk management processes are implemented, IS risks can be more thoroughly examined and managed. In addition, the study identifies and describes the effective risk management processes and key limitations of risk management by the project development teams. The outcome of this study contributes to the existing knowledge in IS area. In particular, this study identifies and explains the dynamic nature of IS risks, suggests the effective risk management processes and constraints of the current risk management processes, and propose an alternative risk management framework with respect to the changing nature of IS risks. In addition, methodologically the study is among the first to use the thematic analysis with the process model to holistically explain risk management in the IS projects. This study has implications for IS researchers and practitioners in a number of ways. IS researchers may use this study as a template to further investigate IS risks and risk management from the dynamic point of view. Similarly, IS practitioners may learn how to improve risk management performance by avoiding the conditions that trigger IS risk emergence. Besides, they may implement effective risk management strategies and approaches suggested in this study to alleviate the situations of IS risks and risk emergence from their projects. Since this study is conducted only in Thai-based IS projects, the results of this study need to be validated against the projects in the different contexts to see how well the outcome of this study can explain the risk management concept in the different contexts. Also, this research is based on the exploratory nature whose main objective is to explore and describe the situations of risks and risk management in the chosen IS projects. Therefore, the findings may disappoint those who seek theory development from this study as the findings may not always be generalisable to every IS project context.

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According to the resource based view (RBV) of the firm, quality management (QM) is one of the sources the firm can use to generate competitive advantage (CA). Although QM and CA have widely attracted the attention of both academics and practitioners, the link between these two concepts has rarely been examined in the literature, especially in service industry. Additionally, among those few studies that investigated the relationship between QM and CA, there is contradictory evidence on which QM practices generate CA. Thus, this study examines the impact of QM on CA in the hotels industry, in order to identify which QM practices generate CA. Based on an extensive review of the literature on QM and CA, valid and reliable definitions were formulated for both concepts, and then a conceptual framework was developed to illustrate the relationships between the research variables. Data obtained from a survey of 384 four and five star hotels in Egypt is used to test the impact of QM on CA. A total of 300 responses were obtained. Twelve uncompleted questionnaires were removed, leaving 288 usable questionnaires and yielding a response rate of 75 %. All questionnaires were completed by the hotel general managers. Three main data analysis techniques were employed: exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modelling (SEM). Three models are employed in CFA to test the dimensional structure of QM. These models include a model that allows all factors to be freely correlated (oblique factor model), a model where all factors are correlated because they all measure one higher order factor (higher order factor model), and a model where all indicators are employed to test if they measure only one construct. The results of CFA provide solid statistical evidence that affirm the multidimensionality of the QM construct and contradict other studies that employed QM as a unidimensional construct. These results assist in resolving the problems that might arise from the lack of clarity in the literature concerning the dimensional structure of QM. The SEM results affirm that the soft QM practices such as top management leadership (TML), employee management (EM), customer focus (CF), and supplier management (SM) directly improve the hotel financial performance but the hard QM practices such as process management (PM) and quality data and reporting (QD&R) do not. However, two quality management practices, TML and SM, are found to distinguish those hotels that have CA from those hotels that have not. Therefore, these results can help hotel managers to reallocate the hotel resources to implement those QM practices that can improve the hotel financial performance and generate CA. Finally, this study would benefit if these models are tested with an alternative data set. This study also suffered from a limitation common to survey research and SEM. The current study survey, due to time and money constraints, is a cross sectional sample at one specific point in time. As a result, while causal relationships can be inferred, they cannot be strictly proven. Causal inferences are stronger with longitudinal studies.

The literature suggests that organisations which have adopted Six Sigma have realised that upon achieving a Five Sigma level the only way to surpass this is to redesign the process(es) by means of Design for Six Sigma (DFSS). For others, the selection of Six Sigma over the DFSS approach is not a definitive question and just a guideline can be provided. A major objective of this research was to extend the selection of the requisite Six Sigma approach beyond the sigma level case and the general guidelines, towards a multi-criteria decision using established techniques. Thus, two research questions were defined: what influences the selection of the requisite Six Sigma approach, i. e. Six Sigma versus DFSS? and, how effective is the use of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) techniques in the selection of the requisite Six Sigma approach? An action research methodology was applied where one Six Sigma project, one DFSS project and one Six Sigma project applied in a non-manufacturing process were implemented and analysed in collaboration with 3M Corporation, General Domestic Appliances (GDA) and Land Rover. From the action research spiral it was concluded that the sigma level has a positive association with the selection of redesign or improvement efforts within Six Sigma, however the Five Sigma level cannot necessarily dictate the use of one approach over the other. Besides the sigma level the selection of the requisite Six Sigma approach is influenced by multiple and conflicting criteria. In addition, the selection can occur at different stages of the methodologies. To assist decision-makers in organising, synthesising and optimising the criteria affecting this decision, the Stochastic Analytic Hierarchy Process (SAHP) was developed and applied to the problem at hand. The SAHP was developed on the basis of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and disparate sources of relevant literature. SAHP provides a mechanism for achieving a more effective selection of the requisite Six Sigma approach in the form of considering multiple and conflicting criteria using quantitative and qualitative information under uncertainty. In contrast to the traditional AHP, SAHP incorporates probabilistic distributions to incorporate uncertainty that people have in converging into a Likert scale their judgments of preferences. The vector of priorities is calculated using Monte Carlo simulation and the final rankings analysed for rank reversal using statistical analysis with managerial aspects introduced systematically. The concept and implementation of SAHP is new to the selection of the requisite Six Sigma approach and as such it constitutes the main innovation to result from this research. It extends the selection of the requisite Six Sigma approach towards a systematic multi-criteria decision considering multiple and conflicting criteria under uncertainty. Furthermore, while SAHP was originally conceived as a specific aid to the improve or redesign issue within Six Sigma, this research indicates that it is potentially much more widely applicable. This research also provides evidence of how different factors affecting the selection of requisite Six Sigma approach were considered. Further areas of research include the use of a positivist method in order to increase the sample size of the research and identify different factors affecting the decision improve or redesign. The development of SAHP software and extending the SAHP practice to different multi-criteria decisions are also potential areas for further research.

This exploratory research inquires into the effect that national culture, among other cross-national factors has upon perceptions of management control. It studies differences in control perceptions between mainland Chinese, Czech and British managers workingfor two Western multi-national companies (MNCs). Different perceptions can lead to misunderstanding and thence to weak, or break down in, control. Barriers of national culture and differences in national contexts pose ever greater challengesfor managers who need to provide or receive assurance that their business is under effective control. They also have implications for regulation of internal control of MNCs. Empirical cross-national research to date into management control is to a large extent inconsistent, and offers little supportfor theory. Existing theory appears to be insufficiently grounded in past empirical research to provide a sound foundation for hypotheses and future nomothetic research. Middle range methodology is put forward as a way out of this quandary. Middle range research between objectivist and subjectivist methodologies faces competing criteria for rigour. Criteria are interpreted for middle range methodologies and developedfor grounded theory case studies. The main features of the substantive theory from this grounded theory (Strauss and Corbin, 1998) case study are that there is no standard perception of management control. Control perception is therefore unpredictable from a manager's cultural background Yet, clear patterns in control perceptions emerge between countries of upbringing; these patterns are distinct from differences between the 2 MNCs. Six key areas of differences in perception are analysed (external relations, obligations of responsibility and accountability, internal relations, information, law and procedures, and systems logic). A number of values and preferences, generally shared by managers from the same country, appear to underlie these differences in perception. Differences in control perception are related to national cultures and other contextualfactors, yet all of these are seen as potentially interdependent. This substantive theory does not provide a basisfor prediction. It is a skeletal theory that can be transferred to other situations where researchers and practitioners find it applicable. It may there give awareness of possible differences in control perceptions, assist explanation, and contribute to the building of consistent knowledge and learning. Awareness and understanding of cultural differences in control perceptions are shown to be useful to ethnocentric or polycentric approaches to management control. They may also assist reconciliation of cultural differences for management that adopts a geocentric approach. Perceptions by the managers from the Czech Republic and mainland China are generally inconsistent with accountability theory, although not with a systems approach to management control. The implication is that some management control theories may be parochial to the cultures in which they have been developed. This has policy implicationsfor howfar professional guidance and standards on internal control (COSO, 1994; IIA - UK, 1994; APB, 1995; Turnbull, 1999) can be applied internationally without recognising the impact of national culture and other crossnational contextual factors.