This study is a qualitative case study approach to theory building that aims to develop a more holistic understanding of the patterns of coordination in an organisation that has successfully implemented TQM using a communication perspective. The data were gathered at a large private hospital in Bangkok where 36 respondents from nonmedical treatment areas were interviewed. The study used in-depth interviews as the primary data source, complemented with participant-observations and document analysis to address the main research question: In what ways have the effects of TQM on communicative attitudes and practices contributed to coordination? Influenced by the notion of social construction, the analysis suggests that despite TQM consisting of several contributing principles and tools, it is the role of leadership that demonstrated the most significant value to communication and coordination outcomes. Three key patterns of coordination emerge in the study: (1) shared meaning and common purpose derived from management?s interpretation and articulation of TQM reality from a customer perspective, (2) shared understanding as a result of management?s construction of TQM influenced administrative arrangements, and (3) emotional experiences as a result of staff members? social interaction. The finding of this study suggests that achieving coordination is far more complex, and can be difficult to control by management, specifically one emerging from an emotional experience which was found to have more effect on staff members? decisions in investing or reserving their energy in coordination, as compared to the other two patterns. The findings demonstrate that organising coordination is not always rational and static, as previously discussed in the dominant organisation design-based literature. Rather, coordination is highly dependent on the process of social construction, communication, and interaction between organisational members. For this reason, the role of management in ensuring consistency in interpretation and construction of the shared reality, and in ongoing communication is imperative, not only to guide and maintain coordinated actions, but also to achieve meaningful and mindful coordination of members within the organisation. The practical theory developed in the study makes a direct contribution to coordination theory, specifically on the emergence of multi-dimensional coordination patterns which suggests the need to reconsider a research approach that could accommodate the complex nature of coordination which is also driven by communication, social interaction, and reciprocal relationships. Future studies on coordination could be positioned within a relativist, constructionism or interpretivist paradigm and investigate interrelated multiple ontological domains, not only the conventional organisational structure, but also cognition, discursive and social interaction. The study also offers some useful insights into both coordination and communication aspects for practitioners who aim to successfully implement TQM.

Doctor of Philosophy / Following decades of sweeping social change, a 'new' Thai middle class emerged to become the main agents of the mass demonstrations which have rocked Bangkok for the better part of the past four years. Yet, the academic literature reveals a marked paucity of data on the urban middle class, and on Bangkok's systems of stratification. This dissertation addresses this lacuna with research based on eighteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in Bangkok. My investigations suggest that an indigenous spatial-symbolic matrix, encapsulated in centralising and hierarchising mandalic principles, continues to inform both cultural understandings of stratification and the socio-spatial structure of Bangkok. However, traditional status distinctions are now pervaded by the idiom of material wealth introduced by the forces of global markets. Today, life in Bangkok is framed by a hierarchy of affluence which echoes the numerical precision of the premodern sakdina system of status differentiation. Accordingly, I argue that the notion of the 'urban-rural divide' popularly used to describe the conflict obscures a more complex reality in which city and countryside are linked by reciprocal relations within both urban and national systems of status and class. This is clearly discernable in the nature of everyday interclass relations in Bangkok which have been exacerbated by contemporary diminishment and marginalisation of upcountry Thais by the urban middle classes. It is an incendiary dynamic that has been exploited to tremendous effect in the current political power struggle. I demonstrate that the middle class is significantly stratified internally, and explore how middle class culture and identity are drawn in large part from their understandings of status practices of elites. Much of this takes place in the public spaces of the city's scores of shopping malls, which articulate a local vernacular of prestige where hierarchical power relations are inscribed in urban space. Structural constraints and the societal privileging of wealth and connections are constant challenges to middle class aspirations for upward mobility, and the Bangkokian middle class harbours no illusions of Thai society as a meritocracy. This disenchantment has been channelled into a churning politics of resentment with demonstrably explosive potential. Ultimately, however, I argue that middle class discontent will contribute little to reform while the majority of individuals feel their only avenue for social mobility is to negotiate a pre-existing system of stratification which many perceive as unjust.

Housing -as a special product- distinguishes the behaviour of its demand and supply. An imbalance of housing supply against demand can be a crucial part of economic crises, as happened in Thailand between 1996 and 1997. Can the housing market be controlled in a robust and rigid system? A secure market depends on balancing demand and supply dynamics; therefore, any demand has to be quantified. This research demonstrates how housing demand can be modelled by using a System Dynamics approach. This modelling concept has been set up, using the root causes which generate housing demand. Causal factors which influence housing demand are collated, and mapped. A model simulating housing demand was developed. Keys to this are demographic, social and economic factors. This model is presented with a view to pursuing new approaches for housing demand modelling. Conceptual ideas are developed on how to quantify housing demand, and the result of the simulation can then be used as a basis for policy and decision making in housing markets. The housing demand model developed from this research depends on many interrelated factors. These factors can be categorized into three broad groups, following precedent set by a review of available literature. Initial factors included demographics which deal with population number, age structure, including migration, birth and death rate. Next, social factors, in terms of marriage, divorce and splitting-household rate (i.e. household formation rate) play a major role in creating

Doctor of Philosophy / Following decades of sweeping social change, a 'new' Thai middle class emerged to become the main agents of the mass demonstrations which have rocked Bangkok for the better part of the past four years. Yet, the academic literature reveals a marked paucity of data on the urban middle class, and on Bangkok's systems of stratification. This dissertation addresses this lacuna with research based on eighteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in Bangkok. My investigations suggest that an indigenous spatial-symbolic matrix, encapsulated in centralising and hierarchising mandalic principles, continues to inform both cultural understandings of stratification and the socio-spatial structure of Bangkok. However, traditional status distinctions are now pervaded by the idiom of material wealth introduced by the forces of global markets. Today, life in Bangkok is framed by a hierarchy of affluence which echoes the numerical precision of the premodern sakdina system of status differentiation. Accordingly, I argue that the notion of the 'urban-rural divide' popularly used to describe the conflict obscures a more complex reality in which city and countryside are linked by reciprocal relations within both urban and national systems of status and class. This is clearly discernable in the nature of everyday interclass relations in Bangkok which have been exacerbated by contemporary diminishment and marginalisation of upcountry Thais by the urban middle classes. It is an incendiary dynamic that has been exploited to tremendous effect in the current political power struggle. I demonstrate that the middle class is significantly stratified internally, and explore how middle class culture and identity are drawn in large part from their understandings of status practices of elites. Much of this takes place in the public spaces of the city's scores of shopping malls, which articulate a local vernacular of prestige where hierarchical power relations are inscribed in urban space. Structural constraints and the societal privileging of wealth and connections are constant challenges to middle class aspirations for upward mobility, and the Bangkokian middle class harbours no illusions of Thai society as a meritocracy. This disenchantment has been channelled into a churning politics of resentment with demonstrably explosive potential. Ultimately, however, I argue that middle class discontent will contribute little to reform while the majority of individuals feel their only avenue for social mobility is to negotiate a pre-existing system of stratification which many perceive as unjust.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 1995. / Title from title page screen, viewed May 1, 2006. Dissertation Committee: John R. McCarthy (chair), Edward R. Hines, James C. Palmer, Linda L. Timm. Introductory letter, instrument and questionnaire in English and Thai. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 119-130) and abstract. Also available in print.

Universiẗat, Diss., 2003--Kassel. / Lizenzpflichtig.

This thesis is about social entrepreneurship and its role in addressing social issues. Some of social entrepreneurship’s main features includes its focus on creating social value, achieving a sustainable solution to the problems it addresses, and empowering its recipients. These characteristics turn social entrepreneurship into a good driver of social change, a goal that could be comparable to development aid and NGOs objectives. However, the scientific research around social entrepreneurship is still in its early stages. This study intends to bridge a gap in the literature by comparing social entrepreneurship with development aid and NGOs using a case study of Din-Daeng flat in Bangkok. Participant-observation, in-depth interviews, and surveys are the major methods employed in this research. The results show that some social issues, like the one reflected in the Din-Daeng flats, would find a better solution through social entrepreneurship than through official development aid and NGOs. At the end, this study provides a social entrepreneurship plan that could be used to address Din-Daeng’s issue.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第17872号 / 工博第3781号 / 新制||工||1578(附属図書館) / 30692 / 京都大学大学院工学研究科都市社会工学専攻 / (主査)教授 中川 大, 教授 谷口 栄一, 准教授 松中 亮治 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第25012号 / 工博第5189号 / 新制||工||1991(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科建築学専攻 / (主査)教授 神吉 紀世子, 教授 三浦 研, 教授 牧 紀男 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

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