This thesis is about the institutions that apply developed-country science and technology to. agriculture in underdeveloped countries. It considers the extraordinary series of changes in food production that has come to be known as the 'Green Revolution', arguing that the(less than ideal) outcomes of these changes reflected the characteristics of a particular network of research institutions known as the CG System, as mediated by the agricultural technology developed by the latter. Drawing on recent developments in the theory of innovation, the thesis argues that the characteristics of the CG System responsible for the outcomes of the 'Green Revolution' may be derived from the 'linear' model of innovation,upon which the former was apparently predicated. This 'linear' model of innovation is critically compared with a rival 'fifth generation' model. It is suggested that if the CGSystem were to adopt an innovatory practice that conformed to the 'fifth generation' model,it would enable itself to make a greater impact upon poverty and hunger. The reforms that are now being experienced by the CG System are critically considered in the light of this discussion. This argument is supported by empirical material which demonstrates thatCIAT (a member of the CG System) has traditionally approached innovation in a manner consistent with the 'linear' model. However, an initiative based within CIAT's Hillsides Programme is examined in detail and shown to be an attempt to introduce into this institute an innovatory practice consistent with the rival 'fifth generation' model. Formidable organisational forces act to resist this initiative and the changes that if seeks to effect in its organisational environment. Nonetheless, considerable movement towards the 'fifth generation' model is discerned at each of the different levels of analysis employed in the thesis,· which concludes that this process of change is itself worthy of serious investigation.

This thesis discusses and comments on published work that explores the links between managerial attempts at major strategic and organizational changes (referred to throughout the thesis as strategic change) and key organizational outcomes. The opening chapter reviews the literature on strategic organizational change, particularly focussing on models of organizational change, extant research into success and failure of change programmes and the evaluation of change. A model of strategic organizational change is presented that demonstrates the links among key variables and outcomes of change. In chapter two, the published articles are critically revisited for their contributions to establishing the causes of success and failure in strategic change, conceptual development and methodological development in the field. In addition, most of the articles are reflected on to show how the data could be analytically generalized to the models developed in the literature review. The issues raised by the articles are addressed thematically and each article is considered separately.

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Introduction Globally stroke remains the leading cause of adult disability. An aging population and a reduction in stroke case fatality has led to an increasing number of people living with stroke i.e. stroke survivors. The ability to perform important day-to-day activities, such as walking and housework, is frequently impaired in stroke survivors. Therefore, it has become essential to address the long-term needs of stroke survivors, prompting focussed research on life after stroke. A reduction in physical fitness after stroke may contribute to stroke related disability. It is possible to improve physical fitness by regular, structured physical activity. Improving physical fitness after stroke and increasing physical activity are aspects of life after stroke that are increasingly being researched. Although the evidence base for the benefits of physical fitness training is growing, research has indicated that benefits gained are not always maintained at follow-up. To facilitate the uptake and maintenance of physical activity after stroke, it is essential to understand why many stroke survivors do not undertake regular physical activity. Understanding this difficult concept will enable the tailoring of behaviour change interventions to promote and maintain physical activity after stroke. However, there has been limited work in developing theory driven behaviour change interventions to increase physical activity in stroke survivors. Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to develop and test a behaviour change intervention to increase physical activity after stroke. Methods In order to address the above aim, six interlinking studies were conducted within the development and feasibility stages of the MRC framework for the development of complex interventions. A systematic review (study one) examined barriers and facilitators to physical activity perceived by stroke survivors. This study showed a lack of literature in this area, and that the already published studies had limited generalisability to the UK stroke population. Therefore, it was deemed appropriate to conduct a qualitative study (study two) to examine the perceived barriers and facilitators to physical activity in the local stroke population. Both studies one and two highlighted the influence of self-efficacy towards increasing physical activity. As part of earlier work conducted prior to this PhD, there was previously unanalysed data on perceived barriers and facilitators to physical activity after stroke. These quantitative data encompassed specific questions exploring self-efficacy and intention to physical activity post stroke. In light of the evidence it was deemed necessary to analyse these data (study three). It was envisaged that the behaviour change intervention would incorporate a feedback device, so participants could clearly see how much daily physical activity they were undertaking. An opportunity arose to collaborate with a team at Newcastle University who had developed an accelerometer that incorporated an immediate feedback screen. Therefore, a device validation study was conducted as study four. Results from studies one to four were combined, with the use of the Theoretical Domains Framework, and the behaviour change intervention was developed. Two uncontrolled pilot studies (studies five and six) were conducted to determine the feasibility and acceptability of the behaviour change intervention to the stroke population. Results The systematic review included six articles, providing data on 174 stroke survivors. Commonly reported barriers were environmental factors, health concerns and stroke impairments. Commonly reported facilitators were social support and the need to be able to perform daily tasks. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 13 stroke survivors, at which point data saturation was reached. The most commonly reported TDF domains were ‘beliefs about capabilities’, ‘environmental context and resources’ and ‘social influence’. The quantitative study provided data from 50 stroke survivors. Intention and self-efficacy were high, with self-efficacy graded as either 4 or 5 (highly confident) on a five-point scale by [34 (68%)] participants, whilst 42 (84%) participants “strongly agreed” or “agreed” that they intended to increase their walking after their stroke. Ten participants were recruited to validate the new accelerometer. Mean time since stroke was 29 days (SD =27.9 days). The 10 participants walked a mean distance of 245 meters (SD=129m) and their mean walking speed was 0.79ms-1 (SD=0.34ms-1). The Culture Lab were unable to develop the accelerometer in the necessary time frame and therefore no accelerometer was available for trialling the behaviour change intervention. Therefore, pedometers were used to record step count during the behaviour change intervention. A total of four participants took part in the 12 week behaviour change intervention, over two study periods. All participants managed to increase their step counts during this time. The studies had problems both with recruitment and retention of participants. These issues have been discussed. Conclusions This work has enhanced the understanding of the barriers and facilitators perceived by stroke survivors to increase physical activity. This work has allowed the development of a theoretically driven, complex behaviour change intervention that was successfully trialled with a small group of stroke survivors. Areas of further research have been discussed.

This thesis narrates the exercise of state autonomy to achieve macro-economic stability and effect incremental policy change in South Africa between 1994 and 2014. Employing a composite case study of the macro-economic policy framework; the Growth Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) (1996) strategy, and two micro policies, Free Basic Electricity (FBE) (2003) and No Fee Schools (NFS) (2006), it demonstrates how the post-apartheid state introduced reforms at macro and micro policy levels. Taking a historical institutionalist approach, it emphasizes the importance of ideas, context, configurations, temporal arguments and path-dependence to recount a story of policy change. The main sources of evidence comprise semi-structured elite interviews conducted with senior politicians, public servants, trade unionists and academic researchers as well as secondary data such as Hansard, government documents and other research reports. Data collection in South Africa was undertaken over a period of twelve months across various sites such as state departments, parliament, the South African Reserve Bank, university libraries, municipalities, private companies, parastatals and schools in the Gauteng Province. The context of transition from apartheid to a democratic dispensation, 1990-1994, with the negotiation processes forms a backdrop to the study whereby compromises and important policy choices set the scene for the formulation of new policy infrastructure culminating in GEAR in 1996. The implementation of GEAR in 1996 and the achievement of macroeconomic stability in turn prepared the ground for intervention at micro policy level. Consequently the introduction of incremental policy change through micro policies such as FBE (2003) and NFS (2006) became possible. Importantly this thesis reveals that whilst incremental policy change has been achievable, it is not totally transformative but rather built upon policy legacies as it proffers gradual adjustments which do not reverse earlier policy decisions and compromises nor effect fundamental change. Nevertheless, even in a difficult international and domestic environment, the South African state has shown a capacity to initiate and sustain incremental change in key areas of public policy.

<p> College football stadiums host anywhere from 15,000 to 115,000 people each Saturday from late summer to early winter and leave fans exposed to ambient conditions. Amplified heat from stadium infrastructure substantially impact attendants&rsquo; thermal comfort. In order to assess personal heat exposure and mitigate exposure misclassification, temperature and relative humidity sensors (iButtons) were placed throughout Mississippi State University&rsquo;s Davis Wade Stadium during the 2016 Football Season. iButton measurements established a micro-climate and compared its readings to the Soil Climate Analysis Network site 1.2 miles north of the stadium. The program RayMan Pro modeled a Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) micro-climate to create an individualized heat metric. The results of this study assess stadium occupants&rsquo; thermal comfort through Heat Index and PET. Heat-related health outcomes were examined regarding thermal comfort and the stadium micro-climate using data from the stadium&rsquo;s EMS calls and First Aid stations during game days. </p><p>

The aim of the research reported in this thesis was to explore the nature and impact of anxiety in Senior Management teams confronted by organisational change. There was a desire to move beyond an understanding of management from a tactical, systems or organizing perspective, to one which investigated the causes and reaction to emotion, in particular anxiety, and the implications for managers, groups and organizations. The research was limited to a focus on the causes, manifestations and exploration of individual and group anxiety. The studies reported in this thesis have addressed two main research questions. First, what is the nature and impact of anxiety in senior management teams? Second, what are the effects of anxiety on learning and change within these teams? A multiple case study approach was used because this was seen as particularly beneficial for exploring the nature and impact of anxiety in senior management teams across a number of organizations. The nature of exploration necessitated an approach that was not bounded by a reliance on theories embedded in positivist approaches to scientific understanding, but rather required the development of individual and participatory group experiences through interpretation and constructivist enquiry. Participants represented the senior management groups of each company and thus represented the controlling interests of the local businesses. There was evidence that participants in the study were experiencing anxiety during heightened periods of business change. The studies revealed how responses to anxiety resulted in a number of social defences against anxiety. The studies indicated that perceptions of environmental emotional safety and identity with a leader affected the ability of managers to engage in reflective behaviours and collaborative approaches. Power and politics emerged as themes in the studies, with individuals struggling at times with notions of control, individual authority and understanding of the boundaries of power between participants. There were also implications for the impact of bounded rationality and learning acceptance. The thesis is seen as a potential contribution towards a deeper understanding of a little researched area of anxiety in individual managers and in management groups, and the impact of anxiety on learning and change at individual, group and organizational levels. Thus, it may offer opportunities to contribute to a deeper understanding of the links between anxiety, learning and change on aspects of management and organizational learning. Developing a deeper understanding of the practice of management and its impact on the organization has the potential to assist the development of learning pathways which encounter these phenomena and engage with them in a didactic way by way of a point of optimal learning. The Point of Optimal Learning is introduced in the literature review of the thesis where a potential gap in existing knowledge is identified. In this thesis it is proposed that there exists an opportunity in the learning of individuals to manage the tension between rational and emotional responses to events, creating moments of optimal learning as rational and emotional responses are kept in balance. The interpretations emanating from how individual managers within senior management teams deal with change, and the implementation of collective awareness, has the potential to contribute towards an integrated understanding of the implementation and outcomes of organizational change. It is suggested that the exploration of such phenomena as group trust and openness; personal and institutional change; and confrontation of the inhibitors to change whether consciously or unconsciously constructed, have the potential to support a learning methodology which has implications for other organizations at a time of change. By exploring the causes of individual and organization resistance to change encountered in this research, practitioners may evolve an approach which builds upon the areas of understanding developed herein. During the analysis phase of the research herein reported, three new models for interpreting the data, and a diagrammatic summary of the causes of management anxiety considered in the research, were developed and presented. They are: the anxiety causation diagram that informed the structured interview design; he models developed for the purposes of data analysis and that were seen to extend prior models; and the development of a triangulation model that was seen to extend understanding beyond individual case phenomena. These models may be seen as contributing to different methodological approaches for future research, and thus may be seen to make a significant contribution to knowledge. The conclusion to the thesis discusses the implications for the action researcher, organizations and participants undergoing significant periods of change, and provides suggestions for further research.

Micro-consultants are from small independent consultancy practices; who sometimes work directly with a single client on embedded assignments. Embedded microconsultants operate within the ambiguous and fragmented environments of their client’s. Micro-consultants have to quickly make sense of their client’s working environments; adapting their operations and identities within these, to ensure appropriate advice and support is provided. When embedded, micro-consultants are usually expected to represent their client; whilst also retaining their independence. Consequently, micro-consultants can sometimes be unsure who they represent (themselves or their client) and which identity aspects they should be promoting. Identity is the sum of, lifestyle, experiences and knowledge of an individual which is developed over time, and provides awareness and guidance for future activities. To some extent micro-consultants can choose which aspects of their identity they wish to promote or suppress. However, some groups can enforce aspects of their identity on their members which can contradict the micro-consultant’s base awareness and guidelines which can lead to dilemmas and uncertainties. This research explores the interactions, changing identities and ensuing tensions of a micro-consultant during a long term embedded assignment with a single client. The ethnographic study uses authoethnographic narrative, along with participant observation techniques and reflective practices, to provide insights on the key influences and other factors which can affect micro-consultant identities. This thesis also provides an indication of the complexities and ambiguities faced by a micro-consultant working on an embedded assignment. The research also highlights some of the many dilemmas and uncertainties facing a micro-consultant in this environment; focussing on identity related dilemmas. These lead to a number of identity related paradoxes for the micro-consultant; including assignment success, relationships and the provision of knowledge. There have been many corporate ethnographic studies examining different parts of organisation behaviour, including consultancy houses and organisation change environments. However, this is the first study to provide detailed insights into the world of a micro-consultant change management specialist, his operations interactions and dilemmas; providing a significant contribution to the world of management consultancy and organisation behaviour.

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of a death education laboratory approach on the participants. Measures of death anxiety, general anxiety, and self-concept were thought to be of particular importance and thus were used as dependent variables. The study was designed to obtain measures of the variables through appropriate testing administered immediately following participation in a death lab and one month after participation in the 16-hour death lab. This design was selected because the possibility exists that anxiety levels may increase during a workshop on death and dying. None of the eight hypotheses in this study were statistically validated. Thus the assumption that the death lab as used in this study would have a positive impact on the participants was rejected. However, non-statistical observations and inferences from analysis of covariance and t-test data suggested that the use of a waiting list control group may have biased the results of the study. A second observation made in this study was that high death anxious treatment group members tended to have reduced anxiety scores on post-testing and low death anxious treatment group members tended to have increased death anxiety scores on post-testing. It is not known if this regression toward the mean effect is a recurring phenomenon in the death lab experience.

A phenomenological study was conducted to explore and understand the personal experiences and meaning ascribed by senior leaders within a large multidisciplinary construction company. An effort was made to understand how they personally experienced leading others, what they learnt about themselves, what challenged them most, and what support, if any they had during their leadership of large-scale organisational change. The research found that there is a significant personal cost to the individual. This cost comes in terms of career, work-life balance and even reputation. It provides an opportunity to grow in self-knowledge, provided leaders are open to learn and reflect and that there is a substantive support structure both internally and externally to the organisation in order to ‘survive’. Without this malleable disposition, the already high cost escalates to the extent that it could be life threatening. In spite of the prolific literature available, the leaders claim that shareholders and most others do not understand the extreme length of time it takes to start and embed change that is sustainable. Without that understanding from the other role players, the leader carries not only the blame but also the scars of failed change. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)