This research critically examines school support staff’s perceptions of strategic change within a post ’92 higher education institution. The need for effective communication as well as valuing and empowering employees during any change process is discussed. The research uses a mixed methods approach. Qualitative and quantitative data are obtained from questionnaires and emerging themes identified. Further qualitative data are gathered from diary logs, interviews and focus groups. This research represents the opinions of school support staff at a particular moment in time within a particular educational context. The results suggest some limitations to the change capabilities of the post ’92 institution, but also some areas of good practice. The production of a change framework and the change competencies workbook provides both the institution and its employees, with an opportunity to explore further the prospect of improving their ability to manage change. Both the framework and the competencies require an environment of trust for them to work effectively. The subject headings of identity, perception and communication are utilised in the change framework and the change competencies. The subject headings were chosen in order to assist the researcher to categorise various data covering areas of concern raised by research participants. This thesis suggests that the post ’92 institution has yet to establish a corporate change policy or embed a continuous change culture within its organisation. This thesis concludes that incorporating the following could assist the institution’s management of change: * create a culture of change by utilising the change framework and implement a corporate change strategy based on Kotter’s (1996) eight steps for change; * create an environment of trust through excellence in two-way communication by promoting Perkins (2008) supportive communication and listening skills; * create empowered and change sophisticated people by improving their change competencies using the workbook and regular targeted staff development.

The work looked at east German senior industrial managers in transition under the condition of radical environmental change that followed the introduction of the west German political, economic, and societal system in eastern Germany. The enhancement of the understanding of managers in change in the transitional economies of central and eastern Europe is significant to the improvement of the effectiveness of western support in the introduction of market forces. Of wider significance is the study's contribution to the understanding of the issues at individual level that might equally emerge within the fundamental structural changes of current western industries. For decades, research into the management of change has focused on the group and systems level and failed widely to consider the crucial significance of individual behaviour in the realisation of change at organisational level. In view of the questions and the objectives of the research, a qualitative approach was adopted because it provides a particularly strong method for investigating processes, cultures, and new fields of scientific research. The analysis drew on a basis of 73 in-depth interviews with senior level managers in east German industrial organisations and structured questionnaires on the individual, organisational, and change profile of the sample. The work contributes to the understanding of managerial transition in transformative contexts. A model of the individual transition process was elicited from the data. It suggests that east German managers emerged from the experience of fundamental change with a transformed world-view. The initial belief in the existence of equilibria had been replaced by the notion of the permanency of change. Because of the way in which the experience of economic transformation was found to impact deeply on individuals' self-concept, the study concludes that individual development is a key transformation instrument, since it can specifically target the cultural and ideological underpinning of successful transformation.

The thesis concerns the analysis and interpretation of data from satellite borne radar altimeters over ice covered ocean surfaces. The applications of radar altimetry are described in detail and consider monitoring global climate change, the role that sea ice plays in the climate system, operational applications and the extension of high precision surface elevation measurements into areas of sea ice. The general nature of sea ice cover is discussed and a list of requirements for sea ice monitoring is provided and the capability of different satellite sensors to satisfy needs is examined. The operation of satellite borne altimeter over non-ocean surfaces is discussed in detail. Theories of radar backscatter over sea ice are described and are used to predict the radar altimeter response to different types of sea ice cover. Methods employed for analysis of altimeter data over sea ice are also described. Data from the Seasat altimeter is examined on a regional and global scale and compared with sea ice climatology. Data from the Geosat altimeter is compared with co-incident imagery from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer and also from airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar. Correlations are observed between the altimeter data and imagery for the ice edge position, zones within the ice cover, new ice and leads, vast floes and the fast ice boundary. An analysis of data collected by the Geosat altimeter over a period of more than two years is used to derive seasonal and inter-annual variations in the total Antarctic sea ice extent. In addition the retrieval of high accuracy elevation measurements over sea ice areas is carried out. These data are used to produce improved maps of sea surface topography over icecovered ocean and provide evidence of the ability of the altimeter to determine sea ice freeboard directly. In addition the changing freeboard of two giant Antarctic tabular icebergs, as measured by the Geosat altimeter, is presented. As a summary the achievements are reviewed and suggestions are made towards directions for further work on present data sets and for future data from the ERS-1 satellite.

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