published_or_final_version / History / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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"Development of others" appears consistently in leadership competency frameworks; managers are now being asked to think of themselves as teachers in addition to their myriad other roles. Little empirical evidence however seems to exist that managers who teach their employees learn to lead better, generate more employee satisfaction and are indeed more effective than those who do not. This study found support for this claim. Twenty managers and forty-three of their employees participated in this study. Data were collected from both groups, before and after the managers attended a workshop designed using activity systems theory. Results indicate that employee perceptions are positively influenced by manager teaching, managers can learn to be situational leaders and that post-workshop teaching by managers to employees facilitates manager learning and leadership effectiveness. Suggestions for future research are provided.

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In 1978, the Chinese government embarked on an economic reform and adopted an open-door policy for its economic development. The goal of the economic reform was to transform its central planning economy into a market economy. This reform has since led to significant changes in the macro and micro economic system which, and in turn, have challenged the management system based on central planning economy in China. Therefore, the Chinese government faced an important task to train managers with management knowledge based on a market economy. In order to meet this need, since 1978, the Chinese government has set up a number of management training centres with the help of several foreign countries. One of them was the China Management Training Centre at Chengdu (CMTCC) , which was under the sponsorship of the Chinese government and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). This Centre's mission was " to serve the management education needs of state-enterprise management personnel, government personnel involved in management of economic affairs, and township and village enterprise managers, in Sichuan and throughout Southwest and Northwest China" (Proposal for CMTCC, Ph III, 1990, p.1). According to the joint agreement between the two sides, the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC), on behalf of the Canadian government, was responsible for sending Canadian instructors to teach at China Management Training Centre on a temporary basis. The selected instructors would design the courses, recommend the textbooks and reading materials, and deliver the courses in English at the Centre. The Chinese side would take responsibility for enroling trainees, providing logistical services, translating the reading materials into Chinese versions and offering interpretation services for the Canadian instructors in the classes. The first training program began in the fall of 1984. Since then, the China Management Training Centre at Chengdu has offered 26 management training programs. The success of these training programs could have an important effect on the economic reform in China. Therefore, it was important to study the CMTCC and assess the impacts of the training programs. The purpose of this research is to study the nature and operation, and examine the impacts of the CMTCC training programs on the trainees.

This thesis has analyzed those critical areas, which eighty-two Presidents of American Corporations believe are the most important with which a new President must concern himself during his first twelve months of operation.In addition, the thesis has made an attempt to condense the thinking of all the Presidents interviewed into a pattern of action that a new Chief Executive may follow. The pattern of action is supported by examples of documents in use today.The method of investigation used was by personal interviews with each President. The findings indicate a broad general agreement on principles and philosophies which are drawn together in the pattern of action.

The importance of managerial selection process to the success of an organisation has long been acknowledged. Yet, while an increasing amount of research has been carried out in the West, very few studies of a similar nature has been undertaken in South East Asia. As a result, very little is known on the techniques and practices used to select managers of local and foreign firms operating in this region. Focussing on firms operating in the Malaysian industry, this study attempts to bridge the knowledge gap by providing empirical evidence on the techniques and practices used to select managers of large local and foreign manufacturing firms operating in 3 areas of main industrial growth. It will also attempt to explain the reasons for employing these techniques and practices. This study also looks for any similarities or differences concerning the use of these techniques between these firms and those used in the West. Another concern of this study is to determine the factors which influenced these similarities or differences particularly between local and foreign firms. Data collected by mail survey from 60 firms and personal interviews with 32 firms illustrates that some firms in this study employ techniques used in the West to select managers such as the application form, cvs, interviews (both structured and unstructured), psychological (both personality and cognitive) tests and the assessment centre (Ae). None of these firms reported employing biodata, graphology and astrology. The findings also revealed broad similarities between local (Malaysian) and foreign (non-Malaysian) firms in terms of many of the techniques used : for example, both types of firms used the interview, application form, cvs, references, psychological (personalitty) test and the Assessment Centre and did not use the biodata, graphology and astrology. Nevertheless, there were some differences: in particular, the local firms did not use psychological (cognitive) tests. This study has also identified several factors which influenced these similarities and differences. It also illustrates that both formal and informal selection techniques were used by some practitioners to select external and internal candidate for the post of managers at al1 or some levels. Overall, this study supports the view that in HRM, the spread of ideas on selection techniques used to select managers is powerful although in practice, the differences in the way techniques are adopted rather than the differences in the types of techniques employed which allows for cultural influence to be most clearly felt.

This paper reviewed corporate universities (CUs) in China. It examined the conceptual underpinnings and definition of a CU, how it was organized, its roles in strategy and its major characteristics. It identified the relevant situation and issues in China, assessed their implications, and developed an a priori framework of CU in China in an attempt to describe and analyse how the “ideal” type of CU should be operated in China. Research was conducted to test the relevance of the framework. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2007.

The purpose of this qualitative-naturalistic-formative case study was to gain an insight into the design and implementation of the action learning Chinese Management Programme for disadvantaged Chinese managers who are incompetent in English language and have been deprived of Western management education. It is vital that they are provided with appropriate management training for them, so that they can achieve personal and professional development. Data or information is informative and descriptive of the current situation in Hong Kong. Because the research was of an exploratory nature, the study was based on research questions rather than hypotheses, it describes the design and implementation of the programme's dual-purpose of personal and professional development. The conclusion drawn from this research illustrates that managers can successfully operationalise action learning to bring about personal and professional development. The research contributes to the literature relating to action learning theory in use in Chinese culture. This case study generated data, interpretations and opinions such that interested parties are able to contemplate the development of Chinese managers. / Thesis (PhDManagement)--University of South Australia, 2005.