This thesis explores the practice of intercessory wasta; the strong family and tribal-based connections secured in networks in the Arab world. In doing so the social capital lens, particularly bonding and bridging social capital, is adopted as the main lens to investigate HRM, recruitment and selection, and line managers’ perceptions of the impact of wasta on employment selection in Jordan. Identity research, namely social identity theory, social categorisation theory and role identity theory, is used to extend on and critique social capital theory as the main theoretical lens in exploring wasta. Often the use of wasta in employee selection is related to favouritism and nepotism and the many negative outcomes of not adhering to merit-based selection. The researcher adopts a qualitative and interpretivist approach in conducting and analysing seventeen in-depth interviews in fourteen case study banks operating in Jordan. By being the first research to explore the impact of wasta on employee selection in banks operating in Jordan using the social capital as the main theoretical lens, particularly bonding and bridging social capital, this thesis contributes to knowledge in respect of social capital and wasta. It was found that, contrary to the general premise that social capital is beneficial for both job seekers and organisations when utilised in employee selection, wasta has both positive and negative outcomes depending on the way the intermediary is used. On the one hand wasta can be used by calling on a powerful intermediary who can help grant individuals unfair access to employment that is beyond their qualifications, skills, knowledge and abilities. Wasta can also be used as part of an exchange process where individuals can be employed in exchange for a present or future benefit bestowed on the organisation or the decision maker by the intermediary. Organisational context is relevant in this respect however. In banking, not all roles are open to wasta. Where the possible negative impact on the organisation poses too great a risk decision makers feel able to resist even strong wasta. Importantly the findings also highlight some positive uses of wasta. These emerged mainly in the context of wasta as a method to transfer information over structural holes between the organisation and the job seeker.

The primary aim of this research is to explore how the urban regeneration policies and practices are shaped by the larger social, political and economic structures respectively in China and the UK and how individual agents involved in the regeneration process formulate their strategies and take their actions and at the same time use discourses to legitimize their actions. It further probed the lessons could be learned by both countries from each other’s success or failure in implementing the regeneration initiatives. This thesis adopts a cross-national comparative strategy and intensively referenced the Variegated Neoliberalism, Neoliberal Urbanism and Critical Urban theory when developing its theoretical framework. The comparison was conducted at three levels. At national level, the evolution of urban regeneration and public participation policies and practices in both countries are compared; at city level, the neoliberal urban policies and their impacts on the development of two selected cities, which are respectively Liverpool in the UK and Xi’an in China are compared; at the micro level, the major players’ interactions and the discourses they used to underpin their actions in two selected case studies, which are the Kensington Regeneration in Liverpool and Drum Tower Muslim District in Xi’an are examined and compared. In carrying out the study, literatures regarding the transformation of urban policies in the two countries, detailed information in relation to the two selected cities and case studies are reviewed. Around 35 semi-structured interviews have been conducted. The research results had demonstrated the suitability of the Variegated Neoliberalism in explaining how the process of neoliberalization in both China and the UK are affected by non-market elements. It is found that the stage of economic development, the degree of decentralization, the feature of politics and the degree of state intervention in economic areas had played a significant role in shaping the unique features of urban regeneration policies in the two countries. In spite of the differences, similar trends towards neoliberalization could be found in the evolution of urban regeneration policies and practices in both countries, including the elimination of public housing and low-rent accommodation, the creation of opportunities for speculative investment in real estate markets, the official discourses of urban disorder as well as the ‘entrepreneurial’ discourses and representations focused on urban revitalization and reinvestment are playing significant roles in the formation and implementation of regeneration policies in both countries. Moreover, similar tactics are used by municipal government in both countries to conquer resistances from local residents. In the research, it is also found that the discourses used by the municipal government in describing the regeneration project is heavily influenced by the Neoliberal Urbanism, which is significantly different from that used by local residents who intensively referenced concepts from the Critical Urban theory. It is suggested that the Chinese government should from its British counterpart’s experience in introducing partnerships in delivering urban regeneration programs and at the same to learn how to use the formal venues to resolve conflicts resulted in physical regeneration programs. For the British government, lessons could be learnt from China’s successful experiences in decentralization and the empowerment of municipalities.

Two major new strategies of modern organisations, transforming to a Knowledge Based Organisation (KBO) to survive and gain sustained competitive advantage, and adopting ICT and Web enabled strategies (e-Business) are becoming increasingly interdependent. This is a critical factor particularly in the oil and gas industry especially in countries with oil-based economies. Research in this area is still growing and gaps exist in the knowledge of the subject. A comprehensive research on e-business strategies and the role of a KBO in developing and implementing it, with a view to integrate it with Knowledge Management (KM) strategy and KM systems, in the oil and gas industry, is the focus of this research. How e-business strategies and KM strategies are interrelated, what factors determine the effectiveness and success of each of the strategies, and how these factors interact in the overall success of the organisation to become a modern KBO are the questions the research seeks answers for. A research model was developed after the integration of KM and e-business models and strategies and a KBO model, which were designed as a conceptual framework. Conceptually the outcome of the integration of KM and e-business strategies for transforming an organisation to a KBO would be an e-enabled knowledge network. The research propositions were designed based on the research model. A qualitative research methodology was designed and methods including a case study and interviews were used to collect data with a semi-structured questionnaire supported by secondary data. An expert panel was also formed of seven academic and professional experts in the Iranian oil and gas industry. The outcomes from the panel included identifying cases studies (NIOC and NIGC and their subsidiaries (31 SBUs and companies) based on the Bain model), validating the research model and the questionnaire based on method of the CVI (The index of content validity), and also performing final review of the results. The research results were analysed using Nvivo. The study demonstrated how e-business strategy and KM strategy should be developed and integrated to support the organisation to become a KBO. The results show that the e-enabled knowledge network assists an organisation to become a KBO, when it impacts on internal competencies, strategic capabilities and organisation performance. Also, technological, organisational and individual barriers, which prevent the organisation to become a knowledge-based organisation were identified in the oil and gas industry.

This thesis aims to craft a richer description, and deeper understanding, of the work of middle managers in strategy making. In so doing, this study brings together the concepts of connectivity and strategic choice in order to elaborate how middle managers’ roles unfold during a strategy building exercise. The influence of connectivity on middle managers’ strategic choices is traced over the life span of a major strategic initiative in a telecommunication company. A careful examination of the connectivity literature paved the way for a conceptualised working mechanism of connectivity. The thesis introduces this conceptualised working mechanism to the strategic management stream of literature. The proposed mechanism captures managerial connectivity and investigates connectivity’s influence throughout various periods of the formulation and implementation phases of the strategic initiative. The context for the research project is a telecommunication company located in Jordan. The collection of data comes from an in-depth case study with reference to a significant strategic initiative. The initiative concerned a major expansion to the firm’s operations that concerned extending the company’s offerings to wider range of services and newer geographical areas. The case study approach in this research is informed by critical realism ontology. Furthermore, the interviews with managers -top and middle- who worked on the expansion project constitute the primary source of data. An inductive reasoning to the research inquiry along with a theory building exercise led to the development of the research propositions. These propositions are then depicted in a theoretical model aimed at addressing the research question which centres on how connectivity influences strategic choice of middle managers. The research findings, and their related discussions about connectivity’s role in forming middle managers’ strategic choices, disclose the importance of incorporating managerial connectivity to understand strategy making and implementation processes. This thesis makes the case for the introduction of managerial connectivity as a primary influence in the organisational studies. The thesis argues that presenting strategy process via a connectivity lens sheds light onto how different states of connectivity, under varying conditions, influence the strategy work of managers and the progression of strategic 3 initiatives. Theorising through the lens of connectivity will aid in understanding of complex processes such as of strategy making in the organisation. This thesis sheds light on the interplay between managers, the connection of their interplay to organisational strategy formation, and the formation of choices managers make while strategising. Including connectivity in strategy process research enriches strategic management conversation revolving around participation and involvement. Such inclusion also has implications on middle management perspective of strategy process research in terms of fine graining both their roles and contribution dynamics in strategy making and implementation. Finally, viewing strategy making and implementation from a standpoint of managerial connectivity has implications for management as to how and when to compress and/or expand connectivity to suit the requirements of a given strategy in order to realise its objectives and obtain its benefits.

This study begins with the clinical observation that psychopathic patients distort and disrupt the organisation containing and caring for them on one hand, and that organisational leaders manage to galvanise followers into realising his vision on the other; the two seeming to be phenomenologically similar; the former is organisationally effective antisocially, and the latter, pro-socially; one destructive and one creative. The study explores the implications of this observation through the sociological, psychological and leadership literatures, having focussed on the question of how managers are effective within organisations and to what extent is the personality or psychopathy of a manager a critical variable. Examining Hitler as a crucial case study, who as a leader combined effectiveness, charisma and a personality cult with a violent and psychopathic regime, the study uses a hermeneutic phenomenology methodology. Having looked at the case through the triangulated lenses of personality, historical context (structure) and managerial case history (agent), the study concludes that charisma rather than psychopathy may the critical success factor, and it proposes and describes a concept of "managerial agency" as a capability that combines charismatic with transactional and more coercive leadership. It argues that the sociological dualism of structure and agency ontologically are the same, such that social structures are collectively held (structurated) ideas. In an organisational (managerial) context they are divided by a relationship between the owner of the structure and the agent. The managerial agent, charismatically uses inspiration of and care for the individual subordinate, to modify (structurate) their psychology and attitudes, establishing energetic adherence to the manager’s task, which influence can be strengthened with more hierarchical transactional factors.

Early-years education in Wales is provided through a mixed economy of maintained and non-maintained settings. In 2008, the Foundation Phase curriculum was introduced for children aged 3-7 years. This research draws from Bernstein’s (1996, 2000) concept of recontextualisation and the thesis analyses two substantive areas to investigate how the curriculum is: produced, relocated and reproduced. The study occurred between 2012 and 2013 and included a range of methods. First, semi-structured interviews with four early years’ advisors who were involved in the initial stage of the pedagogy’s production generated insight into the challenges and complexities of knowledge transformation. These accounts introduce the various themes and theories appropriated, as the policy moved from its official domain of the State to be relocated, recontextualised and reproduced by twelve practitioners located across three preschool sites. The two non-maintained settings and one statutory setting provided variation, to investigate the structuration of the curriculum as positioned in the context of space, material culture and pedagogical practice. In view of the localised values and other embedded distinctions, exposed through interviews with the practitioners, the second part of the investigation focuses on the children. Findings, created through the administration of specially designed instruments, helped to investigate how thirty children interpret the Foundation Phase’s material culture and the spaces that they occupy, as part of their everyday preschool experiences. Drawing from research by Ivinson and Duveen (2005, 2006), the instruments included ten pictures, representing artefacts and spatial contexts that the children were already familiar with within their preschools. A series of tasks, administered through one-to-one interviews, helped to explore how children recognised and interpreted the material culture of the setting, as instantiated by the practitioners. The study also included over sixty hours of non-participant observations, to explore the children’s movements as they negotiated between the aesthetic, textural and positional layering of the curriculum’s indoor and outdoor spaces. Findings from the tasks and observations expose new concepts and contexts of preschool pedagogical experiences that are relevant for further investigation. This research has found that practitioners recontextualise and reproduce the Foundation Phase curriculum in relation to their values and beliefs in what the child’s development requires. These intentions become instantiated in the material culture of the setting and become recontextualised by the children, as part of their everyday preschool experience.

Despite a mass expansion of the higher education sector in the UK since the 1960s, young people from disadvantaged backgrounds remain less likely to enter university (and in particular elite institutions) than their advantaged counterparts. Governmental approaches to narrowing this gap have tended to revolve around the provision of greater information and a raising of aspirations. This thesis contributes to sociological knowledge through exploring young people’s aspirations and opportunities in light of this context, paying close attention to how these are shaped through interactions with the institution of education. It does so through a focus on three schools in one city in England. Grand Hill Grammar (an independent fee paying school), Einstein High (a state-maintained school in a wealthy area) and Eagles Academy (a state-maintained school in a disadvantaged area). The fieldwork included a survey of over 800 pupils in years 7, 9 and 11 in each school, semi-structured interviews with 6-8 pupils per year per school and one careers advisor per school (n=60). Overall, whilst there were notable differences in the expression of occupational and educational aspirations across the three schools, my findings question a direct causal relationship between social class and aspiration. I found many young people in all schools aspiring to attend university and get a ‘good job’. Nevertheless, this thesis highlights the everyday institutional structures and practices at play which were powerfully rendering young people more or less able to pursue a desired pathway. This was largely manifest in the differential structures of GCSE and A Level options alongside variations in the practices of careers advisors in each school. In this thesis I offer a critique of the dominant political conception of ‘aspiration’, offering instead a Bourdieusian account which considers the role of what I call institutional concerted cultivation in the reproduction of social class inequality.

This research views the problem of delayed motherhood as a complexity of time: firstly, within the life trajectory of the child/adolescent/young woman/mid-life adult, and secondly, in relation to inherited factors that came before her entry into this life, threatening to continue after it. The thesis argues, from an advocacy perspective, for a period of mid-life that we could call a Pregnant Pause, which, as the research demonstrates, points to an early rupture in nurturing and relating. The research follows 8 women who have become pregnant in mid life. Using interviews, dream diaries and the Word Association Test, the thesis identifies those factors within personal, cultural and collective complexes influencing onset of late procreative desire. These are discussed in relation to causation and teleological continua. The empirical work yielded data rich in presentations of difficulties with the maternal parent, while the paternal parent remained marginalized. In parallel, the presence of a male sibling was found to have a significant effect on how women unconsciously organized their lives into two parts, “first Adam, then Eve”, insofar as identities around work and the maternal were concerned. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the interconnection between the individuating woman and the culture in which she is born, arguing that delayed motherhood is both an act of rebellion and redemption. Identification of a Pregnant Pause within these life trajectories clarifies three phases of delayed motherhood: before a baby, desperate for a baby, and after the baby. The implications of this research are discussed in parallel as dissociation from trauma, facing into earlier trauma with renewed determination, and transformations inspired by the Trickster archetype. The implications of this research range from, how not to raise a daughter, through to raising awareness on how the mother-daughter relationship impacts delayed motherhood and thus society, ultimately to address the need to re-imagine a national health service that values the personal and social impact on women who have lived their lives in two parts. This research aims to serve women who have no other means of redeeming their lost years except to find support for a reproductive identity through the NHS.

With Welsh Government and European Structural Fund (ESF) support, Welsh universities have been incentivised to engage regional employers in ‘upskilling’ working adults and encourage non-traditional routes into higher education. Participating universities have provided short accredited courses through work-based learning projects in subject areas identified as having skills deficits. Such instrumental curricula brought with them the need for tailored pedagogies and assessment strategies to support the achievement of higher education credits for these non-traditional university students. It is here that the link to the thesis’ theoretical framing is established. It draws on sociological curriculum theory that distinguishes and assigns power differentials to curriculum and which cautions against an overemphasis on skills-based knowledge within vocational curriculum. The premise is proposed that the knowledge type inherent to these work-based learning courses is very different to mainstream university curriculum and distances itself from theoretical ‘powerful’ knowledge (Young 2008) to the point it becomes powerless. Questions of curriculum equity within higher education are thus raised and considered in view of these courses as a recognised form of widening access to higher education activity. The empirical component of the thesis is qualitative and relates the experiences of work-based learning university lecturers and course participants to curriculum theory and the epistemic access (Morrow 2009) to which course participants were exposed. Twelve semi-structured interviews with university lecturers from three Welsh universities were undertaken along with six focus groups comprising work-based learning course participants. Findings reveal that characteristics associated with both widening access and powerful knowledge were apparent but inconsistent. For many stakeholders, the raison d'etre of the courses was the tangible ‘upskilling’ offered. Such views problematised the accredited higher education component of the courses. Conclusions offer that the approach taken by individual course participants and the lecturers’ pedagogic practice were key determinants in how courses were delivered, received and the extent to which powerful knowledge could be identified. This individual orientation similarly determined the potential for these courses to be transformative educational experiences.

Interventions to improve young peoples’ health are commonly delivered via schools. Challenges in changing the functioning of complex school systems are commonly underestimated and recognition is growing that interventions cannot be described in isolation from the contexts they attempt to alter. However, school health research has typically paid less attention to understanding schools’ current orientations toward health improvement than to attempts to introduce change. This thesis analyses data from a survey of schools to explore variability in their responses to school-level health needs data in terms of its discussion, distribution and perceived likelihood of impact on health improvement. It then employs ego social network analysis, focused on Wellbeing Leads within four case study schools, to identify potential explanations for variability between schools, before undertaking semi-structured interviews with staff, students and parents within each case study school to qualitatively explore health-related system functioning. Results highlighted the potential role of staff seniority in explaining schools’ variable engagement with feedback. Highly organised structures with allocation of responsibility for wellbeing to a member of senior management, systematisation of dedicated wellbeing roles, a high level of brokerage and embeddedness of outside agencies within school systems were characteristics of the more engaged case study schools. These factors were found to contribute to the orientation of school systems towards health in terms of engaging parents, implementing Personal and Social Education and promoting a healthy school ethos. By examining system functioning through a complex systems lens, whilst layering theory within this to facilitate its practical application, and employing mixed methodology, this thesis furthers our understanding of how variance in existing school system dynamics may impede or facilitate efforts to respond to student health needs. This higher level of understanding could be utilised to design complex interventions, which work with the system to achieve change.