Despite governmental efforts to constrain residential energy consumption over recent decades, energy use within our homes accounts for a third of overall British energy use, and its share is steadily rising. Much of the existing academic and policy literature surrounding household energy consumption has revolved around developing more energy efficient technologies and buildings, as well as encouraging households to purchase those more efficient technologies. Conversely, less attention has been paid to the ways in which these technologies and homes are actually used, and how this influences a household’s energy consumption. Understanding how and why people use energy in the ways that they do, and how this varies according to spatial and temporal context, is critical to gaining an insight into the ways in which we might foster change and ultimately reduce domestic energy demand. In particular, this thesis sheds light on the dynamics of household energy demand in the rural sphere. This thesis draws on the accounts of 11 households in ‘deep’ rural Gwynedd that were recruited on the basis of their composition, ranging from single-person households, young families and emptying nests, in order to explore how consumption practices are patterned through the lifecourse. By employing practice theory, and combining it with concepts from geographical and life-course perspectives; the thesis produces rich, spatio-temporal and relational accounts of how household energy use has changed – or remained the same - through time. This necessarily meant engaging with things that matter to people – be that through valued relationships with places, significant others or with things. The ways in which we consume are necessarily connected to ideas about who to be and how to live, and as such, may be deeply connected to people’s identities. This has particular implications for policy interventions in that practices bound up with valued identities and ideals may prove resistant to change.

This thesis explores the occupational socialisation of Filipino merchant marine officer cadets through their experiences of maritime education and training (MET). The socialisation of the cadets is contextualised within the broad aim of the global and national regulations of MET to develop competent seafarers. In the international seafaring labour market, there is an increasing trend of labour participation of seafarers coming from the ‘new labour supplying countries’ (NLSCs). The Philippines is seen by industry insiders to be one of the top NLSCs for officers. However, the academic literature is silent about the experiences of officer cadets of their education and training especially those coming from NLSCs. Using multi-modal data collection tools such as in-depth interviews, field notes and document analysis, this qualitative study examines the experiences of the current and former cadets under the sponsored cadetship programs (SCPs) in the Philippines in order to analyse first-hand experiences of MET. The key findings of this thesis are: (a) SCPs are officer training platforms developed mainly by shipping companies to meet their sea-based labour needs and intended to comply with the Philippine standards of MET; (b) there are a variety of SCPs from which four models are described in this study; (c) SCPs utilise a ritualistic socialisation of cadets in college campus as key mechanism of training; and (d) there is a diversity of shipboard training experiences of cadets ranging from well-planned training programs to the complete absence of programs. The thesis concludes the following: (a) the quality of training experienced by the cadets is characterised as a highly regulated and reinforced professionalization process intent on producing certificated officers; (b) the SCPs are routes for migrant work for mainly male Filipinos being guaranteed a post-collegiate sea-based employment by their shipping patrons; (c) the socialisation of the cadets is influenced by processes of globalisation embodied in the global standards of MET enforced locally, and the role of international shipping companies in funding the recruitment and training of cadets as well as offering them post-training employment; and (d) in spite of global and local standards of MET, there is no common or shared understanding of the notion of seafaring competence among the trainers, which have affected the way competencies were taught and assessed.

The political and economic context following the election of the Coalition Government in 2010 has had a significant impact upon community safety work in England and Wales. More specifically, the governmental austerity agenda - the term given to policies aimed at reducing sovereign debt through reductions in public expenditure - and the introduction of locally elected Police and Crime Commissioners present a number of challenges for community safety and the local coordination of multi-agency partnership practices around crime and disorder. In addition, the currently dominant discourses and policies of localism and a decentralisation of power have placed greater emphasis on the role of locally situated actors in having to choose how to respond to the external political and economic constraints placed upon them. Borrowing and adapting concepts from regime theory, this research employs a single-embedded case study of community safety in Cardiff to examine how the Cardiff policy ‘regime’ has sought to respond to the current economic and political climate. Building upon the analytical framework offered by regime theory, and utilising a combination of ethnographic observations, interviews and documentary analysis of policy texts over the last two decades, this thesis explores the changes to the governing arrangements in Cardiff, from a well resourced multi-agency community safety team, to the dispersal of responsibility for community safety under the guise of integration and reducing complexity. Demonstrating the opportunities presented by localism the research finds evidence of an attempt to form a governing regime around a ‘transformative’ strategic agenda orientated around ideas of social justice and civic inclusion. However, illustrating the constraints on this freedom afforded to local governing actors, the realisation of this strategic agenda has been compromised by changes to the governing arrangements in Cardiff that have resulted in a degradation of governing capacity for community safety and the hollowing out of community safety expertise in the city. Accordingly, the research finds evidence of a disparity between the transformative rhetoric of the shared strategic agenda, and the fragmented and divergent operational practices of community safety. This use of regime theory makes an original contribution to the nascent conceptual and empirical debate about the contested and uncertain future of community safety in an age of austerity. It highlights the need for further locally situated case studies that can disambiguate the political agency available to local policy actors and the external political and economic constrains placed upon them.

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.