Infrastructure, such as dams, weirs and culverts, disrupt the longitudinal connectivity of rivers, causing adverse impacts on fish and other species. This compromises the ability of river ecosystems to provide a range of services that contribute to human well-being. Improving fish passage at artificial barriers is an economic river restoration policy option that can improve the delivery of river ecosystem services provision. Whilst a number of methodologies exist to cost-effectively prioritize barriers for mitigation action, there is also now considerable interest in estimating the economic benefits of increased ecosystem service provision from investing in this activity. This is relevant in a number of policy contexts, including the Water Framework Directive in the EU. This thesis presents a novel bio-economic model that addresses the dual problem of prescribing cost optimal river barrier mitigation solutions whilst, simultaneously, estimating the social benefit of undertaking this activity. Minimal cost solutions are obtained for the problem of barrier mitigation decisions using a mixed integer linear program (MILP). The benefit from marginal improvements in river connectivity and fish species responses is then estimated using the Choice Experiment method. Incorporating these benefit estimates into the MILP generates the final bio-economic model. The specific advantage of this approach is it can readily inform cost benefit analysis of river barrier mitigation policy. The methods are demonstrated using the River Wey in South East England, containing over 650 artificial barriers, as a case study. For the case study, the benefits of investing in river barrier mitigation exceed costs at all budget levels, with the most socially efficient level of investment identified as approximately £30M.

The principal objective of this research is to investigate the institutional logics of artistic innovation in the context of contemporary visual arts. Contemporary art is a challenging field because there are no universal rules that determine artistic innovation, which inevitably relies on subjective justifications. Contemporary art institutions increasingly compete to display artistic innovation through their curatorial work, which derives from and shapes their institutional logics. The analysis in this study seeks to demystify the production of artistic innovation within contemporary art institutions, shedding light on the complex institutional dynamics that stem from interactions between artists, curators, patrons and art institutions. This thesis contributes to the existing theory a framework, based on the sociological thought of Becker and Bourdieu, which shows artistic innovation to be an organisational phenomenon. This conceptual framework is used to investigate the institutionalisation of art, in which artistic innovation is discursively constructed as a claim for authenticity. Such a claim expands knowledge structures concerning contemporary art and creates new identities for artists, creative agents and art institutions. The thesis makes a further contribution in that it seeks to advance organisational theory, and to provide insights into a field in which logics shift as a result of constantly changing power dynamics in order to fuel artistic innovations. The empirical focus of this study is the Young British Artists (YBAs), an art movement that emerged from London in the early 1990s, receiving support from powerful patrons, such as Charles Saatchi and art institutions including the Tate. This analysis contributes insights into the symbolic construction of artistic innovation, as the discourse of the YBAs facilitated their establishment as an art movement within the artistic field, and reinforced the position of the agents that appropriated this discourse. The case of the YBAs also demonstrates the importance of context for contemporary art production, as London provided the appropriate conditions for artistic innovation to flourish. Through its presentation of the social organisation of artistic innovation, this thesis demystifies contemporary art as the product of power relations and a stimulus of shifting logics in art institutions. Methodologically, this thesis contributes to the practice of critical discourse analysis, inserting a chronological dimension into Fairclough’s (2010) multilevel framework, in order to show how artistic discourses evolve while transforming the institution of art.

Leadership potential is now one of the most desirable traits in candidates applying for a job or promotion (Church, 2014), and experimental evidence proposes that leadership potential is preferable to previous leadership performance in leadership candidates (Tormala, Jia, & Norton, 2012). Reports suggests that it is possible for men to progress on their future leadership potential whereas women progress on their past leadership performance (Catalyst, 2013; McKinsey, 2012). However, this has yet to be empirically tested and very little is known about the social and psychological processes behind the relationship between gender and leadership potential. This thesis presents a series of nine studies investigating leadership potential and gender in hiring situations. These studies indicate that male candidates who demonstrate leadership potential are the most likely to be selected ahead of other equally qualified candidates, whereas female candidates are selected on the basis of leadership performance. The robustness of the association between leadership potential and gender was further reinforced by examining its relationship in different management levels (junior vs. senior; Studies 5-7) and social contexts (masculine vs. feminine; Studies 8 & 9). Moreover, this thesis starts to explore the psychological constructs behind the preference for leadership potential in male candidates and the preference for leadership performance in female candidates (Study 9). The theoretical and practical implications are discussed, in addition to future directions for research.

The roles of deputy and pro vice chancellors (DPVCs) are changing and so is the way they are being appointed. This study examines (i) why many pre-1992 English universities are moving from an internal, fixed-term secondment model of DPVC appointment to one incorporating external open competition; and (ii) what the implications of change are for individual careers and management capacity building. At a theoretical level, it explores the extent to which DPVC appointment practice is symptomatic of ideal-type managerialism and subjects the prevailing academic narrative - that the power of academics has declined in relation to that of managers - to critical examination in the light of the findings. The research, which uses a mixed-methods design incorporating a census, online survey and 73 semi-structured interviews, has generated some unexpected findings. Notably, the opening up of DPVC posts to external open competition has resulted in a narrowing, rather than a diversification, of the gender and professional profile of successful candidates. Therefore, although this change to DPVC recruitment practice was motivated by a meritocratic “quest for the best,” it cannot be said to have improved management capacity in the sense of increasing the likelihood that the best candidates are attracted and appointed from the widest possible talent pool. On the contrary, the findings are suggestive of conservatism, homosociability and social closure, whereby academic managers maintain their privileged status by ring-fencing DPVC posts to the exclusion of other occupational groups. DPVCs are also expanding their professional jurisdiction by colonising the university’s management space. Far from declining, academics’ power is thus being consolidated, albeit by a few elite career track academic managers. Moreover, although there is some evidence of a managerial ideology with respect to the DPVC appointment model, it is a context-specific ‘academic-managerialism’ rather than a generic ideal type.

Healthcare is recognised as a complex high risk industry that demands effective management of the risks presented. A total of 260 NHS Trusts were surveyed to identify the risk management arrangements in place. The results were analysed alongside three different sources of nationally published data (CQC, Monitor and NHSLA) to determine if certain organisational or system characteristics existed that would either predetermine risk performance or predispose the Trust to a higher or lower level of performance. The results successfully dispelled a number of preconceptions relating to the size and status of the Trust in determining the performance achieved. However what was evident was the influence that the Trust’s culture and commitment to risk has on the safety and quality of services delivered. A second finding was the significant influence of central policy in the arrangements that organisations had in place from the presentation and content of risk strategy documents, criteria considered and executive leadership. The constraints of a national policy applied locally potentially limits the effectiveness of the processes in managing risk. It was concluded that whilst central policy may help in standardising how risk is managed current arrangements focus arrangements to narrowly. As a result the role of central policy makers should be to set principles that draw on and translate best practice from other high risk industries and encourage local health leaders to flex the approach to reflect local needs and priorities. This local flex should aim to integrate with other corporate programmes to ensure that risk is embedded in all decision making and the risk of the safety and quality of patients is considered alongside risks that may be perceived to be a higher priority such as operational targets and financial balance.

There is a significant amount of existing research on the topic of project management that dates back to Gaddis’ 1959 seminal paper “The Project Manager”. Most organisations recognise the role that projects play in bringing beneficial change to the business (Cooke-Davies, 2002; Kwak and Anbari, 2008; Maylor et al, 2006; Smyth and Morris, 2007; Kloppenborg and Opfer, 2002) and they increasingly use project management processes to seek to improve business results (Mathur et al, 2007). However, the “projectification” of business has not proved to be the panacea that individuals and organisations hoped (Maylor et al, 2006). Despite the volume of research conducted, limited insight has been made in explaining why project management success rates remain so low (Lyytinen and Robey, 1999; Cooke-Davies, 2002; McManus and Wood-Harper, 2008; Thomas and Fernandez, 2008). Without a single theoretical base for explaining and guiding successful project management, various different theoretical approaches, have been patched together (Winter et al, 2006b), leading to a knowledge base which is “unstable and fragmented” (Cicmil and Hodgson, 2006b, p. 115). Smyth and Morris urge academics and practitioners to work together to find “an eclectic mix” of concepts and theoretical underpinnings to be used to improve project outcomes (2007, p. 423). This research sought to understand the success criteria and critical success factors necessary for successful IS project management in the NHS. Through an ethnographic approach this research, uses academic and professional literature and practical experience, and sought to contribute to the ‘eclectic mix’ of knowledge and contribute to a deeper understanding of what is actually happening inside projects (Blomquist et al, 2010; Cicmil, et al, 2006, Winter et al, 2006b). This research found that those criteria in the iron triangle of success (Atkinson, 1999), particularly adherence to budget and schedule, are still prioritised at the expense of other criteria. It found that the organisation understood the importance of the various critical success factors on the project’s outcome but did not apply them in reality. Finally the research found extensive evidence of magic bullet thinking, a belief that the delivery of the new IT/IS alone would result in business change and benefits realisation across the entire organisation.

It is essential that all countries operate a form of blood banking service, where blood is collected at donation sessions, stored and then distributed to local healthcare providers. It is imperative that these services are efficiently managed to ensure a safe supply of blood and that costs and wastages are kept minimal. Previous works in the area of blood management have focussed primarily on the perishable inventory problem and on routing blood deliveries to hospitals; there has been relatively little work focusing on scheduling blood donation sessions. The primary aim of this research is to provide a tool that allows the National Blood Service (the English and Welsh blood service) to schedule donation sessions so that collection targets are met in such a way that costs are minimised (the Blood Scheduling Problem). As secondary aims, the research identifies the key types of data that blood services should be collecting for this type of problem. Finally, various what-if scenarios are considered, specifically improv- ing donor attendance through paying donors and the proposed changes to the inter-donation times for male and female donors. The Blood Scheduling Problem is formulated as a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) problem and solved using a variable bound heuristic. Data from the South East of England is used to create a collection schedule, with all further analysis also being carried out on this data set. It was possible to make improvements to the number of units under collected in the current schedule, moreover the number of venues and panels operated could be reduced. Further- more, it was found that paying donors to donate was uneconomical. Finally, changing the inter-donation times could lead to a reduction in the number of shortfalls, even when demand was increased by as much as 20%. Though the model is specific to England and Wales, it can easily be adapted to other countries’ blood services. It is hoped that this model will provide blood services with a model to help them better schedule donation sessions and allow them to identify the data necessary to better understand their performance.