In the established field of leadership studies, Relational Leadership is a relatively new and under explored view of a familiar phenomenon. Scholars conceptualise Relational Leadership differently depending upon their philosophical position, in particular whether they privilege leaders’ traits and characteristics (known as an entity perspective) or foreground the relationships and interactions that enable leadership to be accomplished (a social constructionist relational perspective). To date there have been relatively few empirical studies that research Relational Leadership from a social constructionist perspective. This thesis adds to this underdeveloped body of empirical literature. The study uses data from an in-depth ethnographic single case study comprising the executive team of a large and complex UK local authority. The study took place as members of the executive team grappled with previously unheard of economic and social challenges following the global financial crash of 2007/8. Data is drawn from participant observation of the executive team’s meetings over a one year period, a series of in-depth interviews with executive team members, and a contextual analysis incorporating a review of relevant press coverage during the time. The study’s research question was: How is leadership relationally accomplished? The question was subsequently operationalised through the following additional three questions: Q1: How are relational strategies adopted by the case study team? Q2: How do these relational strategies support the accomplishment of the team’s strategic task? Q3: What contextual factors impact and are impacted by the relational strategies that are commonly adopted within the team? Adopting a Grounded Theory method, a theory of Relational Leadership as Meaningful Co-Action is developed. Meaningful Co-Action epitomises the ways in which the group went-on-together in socially and situationally developed ways through their moment-by-moment interactions. Social processes gave rise to individual process mediated through 6 contextual constraining and enabling forces. It was adherence to relational group norms that allowed the collective accomplishment of their leadership task. The study makes empirical, methodological and practice contributions. These are: Empirical Contribution Building on what is a relatively small body of theory on Relational Leadership, for the first time in a UK local authority Executive Team. Developing a theory of Relational Leadership as Meaningful Co-Action as the way that leadership was accomplished in the case study organization. Methodological Contribution Makes a contribution to Grounded Theory by explicitly utilising reflexivity towards disconfirming data as a mechanism for establishing theoretical sensitivity. Practice Contribution The findings from this study may inform the practice of management, particularly organization consultants working with leaders and teams.

This is a study of strategy development and implementation based upon interviews with senior BBC executives. It explores how and why the BBC became the first major UK broadcaster to pioneer on-demand and to devise a Public Value Test for all new services. It does so through three case studies: a regulatory mechanism, the Public Value Test, and two examples of digital innovation: the iPlayer on-demand service, and the BBC Creative Archive. The research questions are: how and why did the BBC develop and implement an on-demand strategy during its Charter renewal process between 2002 and 2007; what was the process; what factors affected the decision-makers, what issues and dilemmas did they confront; and how effective have they been? This research investigates how the BBC responded to a two-fold crisis that threatened both the relevance and legitimacy of public service broadcasting. It builds upon an institutionalist perspective to examine how changes in the dynamics of UK broadcasting, in particular growing tensions between the institutional logics of public service and marketisation, affected the Corporation’s incumbent position within its organisational field, and undermined its ability to launch innovative digital services such as the iPlayer, because of difficulties in establishing a clear distinction between what was legitimate public service online and what should be left to commercial competitors to provide. The findings illuminate the complex relationship between organisational legitimacy and institutional culture, and ask why the BBC devised the Public Value Test, first applied to its proposals for the iPlayer and on-demand provision, how successful this was in enabling the BBC to redefine its own remit, and what the consequences were. It finds that BBC strategy development combined elements of rational long-range planning with improvisation and opportunism, and suggests a dysfunctional relationship between its proactive approach to long-term planning and its process of digital innovation. This finding of a culture of innovation at the BBC challenges the argument that attributes “disruptive innovation” to private sector insurgents rather than incumbents, especially those in the public sector.

Research conducted over the past twenty years has demonstrated the impact of parental ‘problem’ substance use on the lives of young adults (Velleman & Orford, 1999; Bancroft et al, 2004; Järvinen, 2013). Despite this increased awareness, public policies continue to exclude this group. This research sought to explore the ‘problem’ with parental substance use from the perspective of affected young adults (aged 16 – 30). Additionally, this research sought to contribute a contemporary, sociological interpretation of the problem to a field dominated by psychological literature. This research was undertaken from a feminist perspective, and involved a wide range of research methods: minimally structured interviews, participant observation, visual methods, and qualitative secondary data analysis. The accounts derived from these sources are complemented through the inclusion of autoethnographic, reflexive vignettes, where I situate myself – as someone with lived experience – in relation to the literature, the process of conducting research, and the data. The data chapters presented respond to three key research questions. The first considers how young adults use different approaches and engage with dominant theoretical approaches to engage in processes of ‘making sense’ of parental substance use. Following this, Ketokivi’s (2010) perspective of ‘disruptive events’ – as based on Bury’s (1982) influential theory of ‘biographical disruption’ – is utilised as a route to considering the disruptive force of parental substance use in the lives of affected young adults. Finally, the last data chapter employs Emerson’s (2015) ‘personal troubles’ framework, in conjunction with the concept of ‘candidacy’ (Dixon-Woods et al, 2006; Mackenzie et al, 2015) to consider how young people respond and react to the ‘problem’. In conclusion, this thesis argues for adopting a relational interpretation of the ‘problem’ of parental substance use. Furthermore, this research presents a strong case for considering the ways in which disciplinary and methodological boundaries are blurred. This research contributes to contemporary debates in wider bodies of work within the sociologies of substance use, youth, families, relationships, and intimacy. It concludes by making recommendations for the development of policy and practice, and highlighting potential avenues for further research.

In this thesis, I develop and then test an approach to mentoring that after Clutterbuck (1991), I call, Professional Friendship. This is to better understand the role of mentoring more broadly and that of learning mentors in particular. My hypothesis examines the problem of: ‘To what extent is professional friendship a core component of successful mentoring relationships?’ I begin with an examination of the importance of mentoring generally and the role of the learning mentor specifically, before critically accessing the literature on both to date. I then explain the origin of Professional Friendship and give my own definition, before testing its validity in a study of the role of learning mentors in a large West Midlands Education Service. I use five sources of data: a systematic literature search; a mentee questionnaire; a set of mentoring case studies provided mainly by mentors; in depth interviews with mentors; and my own lived experience. The data shows me that Professional Friendship is a core component of successful mentoring relationships and that may be of broad benefit; certainly it is useful in assessing the role of learning mentors. However, the analysis also leads me to suggest ways in which the construct can be adapted and improved.

Within peacebuilding, there is a growing understanding of the need to develop a more robust understanding of the bottom up view of peacebuilding due to numerous failures to achieve the liberal peace over the years. There is a growing consensus that the liberal peace is insufficient to achieve sustainable peace in post conflict countries, but understandable uncertainty exists about how to achieve peace in post-liberal context. The thesis sets out to expand our understanding of what the experiences of everyday judicial hybridity in South Kivu can contribute to current peacebuilding approaches. By examining 104 different user narratives with various judicial service in South Kivu, DRC conducted between May 2014 and August 2014, this research tries to understand how individuals understand and navigate through the judicial landscape. This study concludes that justice is South Kivu judicial users desires for judicial experiences are not unique, but are contain universal characteristics. While there are opportunities to build upon what is working for users, the long term solutions for sustainable peace remain at the mercy of political solutions.

The question which formed the starting point of this research, and which has provided the central thread in this work is 'how can the later integration of Dutch women into the formal economy, compared to British women, in the period between 1940 and 1990, be explained?' This study looks at this question from (1) a macro perspective and (2) from the perspective of a middle-range case-study in the banking sector. In the macro perspective, theoretical discussions on how the post-war increase in women's participation in the labour market may be explained, and how comparative differences between industrialised countries in this respect may be explained, are brought forward. This provides the basis for a comparative historical investigation in which three historical periods are highlighted; the Second World War years, the post-war years (1945-1970) and the contemporary period (1970-1990). Particular reference is made to such issues as the marriage bar in employment and changes in ideological notions around women's paid employment. Changes in the gender composition of bank staff, and comparative differences in these changes, are investigated in their own right. This is done within the context of the same historical periods, though different theoretical considerations are taken into account. This case-study is in turn used to contrast what is occurring on the aggregate level with the banking sector. This highlights (1) the culturally specific histories of each society in relation to the themes investigated and (2) the particularity of the banking sectors in each society and their employment organisation.

This thesis examines the construction and articulation of diasporic cultural ident4y among Turkish male hip-hop youth living in Kreuzberg, Berlin. The research reflects upon the narratives and life-worlds of two predominantly male youth groups, whose 'habitats of meaning' are primarily defined by the ethnic enclave in which they are living. The research strategy mainly involves qualitative research techniques such as 'rapport', 'in-depth interviews' and 'semi-structured interviews', and attempts to go beyond the dichotomy of 'objectivism' and 'subjectivism' by combining the two in a hybrid form. The main assumption of this study is that Berlin-Turkish hip-hop youngsters have recently developed a politics of diaspora to cope with their structural outsiderism in their country of settlement. The social and cultural space created by Turkish migrants and their descendants in Kreuzberg, or in what they call 'Little Istanbul', constitutes a diasporic space which provides the modem diasporic subject with a syotholic bridge between the diaspora and their homeland. In this diasporic space, they tend to gain an 'imagined sense of belonging' to their homeland Turkey, which has been 'deferred' as a spiritual, cultural and political metaphor, on the other hand, conversely they also develop a strong sense of homing to the 'Turkified' Kreuzberg. Besides shedding light on the notion of diasporic identity, this study also attempts to underline two major constituents shaping diasporic cultural identity, namely globalisation and cultural bricolage. Modern diasporic identity is constructed and articulated through means of globalisation. The growth of modern communication and transportation networks such as TV channels, video tapes, newspapers, internet facilities and charter flights has facilitated and increased the pace of communication between Germany and Turkey. In consonance with this, the diaspora has infiltrated the homeland, and the homeland infiltrated the diaspora. Transnational connections with homeland, other members of diaspora in various geographies, and/or with a world-political force (such as Islam) break the binary relation of minority conamunities with majority societies as well as strengthening their claims against an oppressive national hegemony. Modem means of globalisation have not only brought the homeland closer to the diaspora, but also erased the distance between the diasporic subject and the external world. Modern networks of globalisation have provided Berlin-Turkish youth with an opportunity to incorporate themselves into different global cultural streams such as hip-hop culture. In the context of Berlin-Turkish hip-hop youth, what emerged out of these transnational links is a syncretic form of minority youth culture, or 'third culture'. This 'third culture' is a bricolage in which elements from different cultural traditions, sources and social discourses are continuously intermingled with and juxtaposed to each other. This work also investigates the transformation of political participation strategies which Turkish migrants in Berlin have developed since the beginning of the migratory process in 1961. So far, there have been two principal strategies, namely a migrant strategy and a minor4y strategy. Both strategies developed along ethnic lines partly due to the exciusionist incorporation regimes of the Federal Republic of Germany vis-â-vis' migrants. Yet, recently diasporic consciousness seems to be replacing, or at least, supplementing the migrant and minority strategies. The work concludes that the politics of diaspora is grounded on different antithetical forces such as past/present, here/there, 'tradition'/'translation' and local/global. In this sense, modern diasporic identity conveys an identity which is not a fixed, essentialist and authorised totality, but which is always in a constant process of change and transformation.

The present research concerns itself with the underlying social content detected in the romance literature of James Leslie Mitchell/Lewis Grassic Gibbon (JLM/LGG), which applied to all his writings gives as a result a second meaning in his texts, that turns out to be his essential meaning. Two short stories, He Who Seeks, HWS and For Ten's Sake FTS were selected as objects of analysis. However, at least two romance novels are also analyzed even if partially only. The nature of the method employed determined that any other work by JLM/LGG, even if realistic in style, could be brought into focus at any time since all his works are mutually related both in content and imagery romance and realistic alike so that eventually, practially all his literary production came to play a more or less active role in the research. But the trilogy A Scots Quair, ASQ was excepted as a rule. Apart from the General Introduction in which are to be found the explanations concerning the nature of the problem that motivated this research, the objective pursued, the method used, etc. and the theoretical premises that contribute to its orientation, the present work is divided into three parts. Part One deals with the Model. It consists of seven chapters: whereof the first five explain the five respective phases of The Model of Society in the Writings of JLM/LGG. Chapter 6 has been conceived as a suitable illustration of the model, since it contains a partial analysis of FTS as its paradigm; as in a nutshell it suggests the whole outlook of contemporary culture, its stage, its trends, the controversies, challenges, the ideological camps, etc. and the author's own system. Chapter 7 is an attempt at explicating his imagery. meaning. This is in fact the work which led us to the essential Part Two deals with the author's cultural approach, which includes both his own credo as a writer and his assessment of culture as a historical phenomenon, according to our analysis of HWS and our brief studies on his humanist tradition respectively. Chapter 8 is devoted to the analysis of HWS, a tale based on the Grail legend conventions which the author applies to contemporary social questions in order to bring forth both his critique of modern culture and his plea in favour of world peace. It also highlights his conception of freedom, equality, and fraternity. Chapter 9 seeks to throw light on the intellectual concerns of the author and his debt to the humanist tradition in thought on the one hand, and to the same tradition in literature and art on the other. His debt to French socialism, to the German philosophy and the scientific tradition in natural science. His debt to romantic, anarchist and socialist writers. Here many familiar names turn up: from Campanella and More to Engels and Marx, from Columbus to Rousseau, from Morris and Shelley to H.G. Wells, from Shakespeare and Dickens to Tolstoy, etc. Part Three deals with the ideological question. It consists of seven chapters, each one devoted to some specific issue highlighted in the model. Since the author perceives them as part of an ideological battle, the subdivision "Protagonists" includes the relevant humanist trends that the author rallies round his cause, whereas the "Antagonists" includes trends which the author assesses as opposite to those of humanism. Chapter 10 is devoted to highlighting the humanism that the author seems to have derived from Rousseau as his main source: his views on the respectability of the human race, on the origin of social inequality, on Man I s perfectibility, etc. Chapter 11 explains the real interest of the author in Diffusionism and why he incorporated it into his model. The importance he saw in the mechanisms of the diffusion of culture, and the merits of the English School of Anthropology of G.E. Smith, Perry, and Rivers. Chapter 12 analyzes the influence Haecke1 had on JLM/LGG. This provides scientific support for most of his conceptions, especially those connected with nature as a whole and of the inner connection and interdependence of all phenomena, and why as a monist he combats dualistic thought. Chapter 13 takes a look at the influence that Kropotkin had on JLM/LGG, especially in relation to some specific humanistic views, apart from his subsequent anarchistic idea that his model pursues as ultimate target. This in turn explains his political strategy to the future. Chapter 14 is devoted to analyzing Bebel's influence in relation to the feminine question in History. It explains why some authors have detected a certain "feminine personality" in JLM. The two antagonists are Spengler and Nietzsche who represent the pessimistic, elitist, bellicist, nihilist, etc. trends which the author sees as arising from the perceptions of an upper class social consciousness on the one hand, and from the neo-Darwinian notions on the other. Finally, the work closes with some concluding statements, which, generally, assess the model as conveying a clear social content. The latter arises from a materialist analysis of the culture to his time, and an extrapolation of its probable outcome and destination in its movement towards the distant future and the distant stars in the cosmos.

Establishing similarities between embodied practices typically posed as fundamentally distinct (such as 'African' female genital cutting and 'Western' cosmetic surgery) has become increasingly common within feminist literatures. Cross-cultural comparisons can reveal the instability of essentialist binaries constructed to distinguish various groups as culturally, ethnically and morally 'different'. These strategies, however, are also problematic. In their emphasis on cross-cultural commonalities between practices, they often efface historical, social and embodied particularities, while reifying problematic notions of 'culture'. When employed by privileged 'Western' feminist theorists, such strategies can involve appropriations which affirm, rather than challenge, dominant discursive hierarchies. Consequently, the crucial links between violent histories of embodied differentiation and contemporary relations of power are not effectively interrogated and problematic binaries remain intact. This thesis thus seeks to develop a more historically-grounded, relational and politically accountable feminist approach to addressing essentialist constructions of embodied 'cultural practice'. Mapping feminist and other critical literatures, I identify three main approaches to linking embodied practices: the 'continuum', 'analogue' and 'subset' models. Through three case study chapters, I conduct a comprehensive analysis of these models, and their potential discursive-material effects. Each case study focuses on a different set of practices which have been linked: 'African' female genital cutting and.-`Western' body modifications; Muslim veiling and anorexia; and 'passing' practices associated with the categories of race, gender and sexuality. I argue that rather than illustrating how particular practices or their imagined subjects are fundamentally similar, we should examine how they are constructed relationally in and through one another. This is possible through genealogically tracing how their historical trajectories of production intersect and inform one another. As an alternative to commonality-based comparative approaches, I advocate a 'relational web model' which traces multiple constitutive connections within a network of differently situated embodied practices or figures.

Genetically modified organisms have been accompanied by hopes and concerns regarding the potential of this technology to reshape agricultural practices, our environment and the food we eat. The controversy surrounding GMOs raised questions regarding the present and future relationship between science and society. This thesis contributes to this debate by exploring GM scientists’ thoughts about public opinion and its influence on their work. I contend that how scientists listen to public opinion is mediated by national context, which I explore through a comparison of the United Kingdom and Italy. Within the public understanding of science, and social studies of science more generally, the listening capacity of scientists has largely been ignored. Asking if, how and under what conditions GM scientists listen to public opinion on GMOs, I address this gap in the literature. A mixed method approach is used to answer these questions. This combines descriptive statistics with a range of qualitative methods, including narrative analysis, case study and situational analysis. This methodological approach is meant to bridge qualitative and quantitative methodologies, historically polarised within PUS scholarship. This thesis is structured by my own changing understanding of the listening process. Initially, I assumed a stimulus-­‐response model of scientists’ listening, in which the public talks and scientists respond. Following my data collection and analysis, I developed a new model for listening that includes three moments: hearing public opinion, interpreting it, and responding to it. Using this model, I identify two typical patterns in GM scientists’ listening process. Both of these patterns are associated with the ‘deficit model’, which scientists used differently according to their national contexts. Drawing on Jasanoff’s (2005) concept of civic epistemology, I contend that these patterns are indicative of scientists’ civic epistemologies, which are informed by a number of different factors.