The aim of this thesis is to describe and interpret the professional life of academics in two higher education faculties, one in a Turkish university and the other in a UK Institute of Higher Education. This research employs the ‘culture’ metaphor to provide categories, models, and definitions to structure the longitudinal and contextual processes of the ethnography. ‘Jazz’ is also employed as an aesthetic, linking metaphor throughout the thesis, to illuminate the processes of ethnographic research, highlighting particularly, issues of reflexivity, representation, gender, and paradigm incommensurability. Data collection was by semi-structured interviews; participant observations; document analysis; and informal informant conversations. The resultant research account is subjective, socially constructed, interpretive, idiographic and impressionistic. It is constructed through the surfacing of core themes from qualitative data to create an interpretation of the plurivocal chorus of interviewees set against observational and documentary evidence. Both case studies answer the question ‘what is it like to work as an academic in this faculty?’, and are presented as narratives within an inductive theoretical framework. The study also provides a reflexive commentary, in a set of vignettes, where the author's presence within the text is overtly acknowledged and represented by an ‘I’ characterisation. The thesis attempts to extend the limits of organisational ethnography by applying three interpretive readings to the two ethnographic case studies. The readings are intended to enrich the case studies by: directly addressing the issues of researcher ‘presence’ and reflexivity; ‘empiricising’ the Hatch (1993) cultural dynamics model; and providing a ‘power and gender’ theoretical perspective notably under-deployed in the ‘culture’ literature. The thesis produces significant insight into rule-based bureaucracies and higher-education management behaviour, making suggestions for further research in these fields. The main conclusion, is however, methodological and concerns representational strategies within the ethnographic approach to the study of organisations. The thesis argues that, the combination of case studies and interpretive readings, in creating an idiosyncratic, paradigm-bridging representation of the two professional cultures, achieves additional subtle and penetrative organisational insights unavailable to traditional stand-alone ethnographies. The thesis concludes with an invitation to the reader, as a member of the occupational culture of higher education academics, to ‘sit in’ with the band for the last number and use their own improvisational skills and experience, to create a final ‘interpretation of the ‘culture song’

Seventh, organisational learning is increasingly seen as a central source of a competitive advantage particularly for organisations faced with rapid changes and work in a competitive business environment. The case studies results provide exploratory insights on the ways by which participant companies leverage the capability for collective learning to a sustainable competitive advantage. This study adds to the organisational learning literature by proposing a framework that draws an analytical description for the way by which organisations leverage collective learning to sustainable business success. This evidence should be validated through a future rich empirical study. This framework serves as a general guideline for those wishing to carry out this study.

Models of employment have become gendered with the 'standard' or masculine model following an unbroken, linear career path whilst the feminine model comprises periods of both full-time and part-time employment as well as intervals of non-participation in the labour market. Commitment to work is defined against these norms with those women who follow the masculine career pattern being said to display greater commitment to work than those who follow an alternative path. It is considered that career progression within an organisational hierarchy is dependent upon following the ‘standard' type of career path, which disadvantages women as historically they have been less likely than men to follow such a path. This thesis argues that there has been an over reliance on such explanations to illustrate and justify women's employment. Such studies patronise women by imposing these explanations on them without work being done to investigate women's own evaluations of their employment. The aim of this research is to examine the working arrangements of a group of highly qualified professional women architects who 'fit' the profile of high commitment to their career by their investment in qualifications. They work in an established 'traditional' profession in what is still very much a 'man's world'. The research aims to go deeper than just to confirm or disconfirm the stereotypes or profile. Within the structural and cultural components that form the profile, it examines the paths the women have taken, how they have progressed through their working and family lives, the choices and sacrifices they have made. In short, it explores not 'what' they have done but 'how' and 'why' they have done it.

There is a widespread presumption in the strategy literature that firms enjoying a competitive advantage in commodity-producing industries do so as a result of following cost leadership strategies. This thesis as monograph re-evaluates that presumption by a detailed exploration of the bases for competitive advantage in the plasterboard industry, one of the most important materials used by the construction industry. It explores price and non-price based methods of competition, plant scale economies, and the influence of order of entry on firm performance. The thesis draws upon detailed industry-, firm- and plant level data collected by the author. These data include time series price, demand and capacity figures for the US and UK, plant factor usage data for 50 plants covering four years, and data relating to 56 attempted entries to the European plasterboard industry. Analytical methods include time series regression methods with ADF and Engle Granger tests. Panel data methods include OLS regression with fixed and variable models. Dummy variable methods are also employed with these approaches. The nature of the relationship between price and supply and demand is used to indicate the character of competition. Price would be expected to reflect the relationship between supply and demand. The study finds that this does occur in the USA where non-price based methods of competition are rarely applied. The UK Industry makes extensive use of bundling methods which result in no discernible relationship between price and supply and demand. The influence of the respective competitive environments is also considered. The study also finds that prices are upwards sticky' In the USA, which has implications for the theories of Means (1935) and Sweezy (1939). A novel theoretical analysis is provided to explain this finding. The study identifies Edgeworth (Maskin and Tirolle, 1988) price cycle behaviour in the UK plasterboard industry. Novel conclusions are drawn regarding the sources and environment which instigate this behaviour. The findings are important as previous empirical work has been confined to the gasoline industry. Panel data methods are used with a uniquely detailed database to identify and quantify manufacturing plant scale economies in labour and energy by functional use. This level of detail has not previously been available to researchers. Evidence of management diseconomies of scale is identified, and also learning effects for new plants. Initial investment costs are examined and found to yield scale economies in both equipment and civil engineering categories of expenditure. These are discussed in the context of scale economy sources. Finally, historical methods (Golder, 2000) are used to study the 56 attempted entries to the 21 industries which comprise the European plasterboard industry. A model is devised to predict the prospect of entry success in relation to factors including order of entry, country regime, resource endowment and demand. A link between order of entry and long-term market share advantage is identified. Evidence is identified to support the proposition that second movers select a cost base to compete with the first mover. The relevance of resource endowment is discussed and the concept of `dominant process' emerges as important factors in the likelihood of entry success.

Growth models contain strong predictions regarding the effect of fiscal policy on the steady state growth path. Fiscal policies have no effect on the steady state growth rate in the neoclassical model whereas fiscal policy does feature in the steady state of endogenous growth models. The number of alternative policies which have been found to effect growth in the endogenous growth models is large as one of the few restrictions placed upon policy in the models is which sector of the model is affected, demand or supply. Only policies that are included in the supply side of the model affect the growth rate. Despite the strength of the growth predictions regarding fiscal policy in growth models the empirical relationship between the two has proved more difficult establish. Even when comparisons are made between studies that purport to correct for many of the statistical biasesp resent in the data, non- robustnesss till abounds. We believe that this non-robustnessc an in part be explained by a failure to adequately account for the predictions from the theoretical models. We use four conclusions from our review of the theoretical literature (the method of financing changes in policy, differences between the transition and the steady state, the assumption of homogeneity of expenditures, and the direct versus indirect effects of policy) to provide the shape for new empirical tests. We find that once done, the strength of the empirical relationship is increased and matches the predictions from the basic public policy endogenous growth model of Barro (1990).

As external factors increasingly influence the way businesses operate, companies have to be able to adapt in order to cope with these external influences. They have to become agile and responsive to change in order to gain a real competitive advantage. However, most companies believe that they are unable to achieve this to their satisfaction. One of the main reasons cited is their inability to manage change effectively. The research summarised in this report identifies how the process of managing change can be facilitated and improved. It builds on the main concerns and issues identified in the change management literature and is supported with evidence from companies undergoing change. The research focuses, in particular, on best practice benchmarking, critical success factors for change, the role of corporate culture, understanding learning organisations and how to sustain change. Based on these research areas, two major developments are proposed to help organisations to manage change more effectively. The first method focuses on a benchmarking tool for change management. Formed from the actual practices of organisations who have managed change effectively, the tool provides a quantifiable way for companies to measure and improve their performance in change management. Its successful implementation in a number of different applications and levels, as demonstrated in the research, suggests that it could provide significant benefits to any organisation undergoing change. The second method focuses on sustaining long term successful change management, through more effective capture, sharing and transfer of knowledge within a company. This is known as corporate learning. A corporate learning framework, based on best practice, is proposed as a way forward for organisations to ensure that a holistic approach is taken when implementing corporate learning. Used correctly, these innovative methods provide mechanisms which can help any company undergoing change to improve the way in which it manages that change.

China has become a global manufacturing centre with its `unlimited' supply of low cost and unorganised peasant workers. The potential of Chinese workers to change this condition has significant meaning for global labour politics. This study offers an ethnographic portrait and a sociological account of the transformation of labour relations and labour politics in China from 2004 to 2008 focusing on workers' strikes, community and organisation. It reveals how wages and working conditions are bargained, fought over, and determined in the global factories. Geographically this study concerns the city of Shenzhen, China's first Special Economic Zone (SEZ), where labour conflict is most prevalent. Historically, it is traced back to the late 1970s to explore how the pattern of labour conflict has changed over time. The author spent one year conducting participant observation based in a grass-roots labour non-governmental organisation (NGO) in an industrial zone from 2005 to 2006. A multi-case method is used to document workers' stories to strive for a higher wage and better working conditions and their relationships with management, NGOs, the trade union and the local state. The author suggests that benefiting from an expanding labour market, an escalating dynamic community, and the skilled and supervisory workers' network, workplace struggle has exerted significant challenges to the state authorities and the global capital. The capital responded to these challenges by work intensification, production rationalization, expansion and relocation. The local state reacted by better enforcement of the labour regulations and steady enhancement of the minimum wage rate, while the central state initiated a new round of labour legislation to better protect workers. The author refers to the changing labour regime in this stage as `contested despotism'. Its potential to give way to a new form of factory regime is dependent on the possibility of effective workplace trade unionism.

Total Quality Management (TQM) emerged as a promising management practice mainly in the US and the UK. Its principles challenge the managerial traditions of other countries. A prime example is Greece. In view of the widespread argument that Middle Managers (MMs) are key elements in making TQM work, this study explores the relationship between these people and TQM in the Greek National Business System (NBS). It focuses on how TQM is perceived by them and it investigates whether MMs' perceived awareness of TQM affects their responses to a set of individual and organisational aspects. This study adopts the contingency approach to TQM. This approach argues that TQM does not have determinate effects and that its consequences are shaped by the context in which it operates. This thesis expands knowledge by developing a theoretical framework that addresses the relationship between TQM and Middle Management in this specific national context. It offers strong evidence on four specific contingencies, in the light of which managers' responses to TQM should be explored. These factors are the business/management culture, the modernisation agenda, the sector of employment and the educational background of managers. Moreover, this study contributes to the development of the research methodology in the area, by combining quantitative (survey questionnaire) and qualitative (follow-up interviews) methods. 241 questionnaires were collected and 18 follow-up interviews were conducted in 43 different public (19) and private (24) service organisations. Finally this thesis offers statistically reliable measurement of the 'soft' and 'hard' sides of TQM. In this respect, six major arguments about the relationship between TQM and MMs are supported. First, it is recognised by the MMs that the business system needs modernisation and QM is a part of it. Second, although the acronym TQM and some of its concepts and practices are known by a range of public and private sector managers, actual awareness of its 'soft' side is often superficial, and people have a relatively poor understanding of it. Third, MMs tend to see TQM from the technical point of view, being aware only of the importance of its 'hard' aspects. Fourth, whilst MMs perceive TQM as enhancing individual aspects like autonomy, loyalty and career prospects, at the same time they acknowledge the increased work effort and stress due to the perceived awareness of TQM. Fifth, they hold sceptical positions about the adoption and actual application TQM related organisational issues like empowerment and top management commitment and support. The sixth, overall, conclusion is that TQM was neither resisted nor directly absorbed. The principles of quality improvement have been widely accepted, but convincing Greek managers to apply 'soft' TQM aspects remains a major challenge

Service recovery is an under-researched area in theoretical and empirical terms (Smith, Bolton, and Wagner 1999). In particular, limited knowledge exists regarding the factors which have an impact on the service recovery performance of frontline employees (Boshoff and Allen 2000). This research draws on goal orientation theory, perceived organisational support theory and the literature on psychological job outcomes and service recovery, in order to investigate the drivers of service recovery performance. The major goals of this study are to determine the effect of learning goal orientation on service recovery performance and the impact of perceived organisational support on learning goal orientation. Additionally, the effect of both learning goal orientation and perceived organisational support on emotional exhaustion is investigated. These simultaneous relationships are empirically tested for the first time. Following a review of the key literature, an integrative conceptual framework comprising a set of hypotheses is proposed and empirically tested in the UK. A total of 740 frontline service employees from the catering industry (representing a response rate of about 32%) provide the data for the analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is employed to assess the fit of the seven measurement components of the model and structural equation modelling (SEM) is used to test the hypothesised path model. The findings provide academic insights that may open new fruitful avenues for further research. In particular, two unexpected results contradict the extant theory: job satisfaction has a negative impact on service recovery performance and emotional exhaustion has a positive impact on service recovery performance. The new empirical results reveal that learning goal orientation has a positive impact on service recovery performance. Additionally, perceived organisational support has a positive effect on learning goal orientation. Moreover, whereas perceived organisational support has a negative impact on emotional exhaustion, learning goal orientation is unrelated to emotional exhaustion. Finally, the findings provide several managerial implications for service marketing practitioners by offering them practical guidelines to develop and implement effective service recovery programmes. Suggestions are provided in terms of the best practices when recruiting and training frontline service employees.

This study investigates and analyses the scope and limitations of human resource management (HRM) in a distinctive organisational and social context using a casestudy of management policies and employee responses at the Bank of Thailand (BoT ) at the turn of the century. The theoretical framework for the study is developed through a discussion of influential academic approaches to HRM and some of the main critical commentaries. The main objective of the thesis is to analyse the scope and limitations of the application and implementation of HRM in such a setting. The research uses a qualitative case-study method of research, based on interviews, documentary analysis and participant observation, linked to and informed by actual work experience. It also seeks to place the experience of organisational changes in the BoT in the context of wider developments in work and e:,.ip loyment relations in Thailand. There are three main arguments in this study. Firstly, a `generalised' HRM approach does not set out to accommodate the specificity of organisational activities or the differences between different groups within the org, inisation. Secondly, an `idealised' HRM programme fails to address the importance of power relations and conflict in organisational change. Finally, human resource specialists remain relatively marginalised and are unable to develop and deploy their expertise because the HRM programme does not recognise the importance oF this problem. These arguments are developed through an analysis of (i) the pre-existing pattern of employment and organisational arrangements at the BoT, which involved both paternalism and the concentration of management authorihy; (ii) the origins and rationale of the HRM programme at the Bank, with particular reference to the roles of senior management and outside consultants; and (iii) a detailed discussion of the responses of Bank employees, both managers and other staff, that addresses the character and sources of their mixed responses, involving acceptance and sometimes enthusiasm but also uncertainty and criticism.