Chile enjoys relative economic and political stability, but has enormous class, gender and labour market inequalities. Women’s employment participation is low – the lowest in Latin America. This research aims to explain this low female participation rate by looking at women’s experiences, the continuing barriers they face around paid employment, the tension between paid work and family life, and the factors that lead to the decisions they make. It examines normative gendered roles and gendered relations, highlighting diverse experiences between social groups. The study is qualitative, based on 60 semi-structured interviews with upper/middle- and working-class women in Santiago, Chile. The conceptual framework is based on the Total Social Organisation of Labour and is informed by the concepts of gender regime and gender order. I explore the way in which women conceptualise work and the implications of this for their self-esteem, the valuation of women’s work, and their place in society. The conceptualisation of work shapes (mis)recognition, (mis)representation and (mal)distribution of un/paid labour. I argue that structural and cultural factors put women off the labour market. The main obstacles women face when engaging with paid employment are structural (lack of childcare, education, transport time and costs, long working hours) and cultural (machismo, discrimination, traditional division of labour). Most women experience these barriers, which take different forms according to class. Women would like more support, a smaller gender pay gap, wider childcare provision and fewer working hours. The Chilean gender order is characterised by a ‘traditional’ gender division of labour in a ‘modern’ context. It displays a male-breadwinner/female-home-carer model with little State support, meaning women rely on individual (re)sources. The distribution of un/paid work is a private problem variously resolved by individual (gendered) strategies. This research contributes to knowledge by providing feminist analysis and understanding of the low female workforce participation rate.

Glass is one of the world’s oldest artificial materials. Nonetheless new developments in the late seventeenth century turned this very ancient material into a modern one. With the successful introduction of lead came clarity, lustre and strength. From sand, lead and ash, therefore, came a material which could be blown, moulded, left plain, cut or engraved. It was encountered by virtually all sectors of society, by some in taverns, public houses and on the streets, and by others in ballrooms, dining rooms, parlours and elegant bedrooms. Using extensive primary research - drawing on designs used in the glass industry, newspapers, Parliamentary Papers, letters, diaries and household inventories - this study investigates the socio-political, economic, cultural, technological and legislative factors which shaped the experience of producing, selling, buying and using glass in Ireland. It takes as its focus the century long time span between c. 1730 and c. 1830, thereby capturing the rise and decline of the glass industry in Ireland, and investigates the role of the State, the entrepreneur and the consumer in determining the nature of the market. The ways in which molten glass was worked and transformed into the transparent conveniences and pleasures of everyday life were crucial to the appeal of glass. Once manufactured, skills of a different nature were used by retailers to market and sell the various glass products available, whilst another set of skills again was drawn upon in polite society in knowing what glass to buy, the appropriate way to hold a drinking glass, its correct use while dining, and the significance of raising one’s glass in a toast. Addressing these and other issues, this thesis presents for the first time, an integrated study which deepens our understanding of the production, retail and consumption of this important material. In so doing, a rich and layered story of the Irish glass industry is presented, providing a cultural, social and political framework within which to consider the making, selling and use of glass in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Ireland.

This thesis explores the impact that differing institutional settings in Greece and the Republic of Ireland have on the discourses shaping policies of youth unemployment before and after the onset of the economic crisis. The institutional and political differences between the two countries are assumed to constrain the incorporation of ideas and policies and to produce non-convergence between the two cases. In particular, based on the theoretical and methodological assumptions of path dependency theories, it was assumed that the Greek youth unemployment debate will be dominated by social Europe ideas, while the Irish youth unemployment debate will be predominantly oriented towards neo-liberal ideas. However, due to pressures exercised by the European Employment Strategy and the economic crisis, the thesis also set to investigate whether and if so to what extent these forces exercise convergence pressures. The results of the research showed that certain institutional features of Greece and Ireland, derived from their different institutional settings and political legacies, prompted a non-convergence trend between the two cases, as the research had expected. However, the results of the research also indicated that certain convergences emerged between the two cases, while at the same time, some actors did not respond in accordance to the research hypothesis especially after the outbreak of the crisis. Due to the specific results, the thesis concluded that, although institutions defined certain attitudes and policy ideas, however, exogenous political and economic factors such as the economic crisis played an important role in prompting shifts in established ideas and social actors' alliances.

This theoretical (non-empirical) thesis presents a new conceptual framework for studying behaviour in organizations. This is synthesized from the theory of evolution and commensurate concepts (the biopsychosocial approach to behaviour and human ethology) and is offered as a meta-theory. This accommodates in pluralist, trans-disciplinary manner diverse (i.e. biological, psychological and social) research streams. I argue it avoids the super-organicism inherent in the standard social science model, and offers opportunity for a more comprehensive understanding of behaviour, e.g. by incorporating biological issues into study. The conceptual framework is applied to an exemplum behaviour - work-related hostility (WRH) - to demonstrate its relevance. Hostility (and its associated stress and emotion) are presented as evolved biopsychosocial behaviours conferring survival benefit. They are located in a specific context – service work. I explore numerous aspects of service-based WRH – the dynamics, impacts, effects and outcomes of hostile customer-worker service interactions. My analysis goes beyond current thinking and theorizing in the field, e.g. by considering complex intra- and interpersonal reactions and responses; recognizing behaviour and experiences of same are biopsychosocial and add to workers’ inner conflict and stress; proposing WRH comprises ritualized behaviours having powerful effect through biopsychosocial impact. The conceptual framework adopted offers insights into WRH the current literature has not, e.g. helping explain issues such as why WRH is so effecting even when it is nonviolent; why parties retain their relative status; why staff’s counter-aggression seems rare; why WRH continues to occur despite efforts to manage it. I claim the conceptual framework and my analysis considers more facets of WRH than past studies have, e.g. what happens in interactions; what mechanisms/systems/complexes function; why; how; who is effected; and what the results are. I conclude by discussing limitations of the thesis, suggesting empirical study using the framework and indicating other potential applications of it.

Chapter 1 examined the wage premia related to union membership and coverage over 1991-2003, a period involving decline and stabilisation of union participation. Differences in union premia - across workers and over time - were studied using a rich individual-level data: the British Household Panel Survey. A quantile regression technique allowing for endogeneity of the membership decision was implemented. Raw differentials suggested the presence of large and positive union wage premia that were stronger at the bottom of the wage distribution in both private and public sectors. After controlling for other factors influencing wages, union premia asymmetries were no longer apparent in the private sector. When endogeneity was taken into account, there was no one significant premium in the private sector, indicating positive selection into union jobs. In contrast, in the public sector, workers whose jobs were covered by union contracts were found to earn more than not covered workers (ceteris paribus); this effect was stronger at the bottom among males, while for females the premium was constant across workers and substantial over the whole period, reflecting the continuing strength of public sector unions. Since the difference between union members over covered non-members was always found to be insignificant, chapter 1 concluded that there is no free-rider puzzle. Chapter 2 investigated whether the U.K. National Minimum Wage introduction on April 1st, 1999 affected unionisation rates among workers whose wages rose to comply with the law. The British Household Panel Survey is used because it provides rich individual information that affects the union choices and it permits the implementation of the Difference-in-Difference estimator. Results were robust to sub-samples, alternative comparison groups and different estimation methods. Chapter 2 found that employees from workplaces where unions had been recognised were 15 percentage points more likely to become union members when the NMW was introduced. Workers did so, presumably, to protect their jobs. There was neither law anticipation nor first NMW upgrade significant effects. Chapter 3 studied the effects of Human Resource Management Practices (HRM) on performance. It analysed the case of private firms in Great Britain by making use of the Workplace Employment Relations Survey in 2004 (WERS): a linked employer-employee data that allowed investigating what HRM did to firms as well as to their workers. As few others have done, this chapter: i) modelled the adoption of HRM as endogenous; ii) used 28 practices that together covered the main areas of personnel relations; and iii) allowed for different effects to exist between low- and high-technology firms. The results were robust to eight measures of HRM and different estimation strategies including the latent factor modelling approach – never implemented in this context. In low-technology firms, monetary incentives were found to increase both worker productivity and profits - by increasing revenue further than costs (in the ratio 4:1). By contrast, in high-technology firms, the sense of fairness at work combined with hiring procedures were found to increase worker productivity and profits - by increasing revenue further than costs (in the ration 2:1). Only in non-union workplaces, worker involvement in decision making was found to reduce performance, i.e., decentralisation damages performance if the establishment lacks the right incentives for their workers to offer valuable ideas for firm.

Hierarchical crop growth models can contribute signi®cantly to land quality research because the yield gap between the estimated optimum and the actual crop production has been identi®ed as a major land quality indicator. This study describes a three-level, hierarchical crop production model, simulating radiation-thermal, water-limited and natural production potentials of annual crops. Input requirements have been kept low to ensure its applicability to developing regions, which often have access only to limited data. The simplicity of this model also has disadvantages: inconsistencies have been reported when applying this model in semiarid regions, which are characterized by very irregular rainfall patterns. Revision of the water balance, which simulates the availability of water, was required. The modi®ed model was validated using the experimental yields of maize and sun¯ower in Guquka, a semiarid region of South Africa. Yields were estimated very well, possible improvements to crop production were identi®ed and implications for land-use planning highlighted. Yield gap analysis revealed that radiation, sunshine and temperature are favourable for crop production, but the heavy dependence on rainfall makes the region very vulnerable to drought, with devastating impact on yields. The generally low chemical soil fertility further reduces crop performance.

The UK speculative housebuilding industry has grown and prospered primarily through the conversion of greenfield land into mass, standardised housing estates. As such, the UK Government’s commitment to restricting the development of housing primarily to brownfield sites presents a significant challenge to the current skills base of many speculative housebuilders. Whilst the housebuilding industry has demonstrated in recent years a commitment to brownfield development through the steady increase in the numbers of dwellings built on previously developed land, concerns exists over whether the industry has developed the requisite core competencies necessary to secure a long-term commitment to brownfield development. In response to such concerns, this research assesses the attitudes, behaviours and corporate strategies of a select number of speculative housebuilders towards brownfield development in the English and Scottish contexts. Through this, the research presents a timely and important evaluation of the strategic decision making of UK speculative housebuilders and explores the concept of institutional capacity through an investigation into the private sectors response to public policy change.

One of the most urgent tasks facing Kuwait is the conversion of oil receipts into Productive Physical assets and the achievement of accelerated economic growth, linked to a need to diversify the economy by encouraging other economic sectors, such as manufacturing industries, to increase their share in the economy. The development of industry should help absorb some of the surplus capital derived from oil revenues, and create a wider economic base and help in diversifying the economy. There are many reasons for the diversification process in Kuwait, which is heavily dependent on the oil sector as a main source of revenue and foreign exchange, as we will see later, but the main one is the fact that oil deposits will be exhausted in the future. This thesis is composed of three parts. Part one serves as a background to the study. It outlines some of the physical aspects of the country such as its relief, surface rock types and the major climatic conditions. It also presents some of the problems facing economic growth in Kuwait and some theoretical approaches, which can be used as tools in solving development problems in the country. Part two seeks to investigate and examine some factors influencing industrial development in Kuwait and tries to assess the role of each one of them. These factors are: Infrastructure, Finance, Market, Natural Resources, Administrative competence, Labour Force and finally Industrial Pollution. Part three, based on the above investigation, seeks to draw out a comprehensive strategy for industrial development in Kuwait and to advocate some policies and measures for the application of the proposed strategy. The final section presents an overview of the findings of the survey and outlines some conclusions and recommendations relevant to industrial development in Kuwait.

The need for IS Strategies to be optimally aligned with business strategies in order to maximize both value for the business and usability of technology has lead to an understandable emphases on strategic IS alignment for both academics and practitioners (Henderson and Venkatraman, 1999; Galliers and Newell, 2003). However, on review of both the IS strategy and alignment literatures, important limits in current understanding were identified. Although there has been an increasing acceptance of IS strategy as more likely to have an emergent (Avgerou, Ciborra and Land, 2004) rather than a planned rational nature (apropos the seminal work of Mintzberg and Waters (1985)), descriptive and theoretical understanding of this emergent nature was lacking. Further gaps in the IS alignment literature were identified. The predominant emphases of alignment research were on the outcomes and causes of alignment with insufficient consideration given to the ongoing processes of alignment. Very strikingly, the roles of the informal organisation in alignment had been hitherto underexplored and although process (and indeed strategic process) theory had attained a level of maturity; application in alignment process research was conspicuously absent. In essence, literature evaluation had identified that there was an insufficient understanding of IS alignment as an emerging strategic process, from both theory and practitioner perspectives. The following research question could therefore be derived: What process theory motors and relationships characterise SIS alignment process? The most apposite perspective on process for this research was to frame alignment as a developing sequence of events, rather than the alternative approach of a set of concepts of categories (VanDeVen, 2007) necessitating a longitudinal approach to data collection. The principal motivation of the research question was a nascent attempt to explore and understand rather than measure alignment, so a subjective qualitative approach was most appropriate. Alignment process data was collected at multiple organisational levels and from both primary (i.e. semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders in the alignment process) and second sources (i.e. formal strategy documents and planning schedules). The process of alignment was presented in the form of a case narrative. SIS alignment process events were identified and their progression visually expressed by applying techniques from process research literature (Langley, 1999; Pentland, 1999). Applying the well-established relationship between even progression, generative mechanisms and motors (Pettigrew, 1990; VanDeVen and Poole, 1995) enabled Strategic IS alignment process to be conceptualised in the form of high-level process theory motors. The contributions of this research are as follows. A process theory perspective on Strategic IS alignment process is offered which addresses the identified literature gap. Methodological contributions also arise due to the structured and explicit application of process research analyses techniques, still relatively rare in IS research. Recommendations for managerial practice also arise from the detailed explication of the alignment process and the causes and outcomes of key process events and their progression.

In the period from about 1980 to 1983 many companies in this country were adopting programmes of Quality Circles, some claiming substantial financial returns from them. However the Circles clearly had far greater potential, for example in developing individuals and in encouraging greater involvement of the work-force in decision-making. A limited preliminary survey discovered virtually no evidence of quantifiable benefits dervied from a Circle programme. Few companies appeared to have clear objectives when introducing programmes of Circles, while none were found to be evaluating them, even informally. A more detailed study was then carried out of the Circles in a medium-sized engineering company, using interviews, questionnaires and case histories. The selection and training of the Circle Facilitator were found to be key factors in evaluating the Circles. The findings pointed also to the vital importance of setting clear objectives before instituting Circle programmes, with a time scale for their achievement. Training was shown to be a major factor in the success of the Circles, while most importantly, failure appeared more likely when the Circles were not integrated into a wider programme for quality. The final stages of the work were accordingly carried out in a company whose programme of Quality Circles was intended to form part of a company-wide quality improvement scheme. The impact of each programme on the other was examined. Primary factors for success were shown to be willingness to accept changes whilst being prepared for them. Another important factor in the evaluation of a Circle programme was found to be the nature and extent of the training provided for it. Absence of trust emerged as one of the principal reasons for Circles failing to succeed while a contributory factor was when Circles were seen by employees to be merely a tool of management.