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This study investigates how conforming and conflictual environment in media organizations contribute to the development of journalistic creativity. As a necessary prerequisite for institutional assimilation, media professionalism that learnt from school plays a stabilizing role in routine journalism operations. However, when principles disseminated in the classroom clash with practices in the newsroom, reporters typically find themselves caught in a fresh round of learning, relearning and even unlearning, a process that both demands conformity and opens up endless possibilities of creativity when rules are to be intentionally and tactfully breached. The two scenarios represent two distinct dimensions of the construct of journalistic creativity that are at odds with each other: consensual and conflictual. In explicating the concept, we bridge literature on media professionalism and political ideology in the hope of gaining a deeper understanding of how the tug of war between forces of compliance and those of oppositions is played out in the day to day work of journalism. This study adopts triangulation of methods, using both the in-depth interviews and surveys to explore the notion of journalistic creativity. The findings outline and explore the definitions and dimensions of journalistic creativity; identifies the creative process and the creative work within the media industry; and examines the relationship between political ideology, media professionalism and journalistic creativity. This study brings together two important aspects, conforming and conflictual environment, wherein media professionalism and political ideology are divided into two major categories, consistent and conflictual. In conclusion, this study contributes by putting forwarding the concept of journalistic creativity, the dimensions of journalistic creativity, and the major antecedents that contribute to journalistic creativity in the said media environments.

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This research examines how companies adapt to more unpredictable environments by developing dynamic capabilities that help sustain innovation and change. The key explanatory construct is modular architecture - the intentional decomposition of systems (products or processes) into relatively independent sub-units with standard interfaces. The dissertation is structured as three semi-independent papers plus an introduction and a literature review. The literature review describes current theories of modular systems and discusses the similarities and differences to related concepts such as nearly decomposable systems, loose coupling, and vertical decomposition. The literature review identifies three gaps in the current literature. First, there has been a limited degree of theorising on the concept outside the field of technology management. Second, the current literature is based largely on anecdotal case studies and there is little quantitative evidence of the strategic value of modularity. Finally, there is a lack of understanding concerning the implementation of modular architectures. The first paper generalises from product to organisation design and derives five principles for modular organisational architectures. A hypothetical example is developed to illustrate how a large home appliances company might apply these principles to create a process platform consisting of reconfigurable building blocks. The chapter also proposes some extensions of current theory to more realistically adopt modularity concepts in organisation design. The second paper is based on a study that explores the current product and process architectures at three leading manufacturers of vacuum cleaners. It identifies some of the key barriers to increased flexibility among companies in mature industries. It also considers the relative value of modularity for established companies pursuing incremental innovation versus entrepreneurial companies introducing more radical innovations. The third paper presents the results from a survey questionnaire study of companies in the home appliances industry in the UK. and US. The relationship between market context, product and process architecture, strategic flexibility and firm performance is examined by means of structural equations modelling. The results show a positive relationship between modular product architectures and performance, with product model variety as a mediating variable. The thesis makes the following contributions to the existing literature: It complements extant theorising by generalising modular principles to organisation design. It contributes to methodology by developing a questionnaire for assessing modularity in product and process design. Finally, it provides one of the first empirical studies of the effects of modularity on strategic flexibility and firm performance.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: C.T.P. Diamond.

Thesis (MA--Communication Studies) -- Auckland University of Technology, 2003. / Also held in print (208 leaves, 30 cm.) in Wellesley Theses Collection (T 330.993037 STE)

Obtaining low-latency results from window-aggregate queries can be critical to certain data-stream processing applications. Due to a DSMS's lack of control over incoming data (typically, because of delays and bursts in data arrival), timely results for a window-aggregate query over a data stream cannot be obtained with guarantees about the results' accuracy. In this thesis, I propose a technique, which I term prodding, to obtain early result estimates for window-aggregate queries over data streams. The early estimates are obtained in addition to the regular query results. The proposed technique aims to maximize the contribution to a result-estimate computation from all the stateful operators across a multi-level query plan. I evaluate the benefits of prodding using real-world and generated data streams having different patterns in data arrival and data values. I conclude that, in various DSMS applications, prodding can generate low-latency estimates to window-aggregate query results. The main factors affecting the degree of inaccuracy in such estimates are: the aggregate function used in a query, the patterns in arrivals and values of stream data, and the aggressiveness of demanding the estimates. The utility of the estimates obtained using prodding should be optimized by tuning the aggressiveness in result-estimate demands to the specific latency and accuracy needs of a business, considering any available knowledge about patterns in the incoming data.

The aim of this research is to examine the factors influencing the adoption and success of HRIS in Saudi Arabian public sector organisations.

Although the aluminium rolling industry is considered a traditional industry, but the majority of its products are supplied to the 3C market. Hence the industry can also be classified as a high-tech industry, and must therefore adapt to rapid changing market environments. In recent years, the rise of the four BRIC countries with their low cost labor and land, have gained advantages in the low end products. Yet,escalations of international raw material prices have forced the cost of raw materials in the aluminium rolling industry to close in at nearly 80%. Substitute products are at the same time being developed feverishly, posing great threats to the aluminium industry. The China Steel Aluminium Corporation (CSAC) is taken as a case example to study how concepts of innovation management can be applied to product development in an intense competitive environment. If both product differentiation and low cost can both be achieved to explore niche markets, innovative value is created and the company will find itself in a blue sea. This study is pivoted on management of innovations. The principal factors of innovation are innovation flow, technology innovation, product innovation, process innovation and organization innovation. Each principal factor is represented by four to five sub-factors, totaling 21 sub-factors. Through analytic hierarchy process (AHP), a questionnaire was developed. Experts and scholars in the field of aluminium rolling industry were requested to rate the factors. The results were analyzed using Expert Choice 2000 statistical software, and the key success factors for management of innovation in the CSAC derived. The principal factor for innovation is technology innovation, with product innovation, process innovation, innovation flow and organizational innovation being secondary factors. Among the sub-factors, eight sub-factors emerged as key success factors with evaluation weights over 5%. These are, in ranking sequence, technology optimization, product innovation leadership, technology enrichment, technology stocktaking, cross-functional team, technology monitoring and protection, product application and development, and, execution and application. Overall speaking, technology innovation is the core value of CSAC, particularly in the areas of strengthening technology optimization and technology enrichment. CSAC should dedicate more resources in research and innovation. Product strategy should evolve from application and development into product defense development. It is further suggested that the proportion of product leading innovation strategy should be increased. In the short run, the research resources of the mother company should be fully utilized. In the long term, internal research capability should be developed, that is to increase research funding. Additionally, organization learning is the source of enterprise innovation, while exploration for change opportunities is the basis for strategy formulation. Although these two factors have not been incorporated as key success factors, they should not be overlooked.

Increased competition, rapidly changing technology and customer expectations have caused the innovation process to become more complex and uncertain. This study examines the possible benefits of integrating some of the concepts of risk management into the innovation project. However, adopting rigorous risk management at every stage of the innovation process could be costly: some risk management could be valuable, but too much, or inappropriate risk management might stifle innovation. There are many separate models for innovation and risk management. This study develops a combined theoretical model which aims to help the understanding of appropriate risk management in innovation. The theoretical model is based on the classic innovation process but emphasises critical decision points and information needs at various stages, with various possible contributions from risk management. The stage-gate innovation process model, with its emphasis on decisions, provides a basis for incorporating risk management with decisions related to criteria and information needs; this stage-gate model was employed in the study as the core of a theoretical model combining innovation and risk management. The theoretical model was tested in a series of empirical case studies in the United Kingdom and Iran. These involved 40 detailed interviews in five medium-large companies from a variety of industries. The case studies suggest that the combined model of risk and innovation management should be relevant across diverse industries: staff from different countries (UK and Iran), industries and functional backgrounds could all relate to it and the theoretical model provided a useful structure for developing a more detailed understanding of the possible roles and implementation of risk management in innovation. The study suggests that there is no simple guidance that companies can apply in all situations. The choice of risk management techniques varies with different innovation projects, the characteristics of the particular industry and the environment. In addition, different aspects of the risk management system are useful in different stages of the innovation project and attempting to apply a standard technique throughout the innovation project could lead to failure. A prime example is in the creativity stage: simple risk identification at this stage may be useful but more rigorous risk analysis may be stifle creativity. More rigorous risk analysis may be more appropriate in the later stages of the innovation process. Companies can use this theoretical model to help people appreciate the possible contribution of risk management at the different stages of the innovation project.