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An original project for a taxonomy of organisation-technology became over time an exploration of some of the meanings and contexts of technology. The exploration began with the critique of selected instances of landmark theorising and empirical research on the technology concept. The critique raised issues in epistemology and methodology which caused this writer to address the philosophy of the social sciences and the philosophy of technology at certain points: the question of technological determinism; language and metaphor; ideology; construct validity. Chapters One and Two of this thesis reflect the quest for connections in meta-theory, as the remaining chapters reflect the quest for meanings and contexts of technology in organisation and society. The case studies of landmark theory and research on technology led into more of a generic enquiry into the nature and claims of a contingency theory of organisation and management. An analysis of landmark cases and of contingency theory suggested that a formalist or empiricist approach to technology and organisation had produced no clear conceptualisation of technology, nor of any other contextual or performance factors. No panacea for organisation-design has emerged from this quarter. A rather broader arena of the division and re-combination of labour was then approached. Analysis suggested that technology and the division of labour are not mere surrogates of managerial control but arenas continually contested by organisation and society participants. They are not givens with resident characteristics to be read out but occasions of choice ongoingly negotiated. Whereas the thesis began with notions of a static and cognitivist taxonomy it developed into a study of certain images of technology, with the valencies of technology deriving from its various contexts of meanings and matrices of values. The thesis concludes with the view that formalism of much contemporary organisation-theory needs to be amplified by a broadly phenomenological understanding.

This dissertation focuses on the interactions between local public sector organisations and institutions in the development of performance measurement (PM) targets and indicators. The research is grounded in the performance measurement and management literature and adopts a joint new institutional and resource dependence perspective. Empirically, the research, which is qualitative and theory-building, consists of case studies undertaken in local public sector organisations in England. The iterative comparison of theory and data has enabled the investigation of a number of relevant themes. In the last decade, the British Government has placed great emphasis on the consistency of objectives, targets and indicators from national to local levels with the aim of enhancing performance, transparency and accountability, and of driving behavior. However, this research shows that the influence of several organizations and the co- existence of various PM initiatives generate confusion and overlaps locally. Moreover, in the cases considered the unmanageable number of indicators and the lack of clarity regarding the drivers and purposes of PM have led to confused massages and counter- productive approaches to the measurement and management of performance. From a theoretical view-point, the favourable comments expressed by interviewees regarding the current PM regime contrast with critics of New Public Management. Furthermore, legitimacy-seeking and efficiency-enhancing rationals have emerged as intertwined and loosely coupled. This is in opposition to what is maintained by early new institutional theorists. In line with resource dependence theory, PM systems were found to be significant components of power systems in organisations. Through the examination of the roles of PM and the investigation of relevant concepts such as 'golden thread' and performance culture, this research aims to make an impact on policy-making and to improve the ways in which targets and indicators are set and used, hence having a positive effect on the services delivered.

Following a disaster, an organisation’s ability to recover is influenced by its internal capacities, but also by the people, organisations, and places to which it is connected. Current approaches to organisational resilience tend to focus predominantly on an organization's internal capacities and do not adequately consider the place-based contexts and networks in which it is embedded. This thesis explores how organisations’ connections may both hinder and enable organisational resilience. Organisations in the Canterbury region of New Zealand experienced significant and repeated disruptions as a result of two major earthquakes and thousands of aftershocks throughout 2010 and 2011. This thesis draws upon 32 case studies of organisations located in three severely damaged town centres in Canterbury to assess the influence that organisations’ place-based connections and relational networks had on their post-earthquake trajectories. The research has four objectives: 1) to examine the ways organisations connected to their local contexts both before and after the earthquakes, 2) to explore the characteristics of the formal and informal networks organisations used to aid their response and recovery, 3) to identify the ways organisations’ connections to their local contexts and support networks influenced their ability to recover following the earthquakes, and finally, 4) to develop approaches to assess resilience that consider these extra-organisational connections. The thesis contests the fiction that organisations recover and adapt independently from their contexts following disasters. Although organisations have a set of internal capacities that enable their post-disaster recovery, they are embedded within external structures that constrain and enable their adaptive options following a disaster. An approach which considers organisations’ contexts and networks as potential sources of organisational resilience has both conceptual and practical value. Refining our understanding of the influence of extra-organisational connections can improve our ability to explain variability in organisational outcomes following disasters and foster new ways to develop and manage organisational resilience.

<p>The starting point of this thesis is the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in China. CSR can certainly not solve all of the social and environmental problems, but we believe that it can play a part, which is why we find it interesting to study the status quo of the concept in China. The research question of the thesis is “How is CSR depicted in China?”. The purpose of this study is to identify and describe Chinese views of CSR and analyze the differences between these views and CSR, as it is commonly understood in the West, in order to contribute to a better understanding of the CSR concept in China. We spent ten weeks in China conducting a qualitative case study. We interviewed companies, academics and governmental and non-governmental organisations, within the CSR area in China. Our material was then categorised into five views of CSR, where CSR is depicted as:</p><p>- CSR as labour law compliance</p><p>- CSR as law enforcement</p><p>- CSR as codes of conduct compliance</p><p>- CSR as a PR exercise</p><p>- CSR with Chinese characteristics</p><p>In addition to describe these views, we set out to analyze the differences between these views, and CSR as understood in the West. When analyzing the views we have mainly departed from CSR theory and translation theory. The main differences can be seen when it comes to the, from a Western point of view, limited scope of corporate responsibility, the lack of stakeholder dialogue, the lack of consideration for environmental issues, and in the concept of a harmonious society, which is not a part of CSR in the West. CSR with Chinese characteristics still seems to be an aspiration they are striving for, while the other four views rather are different aspects of the problems related to CSR in China at present. Our views are examples of how CSR has been translated in China, but none of them seems to be a suitable option for the further development of the concept. Put together, these views give a quite negative image of CSR in China, and it comes forth as rather ineffective. If the concept is going to have any impact on the social and environmental problems in China there is a need for further research. The development of the concept needs to be in accordance with the realities of the Chinese society, addressing the problems in the society as well as the problems with the concept.</p>

The starting point of this thesis is the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in China. CSR can certainly not solve all of the social and environmental problems, but we believe that it can play a part, which is why we find it interesting to study the status quo of the concept in China. The research question of the thesis is “How is CSR depicted in China?”. The purpose of this study is to identify and describe Chinese views of CSR and analyze the differences between these views and CSR, as it is commonly understood in the West, in order to contribute to a better understanding of the CSR concept in China. We spent ten weeks in China conducting a qualitative case study. We interviewed companies, academics and governmental and non-governmental organisations, within the CSR area in China. Our material was then categorised into five views of CSR, where CSR is depicted as: - CSR as labour law compliance - CSR as law enforcement - CSR as codes of conduct compliance - CSR as a PR exercise - CSR with Chinese characteristics In addition to describe these views, we set out to analyze the differences between these views, and CSR as understood in the West. When analyzing the views we have mainly departed from CSR theory and translation theory. The main differences can be seen when it comes to the, from a Western point of view, limited scope of corporate responsibility, the lack of stakeholder dialogue, the lack of consideration for environmental issues, and in the concept of a harmonious society, which is not a part of CSR in the West. CSR with Chinese characteristics still seems to be an aspiration they are striving for, while the other four views rather are different aspects of the problems related to CSR in China at present. Our views are examples of how CSR has been translated in China, but none of them seems to be a suitable option for the further development of the concept. Put together, these views give a quite negative image of CSR in China, and it comes forth as rather ineffective. If the concept is going to have any impact on the social and environmental problems in China there is a need for further research. The development of the concept needs to be in accordance with the realities of the Chinese society, addressing the problems in the society as well as the problems with the concept.

This dissertation focuses on the interactions between local public sector organisations and institutions in the development of performance measurement (PM) targets and indicators. The research is grounded in the performance measurement and management literature and adopts a joint new institutional and resource dependence perspective. Empirically, the research, which is qualitative and theory-building, consists of case studies undertaken in local public sector organisations in England. The iterative comparison of theory and data has enabled the investigation of a number of relevant themes. In the last decade, the British Government has placed great emphasis on the consistency of objectives, targets and indicators from national to local levels with the aim of enhancing performance, transparency and accountability, and of driving behavior. However, this research shows that the influence of several organizations and the co- existence of various PM initiatives generate confusion and overlaps locally. Moreover, in the cases considered the unmanageable number of indicators and the lack of clarity regarding the drivers and purposes of PM have led to confused massages and counter- productive approaches to the measurement and management of performance. From a theoretical view-point, the favourable comments expressed by interviewees regarding the current PM regime contrast with critics of New Public Management. Furthermore, legitimacy-seeking and efficiency-enhancing rationals have emerged as intertwined and loosely coupled. This is in opposition to what is maintained by early new institutional theorists. In line with resource dependence theory, PM systems were found to be significant components of power systems in organisations. Through the examination of the roles of PM and the investigation of relevant concepts such as 'golden thread' and performance culture, this research aims to make an impact on policy-making and to improve the ways in which targets and indicators are set and used, hence having a positive effect on the services delivered.

Nowadays actors within the business context are presented with a vast menu of different ideas which they can potentially adopt. This begs the question why actors choose to adopt a specific idea out of all the other available options. Our study explores the theoretical topic concerning travel of ideas, through the empirical context of leaders who practice extreme athleticism. The research question is: How and why do leaders adopt the idea of extreme athleticism? To answer this question, we assort several theoretical insights into six themes that are foremost predicated upon Scandinavian institutionalist contributions. The six themes are translation, previous practices, strategic purposes, fashion, legitimacy, and field, which is synthesised into a novel conceptual framework to help us understand how and why actors adopt an idea. The study is qualitative and collects data from 12 semi-structured interviews and 48 newspaper articles. Our main finding is that each of the six themes explored in this study are salient and helps us understand how and why actors adopt an idea, with a particular emphasis on the interplay between the intrinsic and extrinsic benefits. A suggestion for further research is therefore to develop and refine the conceptual model presented in this study.