The case study features an industrial relations problem in 1977/78 in an American-owned manufacturing company in South-Eastorn England. There is a union recognition issue which is tackled by mounting a major programme of OD leading to the provision of a company constitution featuring a system of multi-level policy making councils. The system was then monitored for six years. In general, the predicted outcomes were realised however, there were two unpredicted by-products of the programme: - those involved in the original dispute (blue collar manufacturing employees) voluntarily withdrew from the union despite there being provision for union involvement in the Constitution; - it was found that the desire for a system of representative participation was not universal among all employees. These findings - both the predicted and the unpredicted - are discussed and interpreted. It is the second unpredicted by-product - representative participation's lack of universal appeal - which provides the most important outcome from the standpoint of theory development, on the place of constitutions in organization design. This leads to the derivation of limiting conditions for their application in Section 3.

This thesis examines the development of identity of people with learning difficulties. It concentrates on an aspect which has hitherto not received significant attention, that is the importance of recognition of work in the developmental process. In order to do this the thesis defines work in a particular way, based on the work of E Jaques. It defines work in terms of the decision making process which leads to an external transformation of the world. It is the recognition of this transformation by another person which affirms the actor and enhances a sense of self. For this recognition to be effective, i.e. help in the development of identity, the thesis argues that it is critical to understand the way in which a person constructs their world and links intention with action. A general model is offered to describe this process whereby the person moves from a subjective construction of the world (a world of subjective discontinuity) to one which can be understood by others (interactive discontinuity). Although the model can be applied generally the thesis examines problems faced by people with learning difficulties due to their relatively limited intellectual ability, communication skills and not least the particular social context in which many have lived, i.e. institutional care. The thesis begins by examining the problem of the appropriate social role for such people given the current intention to allow each person to develop to their full potential. This involves a discussion of social policy leading to a consideration of institutionalisation and its alternatives. Then the model of identity development is presented in terms both general and specific to people with learning difficulties. In the context of methods of assessment a particular form of assessment, The Chart of Initiative and Independence, is considered in the light of the main thesis of identity development. Its subsequent use is then analysed and compared with other approaches in different settings. The thesis concludes by appreciating the limitations of both the model of identity development and the C.I.I, and considering complementary approaches whilst underlining the significance of recognition of work in any setting.

This thesis investigates the use of houndedness. claims for credibility and the exploitation o\' reflexive accounting within know ledge w ork. The current literature t'rom the sociology of scientific knowledge is used to contextualize this investigation, which constructs the thesis' central problem as a concern with the way boundary maintaining and boundary breaking activities contribute to the distribution of science and technology into its wider context. Two distinct and apparentK contrasting knowledge cultures are used to explore this problem; the social studies of technology (SST-1) is constituted as an academic knowledge culture and stratified systems theory (SST-2) is constituted as a consultancy culture. Ethnographic investigation and a variety of textual forms are used to address each of these cultures and the relationship between them. The constituted distinction is used as a further resource for investigating the problem. Chapters one to three provide the "introduction', 'aims' and "methodology' and exemplify boundedness, credibility and reflexivity in the culture of SST-1. Chapters four to six provide the "data' chapters of the thesis and exemplify boundedness, credibility and reflexivity in the culture of SST-2. This investigation identifies the concepts of unlocatability. conscription of members at the margins, and flexible and locked boundedness as key features of SST-2. In the final chapter, this thesis claims the apparent contrast between SST-1 and SST-2 is unsustainable as they can both be constructed as "working" via the variable 'incorporation' of "entities' (people, roles, locations, artefacts, ideas) into "conscripting organisms'. However, the boundaries constructed for the production of this thesis allow us to establish SST-1 and SST-2 as similar in using conscription and distinct in the focus of conscription. SST-1 is constituted as conscripting at the core and SST-2 is constituted as conscripting at the margins.

This action research project with district health councils (DHCs) in Ontario, Canada, took place between 1976 and 1980. The purpose of the research was to identify the most effective forms of organization for DHCs, bodies set up to provide a local focus for planning and coordination of health services in the Province. The research method was based on social analysis, a method developed over thelast thirty years through applications in industrial, commercial, health, education and social service settings. The first DHC was created in 1974 to serve the Ottawa-Carleton Region and there are now 25 DHCs covering 88% of the provincial population. Councils are generally regarded as community bodies, consisting of interested local citizens who serve on a voluntary, unpaid basis. The members comprise a mixture of 'providers', 'consumers' and local government representatives. The intensive research work was carried out in collaboration with three DHCs (Hamilton-Wentworth, Kenora-Rainy River and Ottawa-Carleton) and the emerging research findings were tested in a wide variety of settings including a number of the other DHCs. The first two chapters attempt to set the DHCs in an organizational and political context. Chapter 1 looks at the development of DHCs vis a vis other social developments, particularly regionalisation and decentralisation. Chapter 2 examines the political context in which DHCs emerged and identifies the policy tensions that are inherent in their work. In Chapter 3 a detailed account is given of the three intensive research settings and the organizational developments that took place during the course of the research. This chapter is in effect a summary of the whole research project. Chapter 4 is concerned with the nature and composition of councils, the roles of DHC member and chairman, and relationships among the DHCs. The research findings on alternative models of DHC structure are in Chapter 5 and 6, respectively concentrating on the Council and its committees and on the executive staff of council. The focus lengthens again in the concluding chapter to examine the potential for making overall judgements about the effectiveness of DHCs and the implications of this organizational study for other experiments in community-based health planning.

Management writers have emphasised that both new product development and innovation need to be stimulated in corporations if they are to prosper (Kanter, 1983; Lawrence and Dyer, 1983; Ouchi, 1981; Pascale and Athos, 1981) and they have focused mainly on issues of marketing and organisational behaviour and only to a limited extent on job autonomy. In the thesis aspects of team leader autonomy in new product development companies are investigated critically and empirically. The empirical study is based on data obtained from fifteen semi-structured interviews and two questionnaire surveys. The problems of managing and monitoring team leaders is discussed and conceptually represented in an improved definition of 'autonomy' originally proposed by Bailyn (1985). Autonomy is characterized in multi-dimensional terms and provides a new approach to understanding the complexity of team leader autonomy. Following a review of the literature and a grounded theory analysis of the pilot interview data, a number of common manifestations of autonomy were identified and subdivided into 'operational' and 'strategic' components. The findings of the pilot and main questionnaire studies into the level of team leader autonomy granted by top management are reported and analysed using correspondence analysis. 'Strategic' autonomy is found to reside primarily with senior management whilst team leaders are delegated more 'operational' autonomy. The literature on innovation cautions against too much hierarchical control but also draws attention to the top management dilemma of exercising responsibility and control of strategic tasks without stifling employees' technical competence and entrepreneurialism. A major finding from the main study is that in high technology types of company, management shares 'strategic" responsibilities with the team leader more than in other types of company. Top management cannot abrogate responsibility for directing and managing the company but, it is argued, a number of the strategic tasks could become more the responsibility of the team leader.

This thesis is concerned with some features of natural language in sociological argument and the implications of the presence of such features in such arguments for the satisfaction of the arguments. Part I describes some 'troubles' that natural language can occasion scientific methodology in research settings. It looks specifically at the damage to finality and uniqueness in questionnaire and interview interpretation. Part II describes four ways in which natural language may facilitate sociological arguments! by presentation devices; in display of author as credible; in transfer of materials in citation and in the invocation of common sense. It is suggested, then that natural language acts as a 'trouble' and a resource, the resource possibly repairing the trouble.

This essay is constructed around an empirical relationship which it attempts to interpret in terms of concepts and propositions of economic theory. This interpretation is necessary because the conceptual variables which enter the relationship as well as the method of their empirical measurement and the hypothesis of "causal" relation between them were not originally derived from economics, theoretical or applied. The principal concepts involved are called 'time-span of discretion1 (TSD), 'felt fair pay1 (FFP) and 'capacity1 (C). They are an original discovery, in a field where concepts and theory are scarce, of Elliott Jaques and the team of researchers who subsequently formed the Glacier Institute of Management. These three concepts are the principal elements of the structure for a theory of the evolution of organisational institutions. It is inside these institutions that the reality of work and payis found in present industrial society . . .

The main criterion of measuring the success of a marketing oriented company is the market share that it can achieve over its competitive rivals. The main objective of this study is to investigate the application of market share in the direction and control of the marketing activity for a brand or a product. To understand such applications.it is therefore necessary to consider the managerial use of this objective in the strategy formulation and control function at different managerial levels of an organisation. The differences of objectives, responsibilities, and type of decisions undertaken by managers at various levels require different definitions of a product's market. A higher level of market aggregation can be expected to take place at the higher managerial level to match the longer time span of the decision, and a greater responsibility. At the other end, segmenting the market by different criteria implies identifying these segments employed for measuring the share level of product. In addition, the constraints of a company's ultimate long term objective (Rol) over strategy formulation may affect the level of commitment of various marketing managers towards market share objective. A larger market share may not always produce higher profitability, and the product life cycle concept is used to identify conditions under which different results may be obtained. Finally, the study investigates the effects of factors "such as product characteristics and inflation rates on a manager's choice in selecting the marketing sales figure (sales value, or volume) for assessing the share level of a product. All the above factors generate the study hypotheses that will be tested by the postal questionnaire approach. The product/brand managers of heavily advertised fast moving consumer goods or of durable consumer products marketed by British or foreign companies in ttie UK market, will be surveyed. Since the collected data will tnko a number of forms, both non-parametric statistics, such as chi-square test, and mrametric statistics, such as Student's t-test, will be used for the purpose of analysis. In addition, to test the practical application and validity of the study findings, some of the senior marketing managers who responded to the questionnaire survey will be interviewed.

A literature review showed that social services departments use the traditional bureaucratic methods of formalisation and centralisation to control their social workers, and that social workers report this as a source of dissatisfaction. Organisation theorists identify the professional bureaucracy as an alternative organisational model, but there is no study of a social services department operating in this way. A department was found where the social workers stated that there were few rules or procedures governing their practice, and where they expressed satisfaction with their decision making powers. A research programme was designed in order to examine the department's organisation in more detail. Interviews were conducted with 27 social workers and 23 managers, up to and including the director. Detailed transcriptions were prepared and validated by the respondents as an accurate record of their views about their practice and the workings of the department. Analysis of these transcriptions revealed that the department was a variant of the professional bureaucracy model. The thesis explores the practice of the social workers and managers in detail. Whilst the social workers expressed considerable satisfaction with their freedom from rules and procedures and with their decision making powers, a number of concerns about the model are highlighted and discussed. The thesis also examines how a department organised on these professional lines dealt with the issue of accountability, and shows that there is no inevitable conflict between professional discretion and the need for accountability.

The thesis defines a profession as a group of workers who have been authorised by the state to determine aspects of their own work, training and organisation,usually,but not necessarily,as a result of their specialist expertise. It argues that knowledge about professions would be advanced by examining the social structures and processes of regulation and management of different professions, rather than by concentrating on the particular characteristics of the work or of the workers. Following this approach the thesis presents research into the different national regulatory structures, and local management structures of five "welfare service" professions in the U.K. In explaining the differences in structure the thesis shows how each occupation exploited characteristics which provided power in particular situations to establish organisation and control advantageous to its interests,and how characteristics such as specialist knowledge, status, and income were stabilised and further developed as a result. It also examines the complex involvement of the state in legitimating, advancing and limiting professional power. The main contribution of the thesis is to develop Freidson's theory of professions through logical critique and by reference to empirical evidence about five U.K. welfare professions, and by, - showing that national regulatory structures do not define a division of labour or provide the absolute autonomy which Freidson proposed, - showing that different types of professional autonomy are institutionalised in local management structures, usually on central government recommendation, and by providing a typology of professional autonomy based on empirical research, - showing that characteristics of professions are related to, but not, as proposed by Freidson, determined by professional autonomy, - developing Freidson's general perspective to accommodate the empirical evidence by reconceptualising the nature of professions in terms of professional authority, rather than autonomy, and by developing a model of the authorisation of professional power. In developing Freidson's theory the thesis also contributes, - to knowledge about professional organisation within state welfare bureaucracies, mainly by providing detailed descriptions of differences and changes in management structures, - to the methodology of action research by developing the theoretical basis of a method for investigating the legitimation of authority in establishing management structures, - to knowledge about the details of the relationship between the state and welfare professions, mainly by providing evidence of the involvement of the state at national and local levels in decisions and structures which profoundly shape the nature of practice, relationships with clients, and futures of welfare occupations.