Talent management (TM), both as a practice and an academic sub-discipline, lacks a strong conceptual foundation. This limitation significantly inhibits understandings of TM in its international dimensions. Accordingly the overarching aim of this thesis is to contribute to an overdue reassessment of TM within the international context by redressing the empirical and theoretical deficiencies, which are a direct hindrance to development of the field. The philosophy adopted was interpretivist, involving qualitative methods, that is, semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis were employed in data collection from 17 informant companies based in several European countries. This study makes highly significant contributions in four major ways. Firstly, the empirical contribution is made through employing two phases of primary research. Phase One was an exploration of TM practices in 14 internationally operating organisations representing eight industries. Out of Phase One arose the notion of expectations as a key influence shaping TM in practice as well as indicating managerial and individual dimensions. Thus Phase Two explored the conceptualisation and operationalisation of TM from the perspective of management, on the one hand and talented employees, on the other. This was a highly significant step in the understanding of TM, because most empirical studies have tended to focus on managerial views. Secondly, the methodological contribution results from the novel adoption of narratives in analysing case studies. This approach made it possible to gain insights into TM as lived experience especially on the part of employees selected as talented. Thirdly, the conceptual contribution arose from (i) contrasting and distilling the essence of many lax definitions of talent and TM; (ii) identifying the visible and invisible elements of TM in the domain of practice and(iii) employing a dual theoretical framework which integrated human capital theory and expectancy theory. Significantly the dual framework also offers a re-conceptualisation of TM as a social process in which various stakeholders are revealed to have disparate interests. Indeed the framework led to the notion of fracture in TM as a result of misalignment of expectations of management, on the one hand, and talent-managed employees, on the other. Lastly, by dint of the dual theoretical framework the study adds to the understanding of TM a new lens through which senior managers (and researchers) can clearly identify the gap between managerial intentions and the practical reality.

There are enormous benefits for any organisation from practising sound records management. In the context of a public university, the importance of good records management includes: facilitating the achievement the university’s mandate; enhancing efficiency of the university; maintaining a reliable institutional memory; promoting trust; responding to an audit culture; enhancing university competitiveness; supporting the university’s fiduciary duty; demonstrating transparency and accountability; and fighting corruption. Records scholars and commentators posit that effective recordkeeping is an essential underpinning of good governance. Although there is a portrayal of positive correlation, recordkeeping struggles to get the same attention as that given to the governance. Evidence abounds of cases of neglect of recordkeeping in universities and other institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa. The apparent absence of sound recordkeeping provided a rationale for revisiting some universities in South Africa and Malawi in order to critically explore the place of recordkeeping in an organisation’s strategy in order to develop an alternative framework for managing records and documents in an era where good governance is a global agenda. The research is a collective case study in which multiple cases are used to critically explore the relationship between recordkeeping and governance. As qualitative research that belongs in the interpretive tradition of enquiry, it is not meant to suggest prescriptive solutions to general recordkeeping problems but rather to provide an understanding of the challenges and opportunities that arise in managing records and documents in the world of governance, audit and risk. That is: what goes on in the workplace; what are the problems; and what alternative approaches might address any existing problem situations. Research findings show that some institutions are making good use of their governance structures and other drivers for recordkeeping to put in place sound recordkeeping systems. Key governance structures and other drivers for recordkeeping identified include: laws and regulations; governing bodies; audit; risk; technology; reforms; and workplace culture. Other institutions are not managing their records and documents well despite efforts to improve their governance systems. They lack recordkeeping capacity. Areas that determine recordkeeping capacity include: availability of records management policy; capacity for digital records; availability of a records management unit; senior management support; level of education and training of records management staff; and systems and procedures for storage, retrieval and dispositions of records. Although this research reveals that the overall recordkeeping in the selected countries has slightly improved compared with the situation other researchers found a decade ago, it remains unsatisfactory and disjointed from governance. The study therefore proposes governance recordkeeping as an approach to managing records and documents in the world of governance, audit and risk. The governance recordkeeping viewpoint considers recordkeeping as a governance function that should be treated in the same manner as other governance functions such as audit and risk management. Additionally, recordkeeping and governance should be considered as symbiotic elements of a strategy. A strategy that neglects recordkeeping may not fulfil the organisation’s objectives effectively.

Objectives: This project seeks to reduce duplication of effort in finding data for NHS healthcare quality indicators, to resolve issues identified in previous efforts to develop quality-monitoring ontologies and to identify areas for future computer-interpretable quality indicator development for the United Kingdom’s Department of Health and National Health Service (NHS). Outcomes will include specification of inclusion and exclusion criteria for a set of healthcare quality indicators, along with categorisation beyond screening and prevention and identification of levels of indicator relationships Methodology: Following an exploration of potential methods for ontology development, Methontology was the method chosen to develop the ontology. This involved a conceptual analysis to inform the development of an ontology for a 2009 set of healthcare quality indicators made available on the NHS Information Centre website. Indicators were categorised by NHS Dimension, NHS-specified clinical pathway and by United States Institute of Medicine purpose. Relationships between indicators were identified, as well as an initial set of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Protégé 3.4.1 was the platform used to develop a pilot ontology. Results: NHS quality indicators that share some of the same criteria were made searchable, along with broader and narrower related criteria. Up to six layers of inclusion and exclusion criteria were specified and incorporated into the ontology. Search capabilities were created for indicators originating from the same source and from more than one source, along with indicators assigned to specific care pathways. It was shown that indicators have purposes other than prevention and screening, rendering Arden Syntax, intended for computer-interpretable guidelines and previously tested on a specialised set of healthcare quality indicators, unsuitable for a large, diverse set of quality indicators. A large number, 222, of quality indicators with different purposes justified the development of a separate ontology. Conclusions: This ontology could reduce duplication of effort in finding data for NHS healthcare quality indicators. There is potential to link to components of queries currently in use in the NHS, as an interim step away from the need to develop separate queries for each indicator. Areas for future computer- interpretable quality indicator development include resolving Electronic Health Record compatibility issues and improved indicator metadata quality. The ontology could be useful to NHS indicator developers, NHS data xtractors and vendors of electronic health records who supply to the NHS.

This research investigates the relative effectiveness of different modes of regulation of access to personal data on social networking services in the UK. A review of the literature demonstrated that there was a gap in research comparing different regulatory modes applied to online social networking services (SNSs). A model of regulation was developed based on Lessig’s four modes of regulating the internet. Risk to individual users was selected as a way of testing different regulatory approaches, using the premise that risk-based regulation has become a key consideration in European regulation. The regulatory effects were tested using: online surveys, interviews with industry experts, content analysis of privacy policies, and a legislative review. The research data are appended to the main body of the thesis. The research demonstrated the potential of risk as a means of distinguishing between different regulatory modes and concluded that a combination of regulatory approaches was the most effective way of protecting individuals against abuse of personal data on online SNSs. Further research suggested includes: looking at risk from the perspective of companies, and of society; further development of the regulatory model; and country comparisons to discover whether the findings of this study are more generally applicable.

Cluster is not a new phenomenon, having existed in different forms for a long time. Although a large amount of work has been dedicated to cluster research (Marshall, 1920; Krugman, 1995; Schmitz 1997; Porter, 1998; Wilson and Popp, 2003), there is still a lack of convincing explanations as to how and why clusters are created. Reviewing the different definitions of ‘cluster’ from previous studies, produces the interesting finding that most of the cluster definitions neglect one key element – the ‘actor’ – that is, the individuals who are involved in the process of founding new businesses that give rise to cluster formation. Recognising the values and shortcomings of the extant studies on clusters, this thesis aims to establish a conceptual framework and attempt to advance the understanding of the cluster formation process from an alternative view. The purpose is to answer the research questions of how and why cluster are formed, how different actors interact with key institutional factors relevant to cluster creation and how these actors themselves make sense of the cluster creation process, particularly in the Chinese context. This research employs a qualitative approach comprising semi-structured in-depth interviews, which seek to uncover the depth and richness of the living experiences of different actors with the SME clusters. Fieldwork was completed in multi-phases involving a preliminary data collection in phase one, followed by a further data collection in the second and subsequent phases through re-interviewing the key informants. The findings of the three empirical case studies echoed the claims that the very notion of a cluster is a dynamic, and for some a ‘Chaotic’ one (Martin and Sunley, 2003). This highlights the importance of a comprehensive framework to address the complex web of elements that are involved in cluster formation. The result of the thesis also indicates that individual (entrepreneurs & social relations), and the social interactions among individuals and their institutional context are the key ingredients for forming clusters. It is suggested that the established conceptual framework, based upon the theories of institutionalisation, social embeddedness and sensemaking, can help to fill the gap in the extant cluster research and pave the way for future research.

Tag recommendation algorithms aid the social tagging process in many userdriven document indexing applications, such as social bookmarking and publication sharing websites. This thesis gives an overview of existing tag recommendation methods and proposes novel approaches that address the new document problem and the task of ranking tags. The focus is on graph-based methods such as Folk- Rank that apply weight spreading algorithms to a graph representation of the folksonomy. In order to suggest tags for previously untagged documents, extensions are presented that introduce content into the recommendation process as an additional information source. To address the problem of ranking tags, an in-depth analysis of graph models as well as ranking algorithms is conducted. Implicit assumptions made by the widely-used graph model of the folksonomy are highlighted and an improved model is proposed that captures the characteristics of the social tagging data more accurately. Additionally, issues in the tag rank computation of FolkRank are analysed and an adapted weight spreading approach for social tagging data is presented. Moreover, the applicability of conventional weight spreading methods to data from the social tagging domain is examined in detail. Finally, indications of implicit negative feedback in the data structure of folksonomies are analysed and novel approaches of identifying negative relationships are presented. By exploiting the three-dimensional characteristics of social tagging data the proposed metrics are based on stronger evidence and provide reliable measures of negative feedback. Including content into the tag recommendation process leads to a significant increase in recommendation accuracy on real-world datasets. The proposed adaptations to graph models and ranking algorithms result in more accurate and computationally less expensive recommenders. Moreover, new insights into the fundamental characteristics of social tagging data are revealed and a novel data interpretation that takes negative feedback into account is proposed.

This thesis presents an investigation into the role played by laboratory records in the disciplinary discourse of academic molecular biology laboratories. The motivation behind this study stems from two areas of concern. Firstly, the laboratory record has received comparatively little attention as a linguistic genre in spite of its central role in the daily work of laboratory scientists. Secondly, laboratory records have become a focus for technologically driven change through the advent of computing systems that aim to support a transition away from the traditional paper-based approach towards electronic recordkeeping. Electronic recordkeeping raises the potential for increased sharing of laboratory records across laboratory communities. However, the uptake of electronic laboratory notebooks has been, and remains, markedly low in academic laboratories. The investigation employs a multi-perspective research framework combining ethnography, genre analysis, and reading protocol analysis in order to evaluate both the organizational practices and linguistic practices at work in laboratory recordkeeping, and to examine these practices from the viewpoints of both producers and consumers of laboratory records. Particular emphasis is placed on assessing variation in the practices used by different scientists when keeping laboratory records, and on assessing the types of articulation work used to achieve mutual intelligibility across laboratory members. The findings of this investigation indicate that the dominant viewpoint held by laboratory staff other than principal investigators conceptualized laboratory records as a personal resource rather than a community archive. Readers other than the original author relied almost exclusively on the recontextualization of selected information from laboratory records into ‘public genres’ such as laboratory talks, research articles, and progress reports as the preferred means of accessing the information held in the records. The consistent use of summarized forms of recording experimental data rendered most laboratory records as both unreliable and of limited usability in the records management sense that they did not form full and accurate descriptions that could support future organizational activities. These findings offer a counterpoint to other studies, notably a number of studies undertaken as part of technology developments for electronic recordkeeping, that report sharing of laboratory records or assume a ‘cyberbolic’ view of laboratory records as a shared resource.

Title: The relevance and sustainability of Investors in People. Purpose: The purpose of this research project is to explore and challenge the relevance and sustainability of Investors in People (IIP) involvement and recognition within seven case studies. Research design: Seven in-depth case studies combining thirty-eight semi-structured interviews are used to gather the appropriate insights. Findings: In essence, it is the studied organizations themselves that generate what the Leitch Report describes as the “untapped and vast” potential of their employees, not IIP involvement or recognition. The data collected challenges the direct relationship frequently proposed between IIP recognition and increases in business performance. The sample organizations have delivered performance improvements and success independently of IIP consideration, raising serious questions over the relevance and sustainability of the standard. These insights are supported by the lack of knowledge and understanding of the standard within the workforce. In addition, other quality improvement tools and techniques and industry standards are found to have a significant detrimental influence on the standing of IIP. Other influences are also found to impact negatively on the standing. Thus, this research project questions what contribution IIP can make towards national competitiveness when the standard is so withdrawn from the business performance improvements integrated. Even as a badge or plaque of external recognition, the assumptions surrounding the perceptual value of IIP are questioned when the impact of the standard’s logo/ symbols is considered to be nominal. A theoretical framework and alternative definition for IIP are developed to represent the findings within the seven organizations studied. Research limitations: Research is needed beyond the case samples studied to further explore and generalize the rhetoric and realities concerning the insights developed. Practical implications: HR practitioners and managers need to exhibit caution before considering IIP involvement and recognition. Indeed, practitioners need to consider that the asserted benefits associated with IIP may not match their expectations and provide the impact they seek. Originality/value: This research project provides HR practitioners and managers with a valuable and timely alternative discourse and perspective when considering employee development towards IIP recognition and the possibility of improved business performance and customer/employee perceptual value. In addition, the theoretical exemplars developed from the data set provide visual representations that can be used as pragmatic comparisons to develop the field of IIP further.

Epidemiological data suggest a positive relationship between increased calcium intake and decreased fat and total body mass in healthy people (McCarron et al. 1984, Davies et al., 2000). An in-vitro model suggesting the role of cyclic Adenosine Monophosphate (cAMP) and phosphodiesterase 3B (PDE 3B) has been implicated in the relationship between calcium and lipolysis (Xue et al., 2001). The objective of the series of studies presented in this thesis was to investigate the ergogenicity of supplementary calcium in endurance exercise via studying its influence on substrate metabolism and body composition. Study 1 examined the effects of four weeks of calcium (citrate) supplementation (1000 mg elemental calcium/day) on 60 minutes of cycling at a submaximal intensity of 50%Wpeak. The results of this study indicated that calcium supplementation significantly improved body composition of the participants with a greater fat loss and increased lean mass observed in highly trained athletes as compared to the recreationally trained participants. In addition, four weeks of calcium supplementation also showed an enhanced trend of availability of fatty substrates in the plasma and consequently an increased trend towards higher fat oxidation during submaximal exercise. Study 2 and 3 thus examined the effects of calcium supplementation directly on performance during endurance events (25 and 10 mile cycling time trials (TT)) in highly trained athletes. Results from these studies indicate that following calcium supplementation there was a meaningful improvement in power output (PO) (~4%) during the 25TT and ~2.7% in 10TT with corresponding better completion times in both the time trials. This amounts to an increase in ~2-3% higher PO%peak and ~3-5% increase in power output at lactate threshold, with the higher percentages attributable to the 25TT and the lower end to the 10TT. This increase in PO was achieved without the corresponding increase in oxygen consumption, thus significantly improving the gross efficiency of the cyclists. In addition, four weeks of calcium supplementation once again exhibited the same trends in body composition as observed in study 1 of decreased fat mass and a concurrent increase in lean mass. The results from this set of investigation indicate that calcium plays a multifactorial role in performance enhancement of endurance events. This may have been achieved via a combination of influence on substrate metabolism and body composition. The impact of calcium on fatigue mechanisms and vascular tone may have also played a part in increasing PO and thus efficiency of the athletes. Thus the potential of calcium to enhance performance needs further investigation in studies with larger sample sizes and different training status of athletes.

This practice-based PhD takes the institution of the archive as its primary locus, and the position of the photograph within it. This approach opens up an interdisciplinary and post-representational investigation into the photographic image and its relationship to the companion descriptive text, as well as instigating a consideration of the structure and the management of both objects and descriptions in an archive situation. More specifically, the model of the visual content-based archive description is taken out of the confines of the institution and into visual practice. Different kinds of sets and collections of photographs are examined here, as well as traditional archives, but all through techniques of archival description, listing and organisation. The restricted institutional language structure becomes a conceptual writing technique when employed within this archive-related art practice. Positioned outside of the field of hermeneutical image analysis, this writing system is a form of information management, and, following archival conventions, does not attempt to assign meaning to the objects with which it engages. The practice predominantly takes the form of moving image or performance, always with text present (written or spoken). The image itself, paralleling a common archival situation, is often hidden or obscured, and the description allows a novel exploration of the image to take place and to be discussed. The largely decontextualised type of visual content-based description used emphasises the discrete and atemporal nature of the photograph and the synchrony of the moment of capture. It is acknowledged though, that the message and meaning of the single image is located outside of this moment of capture, and so may be subject to some speculation. The spatiotemporal context of the image, denied by the visual contentbased description, is brought back through ‘reading’ the archived image in its natural habitat, the archive list or catalogue. This relational situation reveals the fixed associations between images themselves and between images and their wider organisational structures. The description is ultimately identified as a ‘narrative pause’ (Fowler: 1991, p.25), and is celebrated as such. Inside the indexical and diachronic arrangement of the archive, images and descriptions are viewed through something other than a narrative gaze, as lists, and the juxtapositions therein, expose the acutely shallow time and non-chronological advancement of the archive.