The European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) excellence model is used increasingly in the public sector in the Middle East. This thesis addresses a shortage of empirical research in this field and extends the, so called, dynamic capabilities perspective by investigating how the EFQM model can contribute to developing organisational capabilities. A research model was developed based on the theory of structuration and the dynamic capabilities perspective. A multiple case study design was used in three public sector organisations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The unit of analysis was the activity configuration involved in the deployment of the EFQM model. This research investigates how activity configurations changed over time, their effect on the organisational social structure and their outcomes in developing new capabilities. In-depth data were collected using interviews and archival sources. The thesis suggests that motives for using the EFQM model represent an important factor in defining the type of activities in its deployment and for its success. It was found that external and internal motives can both have positive impact. The findings showed that organisations experienced with the EFQM model tend to follow similar paths of deployment and achieve comparable results. An indicative model is proposed describing the three stages the organisation can go through in the deployment of the EFQM model. Firstly, the organisation develops the capability to understand the benefits of the model and to plan for its successful deployment. Secondly, the organisation focuses on developing operational capabilities, using the EFQM model. Thirdly, the organisation improves existing capabilities and develops new ones in a recurring cycle, referred to as the cycle of dynamic capabilities. This research contributes to the perspective of dynamic capabilities by investigating the sources of capabilities and how they are shaped through the deployment of the EFQM excellence model. The theoretical background and the research methodology used in this research extend the research application of the structuration theory by linking it with the dynamic capabilities perspective. Suggestions for further research include investigation of the learning cycle of dynamic capabilities through the lens of organisational learning. The research methodology can also be extended to consider strategy formation. An investigation of the EFQM model, which is the basis for assessment in the government award scheme, carries inevitable sources of limitations and bias. A significant proportion of the data collected and analysed was confidential in nature and presented challenges in relation to dissemination of the results.

Women's empowerment in the police sector as leaders is an important study that has received little attention in the literature. Understanding the problems and hurdles, as well as solutions to empower women police today as leaders in the police force, was the emphasis of the study. The goal of this research was to investigate the concept of female police empowerment in the Abu Dhabi Police. This study looks at the important elements of empowerment for ADHGHQ women police, as well as the problems they encounter because of their gender in a historically male-dominated industry. The following four research questions served as a guide: 1) To what extent the principles of empowerment are implemented of women police in the ADPGHQ? 2) What is the impact of empowerment implementation on leadership of women police in the ADPGHQ? 3) What is the impact of empowerment implementation on skills of women police in the ADPGHQ? 4) What is the impact of empowerment implementation on the abilities of women police in the ADPGHQ? An in-depth survey and personnel meeting were conducted with women police operating in all ADPGHQ sectors to have a better grasp the issue. The data collection and analysis paradigms used in the research investigation were quantitative. The core data is gathered through questionnaires and personal meetings with a group of 650 female police officers from various sectors who work at the Abu Dhabi Police (ADHGHQ). Data was gathered via e-mail, and personnel were present. This research finishes with practice recommendations for strengthening police leadership in the ADPGHQ and removing real and perceived barriers to women's full involvement in the workforce and leadership. A proposal method was established to improve the position of women's police empowerment in leadership, according to the study. This approach is intended to empower female police officers in positions of leadership at ADPGHQ, but it can also be used as a general conceptual framework to empower women in other police sectors. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that women police require empowerment to achieve the desired leadership position.

Due to many adverse consequences of poor decision making in organisations there is a need to focus on the quality of information and knowledge. This research focuses on how to obtain and use, or “harness” knowledge from information in improving organisational decision-making in a civil protection/security organisation to become effective and enter an organisational wide learning spiral. This is necessary in order to gain a high degree of intuitiveness and intelligence and to be effective. The researcher explores how information-knowledge can be processed and converted into deeper level knowledge, while at the same time how to get decision makers to codify knowledge in order to help them to externalise it. In order to achieve this, the “information-space” model was used to show the information-to-knowledge dynamic journey. The research involved using quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative approach is used to obtain computable results from key decision-makers, such as senior workers, and test a model derived from the literature. Seventeen hypotheses were proposed based on theory to evaluate the proposed model. Primary data was collected during the empirical phase of the research from 135 respondents. A structural equation model was used and included exogenous and endogenous latent constructs. On the other hand, a use of qualitative research helped to obtain deeper insights into the use of information and knowledge in decision making. It was underpinned by several propositions and its aim was to expose the role of information-knowledge and the creation of a learning organisation. The results of the quantitative approach revealed that twelve hypotheses are positively significant. Two hypotheses have a significant negative impact on other constructs. Additionally, three hypotheses are non-statistically significant. The results reveal some very interesting insights, such as that demographic factors, such as age, level of education, gender, work experience and level of authority, have a significant impact on problem solving and decision making. In terms of type of information, the proprietary and common sense information types have more significance for solving problem and decision making. But, much to the researcher’s surprise, the public information and personal information played a very minor role. On the other hand, the results of the qualitative data collection show how key decision makers made decisions and gained a certain degree of intuition from it. Therefore, this research has met its objective in helping towards improvement in a civil protection/security organisation to become a learning organisation and help it to enter a learning spiral and make continual improvement. Hence, the researcher succeeds in making suitable recommendations to a number of different stakeholders, in particular the civil protection/security organisations to (i) to develop their management and specialist personnel, and, (ii) to have the necessary information management strategy in place that would harness information and help towards (iii) creating an effective and robust knowledge management strategy.

No description available.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are becoming increasingly prevalent in peoples’ daily lives due to the presence of e-government. This research aims to identify and understand factors affecting the adoption and use of e-government services in a public sector organisation in a developing country, in this case, Abu Dhabi Police Force (ADPF) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). For this purpose a theoretical framework based on existing e-government and e-services literature was developed. To determine its applicability, a qualitative approach involving 200 participants’ interviews was used in this study. The questions for the interviews were based on the constructs derived from classic theories in the literature. The theories are: Diffusion of Innovations Theory (DOI), Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour (DTPB) and e-Commerce’s Trustworthiness models. The research study results revealed that departments that had roles and responsibilities aligned with government online products and services, adopted e-services better. Where training and awareness was provided, individuals adopted e-services better, and where trust in the provision of e-services was divided in two. The first relates to e-services being better than a manual service as e-services provide clarity and transparency. The second form of trust aligns with confidentiality and privacy. A subset of the research revealed that demographic factors that include, an organisational structure position and the role that one has, inhibit or encourages the use and adoption of e-services. The contributions from this research are anticipated to be a better understanding of the adoption, diffusion and use of e-services in the UAE region. For theory, this research study provided a diverse approach (qualitative research) in an organisational context, the development of a conceptual framework specific to Abu Dhabi’s public sector department and finally, there is research conducted on government to employee e-services in Abu Dhabi, a rare occurrence. For policymakers, the contribution of this research is that the research can understand the impacts of policies and strategies used for developing and implementing e-services. For practice the contribution can be in the form of results that organisations providing external consultancy services in the UAE can identify and understand. Therefore, results such as, lower positions individuals in departments not utilising e-services emerged and suggest that awareness should be inherent within the organisation. By doing so, fewer risks and waste of resources in the form of time and personnel can be avoided.

L’anticipation de l’après-pétrole est, depuis le milieu des années 2000, le leitmotiv du gouvernement des Émirats arabes unis. Au-delà de l’objectif de diversification économique, ce projet passe par des politiques de développement urbain et le contrôle des populations étrangères qui représentent 88 % des résidents. Souvent considérés comme la génération ayant bénéficié des revenus pétroliers, les jeunes adultes nés aux Émirats sont les premiers à subir les effets de ces politiques. Fondée sur une ethnographie des jeunes Émiriens et expatriés arabes ayant grandi à Abou Dhabi, cette thèse prend le contrepied d’analyses souvent centrées sur la division entre citoyens et non-citoyens. Une telle approche permet d’explorer la complexité des hiérarchies statutaires et de leur traduction dans l’espace public. Elle permet surtout de les confronter avec les identifications en termes d’âge et de génération qui se dessinent à travers les sociabilités urbaines de ces jeunesses arabes. Du cosmopolitisme consumériste mis en scène dans les shopping malls, à l’investissement des marges urbaines, en passant par des formes spécifiques d’anonymat, ces jeunes adultes investissent des temporalités et des territoires qui leur sont propres. Ils y façonnent des subjectivités singulières s’exprimant à travers des répertoires communs, notamment une langue arabe réinventée et les usages d’internet. Parmi les imaginaires ainsi partagés, la nostalgie pour les espaces urbains dans lesquels ils ont grandi participe à l’élaboration de leur sentiment commun d’appartenance à la société urbaine. L’étude des pratiques sociales et des processus de subjectivation des jeunesses arabes d’Abou Dhabi ouvre ainsi la voie à l’analyse anthropologique des modes de structuration sociale et de l’urbanité spécifique de la société émirienne contemporaine. / Since the mid-2000s, anticipating the post-oil era has been the leitmotiv of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government. Beyond the project of economic diversification, it has translated to policies of urban development and to the control of foreign residents, who constitute 88 % of the country’s population. Although seen as the generation who benefitted from oil revenues, the young adults who were born in the UAE are subjected first-hand to the consequences of these policies. Based on the ethnographic study of young Emiratis and Arab expatriates who grew up in Abu Dhabi, this thesis detracts from analyses often focused on the divide between citizens and non-citizens. Through an in-depth exploration of the complexities of status hierarchies, it shows how these are translated to public space, but most of all how they are confronted to identifications in terms of age or generation emerging from young adults’ urban sociabilities. From a consumerist cosmopolitanism played out in shopping malls to the appropriation of urban margins and particular forms of anonymity, the Arab youths of Abu Dhabi indeed appropriate specific temporalities and territories. Within them, they model idiosyncratic subjectivities which are expressed through shared practices and modes of communication, including a reinvented Arab language and Internet uses. Among the imaginaries which are thus produced, nostalgia for the urban spaces in which they grew up contributes to shaping their feeling of belonging to urban society. The analysis of social practices and the shaping of subjectivities of the Arab youths in Abu Dhabi thus brings about an anthropological understanding of the specific urbanity of contemporary Emirati society, as well as it sheds light on the processes which shape its social structure.

The notion of Strategic Fit has been and remains to be one of the most important arguements in the fields of business strategy and strategic management. This research study examines the key concept of ‘strategic fit’ and its associated theories and seeks to investigate the causes that have created ‘strategic drift’ in Abu Dhabi’s governmental agencies in the infrastructure sector with the aim of improving their performance. However, for organisations, public or private, it still remains to be the most important notion and one that cannot be ignored because it is about the success of the organisation in its external environment where all competitive activity takes place. Thus, there are many underlying factors such as organisational culture, structure and organisational history that impact, or influence, the level of fit that organisations achieve. Therefore it is imperative that research is further undertaken on a deeper and wider level to fully understand the concept and importance of strategic fit and how it can be achieved. Hence, a research study in this area, especially in developing cities such as Abu Dhabi, is well justified and needed. The lack of strategic fit that has been witnessed in the Abu Dhabi’s infrastructure sector over the past few years continues to be, and it is a clear indication of a developing mismatch between the government and its policies and the agencies that implement them. However, this is clearly a major issue for the government going forward, if polices are developed with no clear understanding of the available resources and capabilities. Similarly, the study also seeks to determine why a strategic fit has not been achievable by the Abu Dhabi government. Though the government has developed policies to better serve its people, it continuously faces issues of policies not being implemented, or being implemented too late and targets not been met according to the original brief. It has been identified that there are numerous deficiencies between the various government agencies in the infrastructure sector in terms of keeping pace with governmental policies - consequently, resulting in strategic gaps with an increasing possibility of a possible strategic drift, if these issues are not addressed effectively and in a timely manner. The study further wishes to explore if strategic gaps have occurred as a result of inherent cultural, historical, political and/or structural aspects of the Abu Dhabi government and its numerous agencies – simply because these issues can be seen as preventative to change and progress which, in turn, can lead to strategic gaps and strategic drift in the long term. The research paradigm selected for this research study is that of the pragmatist approach and subsequently the key methodology employed throughout this research is that of the mixed methods. That mixed methods research is an intellectual and practical synthesis based on qualitative and quantitative research. Also, This research provides a summary of the important findings, proved hypotheses, achieved aim and objectives, and significant contribution to the knowledge of strategic management through the development of the “Community Innovation Scheme”, the “3-Spectrums of Change”, the “4Ms Change Model”; and the resulting framework model; the “Government Strategy Model”.

No description available.

This study delves into the perceptions of Manchester City Football Club supporters regarding the club’s Corporate Social Responsibility activities post its 2008 acquisition by Abu Dhabi United Group. Interviews with Swedish MCFC supporters reveal an in-depth understanding of the evolution of their relationship with the club and their views on its CSR endeavors. The study addresses the supporters backgrounds, roles within the supporter association, experiences before and after the ownership change, and their perspectives on the club’s community engagements. A key theme is how these supporters perceive the club’s growing global CSR initiatives in the local community as well as on a global scale and their association with sportswashing allegations. The study presents a nuanced view of how supporters' loyalty and connection with the club intertwine with their perceptions of its social responsibility and global image.

This thesis aims at investigating the importance of effective implementation of health safety and hygiene legislations and practices in Health Care delivery systems. A new System Based Approach for Strategic Implementation of Occupational Health & Safety Practices is proposed in this thesis. The underlying principle of the approach is based on involvement and inputs from staff and management rather than by pre-specified requirements and objectives. Furthermore, the development process is a closed loop process that provides a mechanism for continuously evaluating system performance and monitoring activities that have considerable impact on health and safety practices. A case study was conducted in the medical laboratories of five major hospitals in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Data were collected through questionnaires, staff interviews, and reviewing laboratory safety reports compiled over a three years period. The main conclusions from this study are: 1. The proposed approach has proven to be useful in analyzing existing health and safety systems. The methodology and tools proved to be instrumental in defining inefficiencies and determining the status of the Health & Safety policies & practices in the selected medical laboratories. 2. Effective implementation of the proposed approach has shown improvements in productivity, operational cost, service quality, staff and management satisfaction. 3. The case study has demonstrated that a developing country such the UAE, with no previously existing Health & Safety legislation and little risk prevention culture, can rapidly and effectively introduce effective industry specific H&S by adopting an integrated systems based approach. 4. UAE has highly advanced and economically developing base, there is a general willingness at senior level within the UAE to achieve high levels of competence and standards in all industrial sectors. 5. CAP is a system based management tool which has been implemented globally, but only limited in the gulf region; CAP has been implemented by the author and colleges within Zayed Military Hospital between 2003-2007.