Current metropolitan planning in Saudi Arabia has led to a specific housing type. In order to provide isolation the metropolitan housing design has become very close and confined. This confinement has made the metropolitan house lacking in the feeling of open space, gradual transition from the public to the private domains, and the connection with the natural environment. In this study a non-conventional design of metropolitan housing is introduced. In this design are revealed the elements of the ideal metropolitan house that are absent in the typical design. / Master of Architecture

The present investigation examines the roles of women in the rapidly changing society of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and attempts to quantify and optimize their role as active contributors to the development of the country. The study starts out with a review of earlier work on women's roles in the Kingdom and then throws a more recent light on the subject by analyzing the current writings and comments in the popular press. Those findings are supplemented by direct interviews with samples from various segments of the Saudi population; answers are compared with similar inquiries by earlier researchers as well as with opinions expressed in the media. Since these results are primarily of a subjective nature the study then proceeds to quantify the role Saudi women play as educated and productive contributors to the development of the Kingdom. From published data a numerical framework is described, which is followed by a modelling effort, using the goal programming algorithm, aimed at optimizing the use of the female labor force in Saudi Arabia. Under present policies and as a result of social and traditional attitudes many of the labor market positions are now available for occupancy by Saudi women but they are filled by female or male imported labor. The impacts of selected changes in current manpower policies are analyzed.

No description available.

This dissertation examines the relationship between religion and state in Saudi Arabia. More than any other country in the Muslim world, Saudi Arabia is identified with Islam. It is the state religion, its source of political legitimacy, it shapes state policies and activities, and serves as the moral code of society. / The findings of this study support the hypothesis that the state, because of its monopoly of force and resources, and the need to maintain autonomy, can not tolerate an autonomous religious domain that would compete with it for the loyalty of citizens. The state will extend its authority to the religious domain and utilize religious leaders and institutions to perpetuate its policies. This state will make use of religious values to strengthen its authority and legitimacy. It will not hesitate to suppress religious institutions if they challenge its authority.

No description available.

No description available.

Dhahran, Saudi Arabia is home to the largest transnational oil corporation and gated suburban residential compound in the world. In exploring Saudi ARAMCO, I will undoubtedly be opening to the centerfold of all socio-cultural, religious, political, economic and pedagogical forces affecting today's geo-political affairs. The theoretical focus of my thesis comes from both a global and critical pedagogy framework that investigates the nature of asymmetrical power relations on micro, meso and macro levels. Additionally, the multiple perspectives I have gained while living in Dhahran and mediating between identities including girl, woman, South-Asian, Canadian, expatriate, student and artist have provided me with particular insights of a hermeneutical, epistemological, narrative, qualitative, phenomenological and visual nature. This has enabled me to perform rich multi-methodological research and informed written analysis. In this way, my thesis hopes to contribute to the examination of this largely un-explored phenomenon.

No description available.

Thesis (M.S.)--Missouri State University, 2008. / "December 2008." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-87). Also available online.

Environmental scanning is an essential activity for organisation's success undertaken by top executives to allow them to be effective in steering the organisation within a changing environment. Organisations exist in an increasingly turbulent world. Organisations which want to succeed in the ever-changing business environment need to adopt suitable management tools that can identify emerging issues that may have the capacity to impact on their business. Environmental scanning is such a technique, often used within a suite of tools as part of a strategic planning process; it can be an important source of information for firms which operate in rapidly changing environments. The aim of this study is to investigate environmental scanning activities in the Saudi private sector. In recent years, changes in the domestic and global environment have created very different economic challenges. A number of factors have promoted these changes; political uncertainty, economic decline, youth explosion, the rapid increase in unemployment among Saudi youth and Islamic extremism highlight some of the challenges that the country now faces which ultimately might impact on Saudi business. Most of the previous research on environmental scanning has been carried out in a Western context, and no empirical research exists on the scanning activities of Arab executives in general and Saudis in particular. This research aimed to address this gap in the literature by investigating environmental scanning activities in Saudi private firms. In particular the study looks at (1) executives' perception of their business environment: (2) the frequency of, and level of interest in, executives' scanning: (3) the information sources used to investigate what is happening in the business environment: (4) the decisions which dependent on scanning activities: (5) the methods used by Saudi firms to scan their environment. The research adopted a triangulation methodology using both a mail survey questionnaire and personal interview. A total of 500 surveys were sent to executives of the Saudi top 500 firms; 162 were returned. However, only 150 usable questionnaires were included for data analysis. The study revealed that Saudi executives in general believe that their businesses operate in a highly turbulent environment where competition, economic and legal factors are perceived as the most strategically uncertain. Surprisingly, political factors produced a low level of perceived strategic uncertainty. The study pointed out that the executives in this sample tend to scan for a large number of issues in their environment. In particular, they conduct the greatest amount of scanning in the competition, economic and legal areas. In addition, the study indicated that the executives in the sample increase scanning frequency in response to increased perception of environmental uncertainty in the macro-environment more than in the micro-environment. The findings from this study also show that personal sources are used more frequently than impersonal sources in scanning by executives in this study. Among the five most used sources for scanning, four are personal sources (customers: subordinate managers: subordinate staff: business/ professional associates).