This is an investigative action research study on ways of improving the reading comprehension skills of Arabic medical school students. The study first analysed the difficulties of teaching and learning English and reading in English in a Saudi university medical college. An intervention was planned and implemented based on Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR –Klingner and Vaughn, 1996). This involved using group work to teach explicitly a set of reading strategies to a class of students who had failed their first year examinations. The process and outcomes of this intervention were analysed through mainly qualitative research methods including: semi-structured interviews which were audio taped to explore students' reading habits, field notes and video and audio taped observations to examine students' interactions while reading, the results of the reading comprehension test taken at the end of the course, and a questionnaire of students' perceptions completed after implementing collaborative strategic reading. The results of the first action research cycle suggested that CSR had enabled these students to improve their reading comprehension considerably. However, the analysis also revealed some issues about the group work on which this was based, suggesting that improved interaction in groups might enable students to make better use of the CSR strategies. A second cycle of action research, this time with a different class of first year students, was therefore enacted including group work training using the idea of exploratory talk (Mercer 2000) alongside CSR to help students to think more critically and constructively. Analyses revealed significant findings. First, CSR had a positive improvement on students' learning by boosting their learning strategies. Second, students were able to build on the structure of CSR and gained other collaborative skills. Third, students reported positive feedback about CSR and its strategies and changed their views about group work and its efficacy in the classroom. Moreover, when CSR was combined with exploratory talk the group work became more critical and productive. However, analysis of data from group work transcripts suggested that Mercer's typology, developed with British children, may not be so useful for Arabian students working with English as a foreign language. The sociolinguistic context means that a different typology is required and the thesis suggests one appropriate to Saudi students who are studying English for a specific academic and professional purpose. The findings offer a framework for developing reading comprehension through group work and combining it with exploratory talk. The thesis has implications for those in similar contexts to the research site and makes some practical recommendations. It also raises questions about conducting action research in this context and engages with micro and macro political issues related to the purpose of teaching and learning English in the college and how they limit teaching and learning practices.

Saudi Arabia faces a universally acknowledged need to diversify beyond hydrocarbons. The Saudi Arabian government has outlined a strategy to achieve diversification through its Vision 2030 reform plan. Contrary to the Vision 2030 plan, the Saudi government should allow for entrepreneurs and market signals to determine diversification when considering what sectors should receive investment, with the exception of broad infrastructure investments contributing to the overall enabling environment. Government lending for private-sector investments need to have plausibly high projected rates of return, and meet minimum standards of environmental and social responsibility, requiring participation by multiple government ministries sufficiently insulated from the government.

Local retail jewelry leaders of Saudi Arabian (S.A.) small to medium enterprises (SMEs) have struggled to survive through declining profits and increasing business foreclosures, thus threatening the sustainability of the Saudi retail sector and the Saudi economy. A globalization strategy to enhance profitability for jewelry retail SMEs in S.A. is needed, given the limited options for improving profitability. Despite this acknowledged need, leaders in S.A. have refrained from such a strategy because they lack knowledge of economic attraction features to target in the globalization process. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study using discriminant analysis was to examine specific countries' economic attraction features in the historical globalization strategy of a leading U.S. global jewelry company that could facilitate the implementation of a successful globalization strategy for a local Saudi jewelry SME retail company. The study addressed the effects of 6 independent predictor variables of 25 target countries' economic attractions on the dependent grouping variable, which distinguished among 3 order-of-entry groups according to the U.S. company's date of entry in each country between 1972 and 2009. Results indicated that except for the Hofstede index, no other variable had a significant role in the classification of the target countries. Because there was a scarcity of research on this topic, the study is beneficial for its theoretical and academic value, and may be practical for the derivative benefits of catalyzing business growth by empowering leaders of local, successful luxury brands in S.A. to implement their own globalization expansion process and increase employment in the Middle East.

Rising worldwide rates of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in the Middle East, principally Saudi Arabia, have put an increasing load on the health system and employers. Middle Eastern organizations have been slow to develop targeted health programs, which include an emphasis on employee productivity. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship, if any, between employee lifestyle and workplace productivity. Productivity is the amount of work produced based on the time and cost required to do so. The underlying theoretical foundations of this research were the socioecological health model and the human capital model. The quantitative, ex post facto design relied on secondary data from Saudi Aramco. Lifestyle data were collected from a health risk assessment including the Stanford Presenteeism Scale. Data analysis consisted of both a correlational and multiple regression analysis. Correlational results indicated that exercise, tobacco use, body mass index (BMI), and nutrition were significantly related to workplace productivity. Exercise and nutrition had a significant positive correlation with workplace productivity, while tobacco use and increasing BMI were negatively correlated with workplace productivity. Multiple regression analysis results explained 21% of the variance in the dependent variable, a sizable percentage with such a large sample. Overall, these results suggest a strong influence of health choices on productivity. Since this research was the first to explore the unique cultural context and draw attention to the increasing NCD burden, the results are notable. Implications of this research should resonate with organizational leaders in the Middle East, and provide a clear opportunity to improve organization and human performance.

Despite increased awareness about patient safety and quality of care, errors and adverse outcomes occur frequently in clinical practice. An estimated 10% of the 35.1 million U.S. hospital patients suffered injuries caused by medical errors; the most common were medication errors, which accounted for more than 50% of all medical errors. Work-related stress is associated with medication errors for health care professionals (HCP) in Saudi Arabia (SA) hospitals; however, the specific types of stressors and their effect on the level of medication errors have not been studied in SA. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationship between the overall level and sources of work-related stress using the job stress scale on the level of medication errors for a group of 269 HCPs working at King Abdul-Aziz Hospital (KAH) in SA. The theoretical framework for this research was the Donabedian patient safety model, which relates healthcare quality to personal, environmental, and organizational factors. Binary logistic regression analyses indicated there was no relationship between overall levels of stress and medication errors. However, specific sources of work related stress such as disruption to home life, excessive workload, and night/weekend call duties were associated with a significant increase in the medication error rate, while pressure to meet deadlines and difficulties with colleagues was associated with a significant decrease in the medication error rate. Positive social change implications include how understanding the impact of work-related stress on medication errors by SA HCPs may lead to specific interventions to reduce medication errors and improve patient care.

The Saudi ministry of health reported that government health care spending doubled from 2008 to 2011. To address increased demand, the government encouraged small to medium enterprise (SME) growth. However, SME leaders could not leverage technology as a growth enabler because they lacked strategies to address operating inefficiencies associated with technology. Only 50% of hospitals fully implemented information technology. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore lived experiences of SME leaders on strategies needed to accelerate technology implementation. This exploration drew on a conceptual framework developed from Wainwright and Waring's framework addressing issues of technology adoption. Data were collected from semistructured interviews of 20 SME leaders in Saudi Arabia. A modified van Kaam method was used to analyze participants' interview transcripts in search of common themes. The main themes were strategies to address human resources, clinical teams, funding, and organizational and leadership alignment to accelerate the diffusion of technology. Findings indicated that insurance companies influence SME operations, growth, and survival. Analysis of findings revealed the need for change in management, training, implementation follow up, and staff retention to accelerate technology implementation. Application of findings has the potential to promote positive social change in guiding SME leaders to be change agents and enabling them to create a reliable, sustainable health care delivery system.

This dissertation is an exploration of the dynamics of Iranian-Saudi relations from the earliest days of their encounter in the 1920s through 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. This is a period in the relations of the two states that has rarely been the subject of intellectual inquiry in the existing literature. This present research provides an analytical historiography of Iranian-Saudi relations with an aim to examine the elements constituting the dynamics of their relations. This is attained by contextualizing the milestones of Iranian-Saudi relations, triangulating historical accounts to identify the narrative among alternatives that best fits the meaningful causal processes explaining continuity and change, and weighing the impacts of factors playing a role in any given period of the Iranian-Saudi relations.

This thesis examines public participation in regional development in Saudi Arabia at the local government level. The main objective of the study examines the current policies and practices of Riyadh Regional Council with regard to regional development, paying particular attention to the issue of public participation. Key decision-makers and decision locations are identified as focal points of policy development and implementation. The work begins from the premise that public participation is one of the key elements of effective regional policy that has so far been under-researched and consequently under-utilised in the Saudi Arabian context. The research opens by examining the national and cultural context of regional development in Saudi Arabia. It identifies and examines the relationship between policy development and the traditions and constitutional arrangements. These considerations are followed by an interrogation of the literature that reveals a range of concepts and perspectives on regional development and public participation. Of particular relevance to this study is the importance of the ‘institutional turn’ in regional development and the role of public participation in enhancing the functioning of those institutions associated with regional development. Saudi Arabia has an economy that is largely dependent on revenues generated from the export of crude and refined petrochemicals. This places Saudi Arabia in a category of nations that are liable to suffer from the ‘resource curse’. The literature suggests that avoiding this particular phenomenon is in part dependent on having robust institutions. This firmly connects the research problem to previous research and provides a sound rationale for the conduct of the study. / Interpretivism is advanced as a suitable philosophical framework for the conduct of the research. It offers a methodological rationale for a case study investigation that draws on a range of qualitative data sources. Such an approach is especially useful for examining situations that are bound in time and space and can provide theoretical and practical insights that are useful in other contexts. This research presents new insights into how local government in Saudi Arabia can develop strategies for enhancing public participation in the creation of regional development policies and practices. There has been recent rapid economic development in Saudi Arabia that has influenced overall planning directions and development achievements and made it possible for the government to achieve systematic progress in long-term economic diversification into industrialisation, education, health, transport, and communication and social services. Even so, the Saudi Arabian government is concerned about increasing public participation in all areas. The formation of the regional councils in 1992 can be considered as a step towards public participation in the socio-economic development of their regions. However, the findings of this research demonstrate that there is a need for creating new policies and techniques to help regional councils in improving their performance to meet the needs of their citizens, and public participation is a key to achieving this end. To do this it is recommended that the councils should be granted executive and legislative authority to enable them to take adequate decisions and work together with citizens in ways that will increase their participation leading to enhanced transparency and accountability and effective regional development policy. / Following the findings, a set of recommendations are provided to improve the role of Riyadh Regional Council in enhancing public participation in regional development. This thesis closes with suggestions and directions for future research with regard to the potential contribution to the public sector management literature. The findings of this research provide benefits for policy makers to correct, maintain, and eliminate any obstacles facing administrative policies and consequently provide a long-term strategy that could incrementally be implemented in stages throughout time. The research methods, ideas and insights developed here could also be adapted and applied to other nations facing similar issues.

This study aimed to investigate the impact of computer-assisted language learning (CALL), within a constructivist learning environment, on the achievement of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) and on their attitudes toward learning EFL. The study was conducted over two phases. In Phase I, the study examined the students’ attitudes toward EFL learning and their satisfaction with their achievement and learning outcomes in language learning. Data were collected through a motivational and attitudinal survey of 215 students. The survey was adapted from Gardner’s Attitude/Motivation Test Battery and intended to examine Saudi freshmen students’ attitudes toward learning EFL using the audio-lingual and grammar-translation methods, and traditional teaching aids in the classroom. Seventeen students from the subjects who completed the survey participated in semi-structured interviews to discuss in detail their concerns and suggestions about the current EFL teaching method. The findings of Phase I confirmed the study hypothesis about the students’ negative attitudes toward learning EFL, i.e. that these attitudes were caused largely by the didactic teacher-centred teaching approach and the limited teaching aids. In Phase II, 30 students were selected for the treatment group to study an EFL course (Eng 101) using computers, the Internet and collaborative activities within a communicative language teaching (CLT) framework. The CALL course for the treatment group included selected episodes from the English for All (EFA) online course, three Web-based collaborative projects, and PowerPoint lessons designed for the course. Another group of 36 students was selected for the control group, which had the same course taught using traditional teaching aids and the grammar-translation teaching method. The study was conducted over a 16-week semester, during which both groups were taught using distinct teaching methods and different teaching aids. By the end of the term, both groups’ achievements were examined using two tests: the Cambridge Key English Test (KET), and the course-specific test designed by the Department of Languages at the students’ university. The attitudes of the treatment group were also examined at the end of the study, using a questionnaire, interviews with all of the subjects, and the observational notes collected during the treatment. The findings of the study indicated that the CALL course, using the new constructivist and technology-based approach, had a strong impact on the subjects’ attitudes and motivation toward learning EFL. As to the subjects’ language achievement, the treatment group significantly outperformed the control group. These findings have provided a strong support for the effectiveness of implementing constructivism and CLT in a technology-enhanced learning environment for foreign language teaching and learning. The results of the study imply that it is necessary to take practical steps to move from passive learning approaches and limited use of teaching aids towards a more learner-centred approach incorporating computer and modern digital technologies. The findings clearly showed that such change resulted in better learning outcomes in the Saudi contexts and in other contexts that follow similar EFL teaching practices.

<p>Preface: Traditionally, assembly plant establishment in foreign countries has been a way for corporations to avoid high import duties and/or gain access to free-trade zones. With World Trade Organization (WTO) membership rising, and consequently import duties falling, the role of the assembly plant is changing. Purpose Statement: This thesis concentrates on companies that contemplate on, or have ambitions of establishing industrial assembly facilities in the country of Saudi Arabia. The main purpose is to present the disadvantages and advantages associated with assembly plant establishment, as well as to discuss and give recommendations regarding suitable assembly plant goals (long-term) in Saudi Arabia. Research Process: Background information from Scania CV AB and literary sources have provided the foundation for this research’s empirical results, which have been based on interviews, observations and articles obtained in Saudi Arabia, as well as from Scania, Arabic news sources and the Internet. Results: For corporations that can lower their overall costs in Saudi Arabia, the country offers basic assembly prerequisites. For corporations looking for long-term production, the potentiality is limited to a few major industrial areas - namely oil-, gas-, mineral-, plastics-, and chemical related industries.</p>