The aim of this research was to analyse and compare clinical governance and quality management initiatives at hospitals in England and Germany in terms of content, implementation and effects as perceived by managerial, clinical and non-clinical staff working in elderly-related, acute stroke care in order to identify ‘valued’ practice approaches and develop recommendations for overall improvement. The research applied a comparative case-study design to address this aim. Documentary analysis prepared the site visits. Interviews with 83 representatives of different staff groups were conducted at a pilot-case and eight elderly-related, acute stroke care units, four of which were located in England and four in Germany. The findings from the cross-case analysis were compared to the views of 17 experts from England, Germany and Florida. The research contributes to knowledge by widening the scope of previous research in two senses. First, the researcher applied a qualitative research design and interviewed a wider spread of different professions, including managers, consultants, nurses, therapists and support staff, than has been done in previous research. Secondly, the interview questions focused not only on the quality understanding or quality implementation issues, but also extended the areas of discussion to include ‘valued’ practice and suggested improvements. The findings of the case-study analysis highlight six emerging themes, which confirm general issues from the quality management literature, such as an unclear impact on efficiency or the ‘them versus us’ phenomenon, for the hospitals. Moreover, these themes and the general findings from the research confirm and develop in greater detail the hospital specific issues of quality management and clinical governance. Examples include the contentious role of consultants, the need for more partnerships in healthcare and scarcity of resources. Most importantly, staff confirmed that clinical governance and quality management resulted in safer, more consistent care to better meet patient needs. Based on these findings, recommendations were developed for four areas, i.e. organisation-wide concerns, staff-specific issues, political and systems aspects, as well as further research.

Knowledge has increasingly been viewed as a source of competitive advantage. KM is the process of creating value from the intangible assets of an enterprise. It deals with how best to leverage knowledge internally in the enterprise (in its individual employees, and the knowledge that gets built into its structures and systems) and externally to the customer and stakeholders. This study aims to investigate how do Knowledge Management Strategies influence the development of an organisation‟s strategies, and Could BSC be used to develop Strategic Knowledge Management Balanced System (KMBS) for strategic management. Hence, this study is an exploratory investigation into the Strategic Knowledge Management (SKM) project based on an integrated approach. The thesis provides a theoretical theory through linking research and literature on Strategic Management (SM), Knowledge Management (KM), and Balance Scorecard (BSC). This is followed by an empirical investigation to understand how Strategic Knowledge Management system, processes and the critical factors identified are being addressed. To investigate this problem the research focuses on Strategic Management and Knowledge Management as practised in the Institute of Public Administration (IPA) in Saudi Arabia. The research design was largely derived from Yin (2003). Multiple-case design was employed, with quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. Questionnaires were distributed to 238 employees in all IPA organisations. In addition, semi-structures personal interviews were conducted with the IPA leaders and senior managers to perform strategic management and Knowledge Management initiatives. The resulting data is analysed at descriptive, exploratory and explanatory levels. The study focuses on factors that may critical and influence the development of a Strategic Knowledge Management in public sector in Saudi Arabia. The study identified 13 critical factors that must be carefully considered to ensure strategic KM success. The study divided these critical factors into four groups from different perspectives point views to Knowledge Management Strategies. These perspectives adequately capture focus of organisation‟s strategy and provide balance between external and internal knowledge, and explicit and tacit knowledge. On the basis of this research, the thesis concludes with a conceptual model of SKMBS designed to be valuable in providing a path for transferring to KM organisation if carefully applied. In addition, a road map which, once made, can offer a framework from for which a SKM could develop within IPA.

The thesis aims to examine simulation exercises comparatively in Korea and the UK, and provide practical suggestions for the future of Korean simulation exercises, based on lessons from the UK experiences and practices, regarding effective planning and execution of simulation exercises. To achieve this aim, two research questions were formulated. Firstly, ‘How are simulation exercises in Korea and the UK organised and conducted, and how can this knowledge be used to respond to crises or disasters more effectively?’. Secondly, ‘Why are new methodological changes to organise and conduct simulation exercises needed in Korea?’. In order to practically assess whether or not simulation exercises in Korea are sufficient in dealing with the nature and characteristics of a large-scale disaster, this thesis carries out an in-depth investigation of two real-life underground fires: the King’s Cross Underground Fire in the UK and the Daegu Subway Fire in Korea. Simulation exercises are influenced by the social, political, and cultural contexts of emergency management arrangements, and hence, the study also conducts a comparative study of emergency management frameworks in Korea and the UK. The current practices of simulation exercises in Korea can be categorised into the four main themes: ‘Top-level Commitment and Support’, ‘Repeating Training through Rehearsals’, ‘The Politics of Box Seats, Ill-structured Scenario-Scripts and a Lack of Adaptation’, and ‘The Politics of Podium and Speech-based Debriefs’. However, critical analysis of the empirical data in the study reveals that a complex and highly-coupled ‘socio-technical’ crisis does not respect such a conventional training and exercising methodology of Korean simulation exercises, and that a degree of ‘adaptation’ is indispensable to effective crisis response. Thus, it is proposed in the study that Korean simulation exercises need to allow adaptation and diversion to take place, encouraging communication and discussion between exercise players. Furthermore, ensuing afteraction reviews in Korea should be transformed into a discussion-based debriefing style to maximise learning effectiveness. Finally, it is suggested that emergency management arrangements in Korea should also evolve into a more flexible, decentralised, bottom-up model in terms of effective response to ‘socio-technical’ crises or disasters along with changes in simulation exercises and subsequent after-action reviews.

This project is the written part of a practice-as-research document which explores the process of the fade in intermedial practice. The written element acts as a literary counterpart to the practical work and includes an account of the process, an exploration of its theoretical context and sources of inspiration for the work. The writing is also a part of the autobiographical practice that informs my creative journey. The writing is not primarily an explanation or an analysis of my practice, although there are elements of these present in this document. Furthermore, whilst it adheres to scholarly conventions, this document is not written as a conventional thesis which seeks to explore a hypothesis and draw a set of conclusions. It is, rather, a distinct but integral part of the exploratory process which is at the heart of this project. The project is laid out in sections, rather than chapters. It begins by introducing the inspiration for the practice-as-research project, and explores practical and theoretical ideas through a range of existing practical and theoretical work in the field. The second section puts these ideas in context of feminism, which is an important element of my exploration, and provides the context in which some existing interdisciplinary and intermedial work is located. Section 3 locates the ideas within a ‘between’ space, influenced by Hegel’s concept of sense-certainty and the French body of thought, écriture féminine. Section 4 is written as a dialogue between characters. This section draws a line under the process using many voices from the practical and theoretical journey. Section 5 comprises annexes of additional material complementary to the project. This thesis incorporates a range of material evidence including different forms of writing, visual essays, DVDs and illustrative material. In summarising my practice in this document I resist drawing hard and fast conclusions, but provide reflection upon the process and make suggestions for future work in the field of intermediality. On the following pages I have included a practice as research working diagram (P&R Mollusc) to illustrate the working methodology and the to-ing and fro-ing of collaborative, interdisciplinary and intermedial practices, as well as an alternative contents diagram to illustrate the thesis visua

For decades, Lean has been viewed as an optimisation and process excellence philosophy that sets an organisation on the zenith in its industry through continuous process improvement and customer satisfaction when successfully implemented and sustained. However, attempts by some organisations to implement Lean has been fraught with overwhelming challenges due to the mode of implementation and the lack of understanding of the key drivers of the philosophy. This study investigates how different factors such as leadership, empowerment, motivation and organisational culture influence the successful implementation of Lean philosophy in organisations. The Soft Systems Methodology (SSM)in triangulation, an interactive, interpretive and systems based approach has been employed to analyse Lean as a system optimisation philosophy. This philosophy instils a culture of continuous commitment to waste elimination, process efficiency and effectiveness, consistent competency development, product improvement and customer satisfaction. This Thesis presents the Lean ‘Leadership, People, Process, Outcome’ (LPPO)implementation model, that is flexible and easily adaptable. This model which shows measurable outcome and a drive for continuous improvement is system based, people driven and customer centred. The Lean LPPO model is theoretically built from existing models and practically tested in the fields through industrial based idiographic study. The model used for Lean implementation identifies committed leadership, competent, empowered and motivated people and an organisational culture of continuous learning and improvement as the driving force of the Lean philosophy. It shows that the success of Lean implementation and its sustenance in an organisation is based more on the social technical aspects and soft systems fabric of the organisation. Using results from the industrial based study carried out with the Lean LPPO model within the soft system methodology in Triangulation from April 2010 to June 2011 in seven organisations: one in Europe, five in Nigeria and a cross-continental group; the relationships between the different identified factors were examined. The results revealed that the environment, leadership commitment, organisational culture, human resource competence, empowerment and motivation are directly related to the level of successful outcome from Lean implementation. These factors and the corresponding positive outcome also ensure the sustainability of Lean as a continuous improvement and optimisation philosophy in an organisation.

The strategic issues surrounding the governance of oil resources and its simplication for the growth and development of Kuwait through innovation are considered in this study – Resource Curse Reduction through Innovation. Within the large and growing body of work in this area a negative relationship between resource abundance and poor economic performance has often been empirically established. Many of the third world countries are richly endowed with significant natural resources. A plethora of research findings shows that these countries are scoring lower on human development, they exhibit pervasive corruption, display conflicts and a large percentage of their population live in dire poverty. Moreover, an enormous amount of their gross domestic income is spent on defence spending and manifests an autocratic form of governance. For the most part this evidence appears to support the "resource curse" hypothesis. The question that arises is whether there is any prospect of the "resource curse" being converted into a "blessing". This study examines the role of innovation in this context as Kuwait considers moving away from its dependence on its natural resources which sustain the economy. Since, innovation is considered a result of numerous interactions between key organizations and groups in the economy including institutions of learning, government, firms and other organizations which together form an innovation system, it may be opportune to consider the reductive role of innovation related to the resource curse. There are many unique cultural issues that confront Kuwait, and make it a fundamentally different case from other countries endowed with natural resources. The culture of governance in Gulf countries, and the norms and values within each individual Gulf country, become key determinants of innovation that impact on the various economic, political and social phenomena. By reviewing the extensive literature in both the field of the resource curse and innovation and collecting primary data, this study offers an overview of the challenges of promoting and supporting innovation in Kuwait, and the effectiveness of dissemination of innovative practices throughout the various economic sectors. Numerous studies have considered whether a country's natural resources are a curse or a blessing. Emerging findings appear to suggest that at times, resource-based economic growth models have indeed inhibited growth rates. Development economics also presents numeric data to substantiate the view that the gifts of nature are non-renewable and cannot be replenished. The hypothesis that natural resources of a country might be more of an economic curse than a blessing needs to be tested at different stages of economic growth of a country. The rate at which natural resources are exploited has often been cause for concern. From an economic perspective, Kuwait should inevitably switch from dependence upon natural resources to the development of sectors based on knowledge, skills, capital and technology. A defining characteristic of many resource-rich countries is the discrepancy between the interest of the stewards of the resources and the owners of the resources. At times those in political office (the stewards) appear to work extremely hard to ensure that the rest of the population (the owners) receive little benefit from the resources with which their countries have been abundantly endowed, and so the governance of natural resources merits further research. The study shows that income accruing as a result of the discovery of oil in Kuwait rapidly changed Kuwait's economic priorities, bringing new opportunities and at the same time new challenges. The findings of the research highlight many important issues relating to innovation and the depletion of non-renewable resources indicating to what extent certain sectors of the economy are innovative. One of the unique challenges facing Kuwait is what collective action is necessary to safeguard time honoured traditions that combine economic prosperity with solidarity. Today Kuwait is in need of new commitments on the part of its citizens and decisive actions in political leadership. Instead of maintaining structures and organizations that have shown themselves unable to deal with the challenges that face Kuwait, Kuwait must be ready to support structural changes. This in particular requires a prioritisation of resources towards education, research and development. Kuwait can only become comprehensively innovative if all sectors support the development of innovative products and services. Strategic issues entailing innovation require the involvement of all parties. These include businesses, the public sector, producers and consumers. A wide-ranging partnership for innovation is necessary, particularly when a country‘s resources are in question. To establish an optimal framework and develop potential for innovation, the prospect of an innovation-friendly market must be widely accepted and a national innovation system where the flows of technology and information among people, enterprises, and institutions that are the key to the innovation process at the national level are required. In light of these issues this study recommends the reduction of a resource curse through targeted innovation initiatives. The exploitation of natural assets is a matter of grave concern. Exploration and exploitation are costly and risky exercises in terms of growth and profitability. Kuwait needs to cultivate a culture that fosters creative ideas associated with, among others, safety and security of its natural and human resources, morality, employment and health within the context of an increasingly global environment. A lack of a shared vision, purpose and strategy reduces the vital role that innovation can play. Investment in innovation is therefore critical and Kuwait needs to reinvent itself economically.

Small businesses (SBs) are considered as one of the pillars of the economic structure, particularly in the developing countries. Kuwait, as one of these developing countries has high hopes for these small businesses to drive the economy as a major component of the economic reform strategy. The current research is complementary to previous efforts attempting to identify problems facing small businesses and the success factors of such projects in the state of Kuwait. This study can contribute to solving some aspects of economic and social problems in Kuwait. The first phase includes determining the effect of independent variables (financial problems, marketing problems, organizational and administrative problems, and legislative problems) on the success factors of SBs. The second phase includes the assessment of the effect of success factors on profits. The third phase includes the measurement of the effect of profits and SBs problems on the continuation of these SBs. The research sample comprises owners and managers running small projects, along with a group representing the supporting bodies of small projects in the state of Kuwait. The results show that only project management and the level of profit have a relationship with the problems facing small projects in Kuwait. Also it was found that there were significant differences between the views of relevant ategories of study about the success factors of small projects in Kuwait. In addition, it was found that there was a significant relationship between the problems facing small projects in Kuwait and the success factors of those projects. These problems explain 75.8% of variance in the success factors. However, there was a weak relationship between the problems facing small projects in Kuwait and the intention to continue the project. Those problems explain 2.6% of the variance in the dependent variable. Moreover, a significant relationship was found between the problems facing small projects in Kuwait and the level of profits earned, with the problems explaining 11.9% of the changes in the dependent variable. Also, it was found that there was a significant relationship between the level of profits earned and the intention to continue the project. Finally, specific recommendations have been introduced for policy makers and managers to benefit from this study. Furthermore, suggestions are made for future studies.

This exploratory study used grounded theory to discover whether senior partners in legal services firms in the UK held the core characteristics of identity to work in alignment in the changing context. Using a combination of participant interviews and secondary analysis of published material, knowledge was generated to review some changes resulting from the Legal Services Act, the components of identity, and individual and peer alignment in these senior partners. The term ‘alignment’ is used in this study to describe both a state and a process. The study suggests that senior partners do not currently display many of the attributes to take their firms into a successful future. Senior partners reported living a facade, having difficulties with boundaries and the complex role of partner. They seem to focus on eliminating problems rather than striving to achieve goals, and are more interested in ‘I’ than ‘we’. All of this presents huge challenges for a successful response by the firms to deregulation. There was little evidence of simultaneous identification with the firm and the profession, and this with other findings left a gap between the individual and the collective as well as a gap between the role and core identities of the individual. More positively, there is some evidence of identity negotiation and where participants were doing some personal change work, this was driven by the hindrances to, and supporting beliefs about, the required behaviour at work, and possibly informed by an imagined image of best ‘self’ or ‘group member’. The findings support a practitioner model; ‘CONTRIBUTIONS’ which is useful for coaching and facilitation of individuals and teams. The study offers original contributions to academic knowledge including; building on the ‘identification’ literature, linking in the concept of ‘secondary gain’, specific evidence from the legal partner group against generic concepts of identity literature.

As human beings, we cannot avoid the implications of non-sustainable programmes, activities or lifestyles by just ignoring them. Thus, sustainable development (SD) becomes everyone’s business. However, there is a belief – especially in developing economies – that SD is the responsibility of the government and/or large businesses. Nevertheless, things are shifting to emphasise the growing responsibility of everyone, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), who broadly contribute towards the SD agenda by engaging with corporate social responsibility (CSR). Wider stakeholders in developing regions such as sub-Saharan Africa are also beginning to actively engage with the sustainability notion. As a result, businesses especially SMEs, are faced with the need to respond to stakeholder demands for inclusive SME models that go beyond traditional CSR practices to alternatives that form synergies between themselves and SD goals. Worse still, the CSR research is fragmentary, and SMEs’ CSR engagement and contributions towards SD goals tend to go unnoticed, as more focus is put on large corporations (Smith and Thompson, 1991), despite SMEs’ undisputed economic importance. Using a form of analytic induction to evaluate qualitative case-study data from the SME perspective, this research project addresses this gap in the literature with the question: ‘What is the SME/CSR role and opportunity in addressing sustainability challenges in sub-Saharan African economies?’ In such a weak and ambiguously regulated environment, the research endeavours to bridge the gap between SME/CSR research and stakeholders by exploring SMEs’ CSR understanding, drivers and nature, and how their engagement in CSR might contribute to SD. The research findings show that SME owner-managers’ CSR understandings are skewed towards solving societal development challenges. The study offers evidence that the firm’s size does not necessarily determine the context, nature and extent to which it engages with CSR, and thus contribute towards SD. The research contributes to knowledge by suggesting an alternative Stakeholder Engagement Framework (SHEF) and Co-productive Stakeholder Engagement Model (CPSEM) through which SMEs can co-produce solutions to global development challenges by achieving more, for more, with less.

The aim of this thesis is to use qualitative research to investigate and analyse how human resource risks are understood and managed in practice and how to efficiently manage HR risk in a cost effective way. The research – adding to a very limited corpus in the literature – was conducted in public sector organisations in the UK. The author argues that HR risk management should be conducted in a systematic way. The Managing HR risk framework proposed in this thesis could be used as a practical guide to enable HR practitioners to manage HR risk more effectively. The thesis finds that, in order to effectively manage HR risk, a culture change is required at both HR department and organisational level; the prevailing risk averse culture should change to a more flexible, strategically-focused and less formalised process. From the analysis of case studies, the author notes that HR practitioners should be aware of their position in a HR conflict; they need to be neutral, fair, and supportive during the process of managing HR risks. It is concluded that qualitative factors will influence the process of managing HR risk such as power, organisational culture, management style and skills/competencies… It further suggested that organisational isomorphism learning enables organisations to learn from past experiences, and to improve HR risk management. It also recommended that simulations offer an excellent vehicle for improving the process of managing HR risk by equipping HR practitioners with the right skills and experience. Through the analysis of the results of interviews, two valuable case studies, and simulation, this thesis offers new directions for the future research of human resource risk management: Simulation could be used to help HR practitioners to improve the ways of managing HR risk, simulation use real-life cases for training to improve players’ or decision makers’ understanding of holistic events, and apply new skills, attitudes in practice.