Social groups are a fundamental part of our lives. From early beginnings humans lived in family groups and formed 'tribes' that not only provided protection from the many dangers they faced but by combining their efforts humans learnt that a group could be more than the 'sum of its parts'. Collective action has, and still, provides the basis for much of human activity, while shared knowledge contributes equally to the advancement of humankind. Study into groups has revealed that humans instinctively know when cooperation is the best strategy and that not only is collective action often more efficient and effective than that of independent effort but that groups are good problem solving mechanisms, often making better decisions than individuals through the use of 'collective mindfulness' and a group 'trans-active’ memory. People do not just create a group memory, there is evidence they also ‘become’ the group. As social integration rises, people feel, think, and act more like group members. They automatically associate themselves with the groups that they identify with. Tajfel and Turner’s theory of Social Identity suggests that people not only join groups but take on the ‘group identity’ as their own self-image in a process of ‘depersonalization’. To achieve effective collective action requires more than just 'being' and 'feeling' part of a group. Effective cooperation requires cohesion between group members, good communication and a coherent purpose or goal. Social Identity Theory does not provide evidence of how these mechanisms work other than to identify the formation of group norms. For that we have to turn to cybernetics, the study of 'purposeful action' and Stafford Beer's Viable Systems Model in particular. The Viable Systems Model provides an epistemology for examining the viability of systems. Viability is the ability of systems to achieve cohesion and coherence through autonomy, recursivity and ultimately closure with their environment. This study brings together these two powerful theories to create a more complete picture of purposeful collective action and group membership. By building a Viable Systems Model of salient social groups the research provides a mechanism to understand how individual human social behaviours form and maintain purposeful social groups capable of self-awareness, self-maintenance and the ability to sustain their identity, autonomous from perturbations in the environment. Not every social group is able to maintain viability. Many groups form and expire as the circumstances dictate. Only a few are able to achieve organisational closure from their environment and sustain their identity, This research seeks to identify what is meant by social viability and what factors make some groups achieve it while others do not. It investigates the formation of social groups under different environmental conditions in order to 'tease-out' the invariances that contribute to viability and it tests the validity of the Viable Systems Model of Social Identity Theory developed for the study. In order to answer the research question the study had to address the difficult issue of conducting research on complex social systems and to utilises a process of deduction, induction and abductive reasoning through both analysis and synthesis to achieve its findings.

The loss of experienced employees in project organisation leads to the loss of valuable knowledge and experience gained over many years. Knowledge management (KM) has the ability to challenge this situation. This research study is focused on the field of knowledge management in Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) type contracts in Libyan oil and gas industry projects. The research study aims to put forward guidance on how KM should be implemented in practice as a convincing case for the oil and gas construction industry. Adopting a practical «in project environment» KM scheme is a means of becoming more efficient, with greater ability to continuously learn and adapt in a dynamic mode. In Libya’s oil and gas industry, and in particular, in project development, there has been very little guidance on how KM should be implemented in practice. The existing available KM mostly takes the form of tacit knowledge and almost none was identified as explicit knowledge. Emergent in nature, the research work is comprised of three phases: initial interviews, case study «A», and case study «B». Each of the phases was combined with a review of relevant literature, primary research (including interviews, questionnaires, case studies and action research) and grounded theory in analytical processes. Phase (1) - Initial interviews were conducted with project managers and senior managers from three different oil and gas companies; many gaps were identified by investigating issues related to KM. It was evident that KM within the projects organisation was kept in tacit format by individuals. Phase (2) - Case study (A): Review and analysis of a KM implementation initiative made by a Project Manager (PM) with his team between 2006-2008, was found to be not successful and non-contributory in real-world terms, but in academic terms it gives an opportunity to identify and evaluate challenges to be faced in adopting a KM model in organisations. The role of the Projects Department emerged as essential in the articulation of KM between project and organisation. Phase (3) - Case study B: The researcher was involved through a live EPC project, making observations and organising interviews when necessary and analyse the created knowledge life cycle during the project. The research gives much attention to the phenomena of knowledge development during an EPC project; the knowledge created in any of the project phases will take a different shape due to the technical development of the project work from one phase to the next; as such, if the project is not tracked during its development, it will lose its context and dramatically decrease the effectiveness of its re-usability in subsequent project phases and new projects within the organisation. The added value of this research is the development of a practical organisational model for managing effectively the knowledge created during projects execution, based on an integrated, optimised, and suitable lessons learned tracking system.

The themes of poor communication, lack of measurement and erratic supply-chain performance are common issues that we either encounter in our every-day working life, or have read about in our professional journals. In 2001 a large business within Case X initiated a programme to tackle a number of these issues by embarking on a mission to improve internal service quality which eventually led to a sizeable number of ServQual activities across a wide-range of services engaging in excess of 2,000 individuals. A common theme seen during this programme were that departments had difficulty describing who their customers were, the services they provided to those customers, coupled with this was a lack of measurement of the attributes that were or thought to be import to the customer. This eventually led to the research into a toolset that can assist organisations to understand the supply-chain that they operate within. The toolset is styled, Developing a Customer-focused Approach (DaCfA) a Model and Toolset (suite of matrices and templates) designed to capture and facilitate the review supply-chain information. This Research takes the DaCfA Model, and Toolset developed within Case X, and through a suite of case studies applies both to inside and outside the Case X environment as well as in the internal and external supply-chain. This Research shows that the DaCfA Model and Toolset have made a valuable contribution to knowledge. Research, enhanced by literature identified a number of themes (referred to as Theoretical Themes) that were observed within business units undertaking DaCfA activities, these themes were independently observed within the write-ups of the case studies that participated in this Research. The Research concludes that the research aim and objectives were fully achieved and the following contribution to knowledge concerning:  The DaCfA Model  The DaCfA Toolset, specifically around the: o Customer/supplier interfaces and relationships o Measurement definition  A set of themes (styled Theoretical Themes) that are readily observed within organisations undertaking a Customer-focused activity.

There is a growing body of research demonstrating the effects of age-related changes on product usability and the value derived from consumption experiences. In particular, difficulties with packaging have been identified as a source of dissatisfaction and a key barrier to older people maintaining their independence. Despite this, marketing literature into older consumers’ packaging experiences is limited. Likewise, packaging development has been afforded scant attention in the new product development literature. Whilst there is extensive design literature exploring packaging openability among older consumers, these studies focus largely on biological ageing, thus overlooking aspects of psychological and social ageing. As such, these studies only capture a small part of the various consumer-packaging interactions. Based on these limitations, the purpose of this study is twofold: to explore how ageing affects packaging needs; and to examine how the management of packaging development affects firms’ abilities to deliver value to older consumers. The findings highlight the importance of packaging development in contributing to older people’s abilities to access, open and consume fast-moving consumer goods products independently. Maintaining this independence is found to positively contribute to quality of life. However, a variety of organisational factors and development team characteristics are found to inhibit firms from targeting older consumers and identifying and exploiting a variety of new packaging opportunities. This study contributes to the literature by providing new insights into the packaging needs of older consumers. The conceptual framework presented contributes to new product development literature by providing a new perspective with which to view fast-moving consumer goods product development; one where packaging development is used to offer value to older consumers.

<p> The purpose of this exploratory study was to attempt to discover the reasons people do not at first perform their task in the approved method while on the job. Hence, the research question was why do new employees initially find a different way or a better way for the task rather than using the method shown. The researcher created the term <i>Changing the learning</i> or (CL) for this study which describes this behavior.</p><p> The study looked at grounds maintenance operators from a golf course maintenance company. Self-administered surveys were sent to 31 locations in four regions of the United States and 205 operator surveys responses were tabulated to compute their CL tendency. The operators&rsquo; answers were compared to the answers given by 55 Supervisors along with the Company&rsquo;s Human Resource Department.</p><p> This study found that 42.2% of the respondents did change the method of performing given work tasks. The results also demonstrated a lack of significant differences between different education levels (F= 1.588, <i>p</i> > .05), age (F= .136, <i>p</i> >.05), race (F = .1.823, <i> p</i> > .06) and experience (F= 1.156, <i>p</i> >.05). The operators endorsed five work place learning theories in explaining why they changed the learning: Proactive employees (&fnof; =88.9%), Prosocial non-compliant behavior (&fnof; =87.8%), Workarounds (&fnof; =86.7%), LMX model (&fnof; =77.8%) and Non-compliant behavior (&fnof; =68.9%). Based on the findings, future research should further examine the reasons and prevalence of CL across different industries and consider behavioral characteristics that might be common among learning changers.</p><p>

<p> Ageism, or discrimination based on assumptions about abilities and cognitive understanding based on a worker&rsquo;s age, still prevails in the modern workplace, often disguised as business decisions, lack of advancement opportunities, and continuing mandatory retirement ages. Additionally, negative assumptions about younger workers also exist, some of which harm young workers in the workplace. All forms of ageism have negative effects on the workplace, such as disrupting morale, being dismissive of the experiences and value that older workers contribute, and in return set precedence for other forms of discrimination. Ageism can impact everyone in the workplace. Although the passage of anti-discrimination legislation has curtailed some of the more obvious forms of discrimination, the psychological underpinnings behind age- discriminatory behavior still exist and must be mitigated to ensure a fair playing field for all people. In this study, the researcher examined ways a worker can be discriminated against based on assumptions about age and explores ways discriminatory behavior can be mitigated. Furthermore, the full extent to which anti-discrimination legislation has provided a positive, and occasionally negative impact is also discussed. Discrimination never truly goes away; it only changes form. When the psychological motivators behind discrimination are not properly addressed, managers themselves might harbor discriminatory assumptions about their workers. A quantitative method was employed to identify factors and determine the best ways to combat factors that contribute to age discrimination. The findings indicated that some forms of ageism can be combatted by using certain forms of cognitive conditioning and self-assessment for hiring managers. All of the participants were hiring managers who took part in cognitive exercises designed to gain information about their opinions, but also induce a self-reflective means of evaluating their own prejudices. The evidence indicated that some factors, such as gender, do not play as large of a role as previously assumed, but that the age of the manager does play a small role in age discrimination in hiring. It was concluded that ageism does still exist, but that these assumptions can be countered effectively, which implies that better sensitivity and managerial training could be beneficial for hiring managers.</p><p>

La presente etude vise a essentiellement a tester le modele theorique propose par Barrette et Berard (1998) relativement au concept integre de gestion de la performance. En effet, la recherche tente de determiner le lien entre les trois niveaux d'integration presentes dans ce modele, soit l'integration au niveau strategique, l'integration au niveau des composantes de la gestion des ressources humaines et l'integration au niveau des pratiques operationnelles de gestion de la performance, et la performance organisationnelle telle que mesuree a l'aide d'indicateurs percus. L'echantillon a l'etude est forme de 177 entreprises canadiennes de domaines d'activites varies. Les resultats indiquent que plus les pratiques de gestion de la performance integrent les elements de la gestion strategique de l'organisation, plus la mesure de la performance percue est grande. La premiere hypothese de recherche est donc corroboree. Les resultats demontrent egalement que plus le niveau de coherence entre les pratiques operationnelles liees au systeme de gestion de la performance est grand, plus la performance organisationnelle percue est elevee. La troisieme hypothese de recherche est donc corroboree. Toutefois, la deuxieme hypothese posee dans le cadre de la presente etude n'a pu etre que partiellement corroboree. Nous ne pouvons donc pas conclure, comme nous l'avions suggere en se basant sur la litterature consultee, que plus les pratiques de gestion de la performance sont complementaires avec les autres composantes de la gestion des ressources humaines, plus la mesure de la performance percue est grande.

The aim of the research is to examine female entrepreneurs globally and in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to see if there are any similarities and differences they have experienced regarding their motivations and the obstacles they encountered. It also explores the internal and external contexts in which they operate. The major emphasis of this study is on the sociological rather than the individual perspective. Supporting female entrepreneurs is a relatively new concept for government and governmental and private organisations in the GCC. In order to provide support for female entrepreneurs it is important to understand what motivates them to become entrepreneurs and what challenges they face. Understanding the contexts of these female entrepreneurs can also provide a more complete picture. The study was conducted in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates using qualitative research. In-depth interviews were conducting to find out what motivations and obstacles female entrepreneurs face. The field study is based on face-to-face interviews with two groups: female entrepreneurs and the organisations that provide help for them. Face-to-face interviews were considered preferable because the culture in the GCC prefers face-to-face contact rather than other means of communication. Moreover, using this methodology produces richer information. Another phase of the research was to examine existing literature on female entrepreneurs globally and in Saudi Arabia and the UAE to determine the internal and external contexts they experience. These results were then compared with the results of the face-to-face interviews to give a deeper understanding of female entrepreneurs in these two countries. The research indicates that there are gaps between the perceptions of the organisations and what the women perceived. One example is that the organisations in Saudi Arabia felt a major obstacle was the high expectations of the women and the women interviewed did not express this sentiment at all. What was clear from all interviews in both countries is that while government support is an important motivation, government procedures and regulations are significant obstacles for female entrepreneurs. The contextualisation of the female entrepreneurs provides further information to determine additional changes and makes it easier to determine what gaps there are in the current support offered and how this can be addressed. The information can also be used to provide further academic insight and to help the governments and organisations in both countries to improve the chances of success for female entrepreneurs. This is the first research conducted on female entrepreneurs in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia that examines the motivations and obstacles they face along with the internal and external contexts in which they operate including the effects of Islam. Contextualisation provides a deeper insight into the world of the female entrepreneurs in these two countries and what can be done to improve their ability to succeed. This study will be beneficial to academics and researchers in developing further research into female entrepreneurs in Gulf countries.

<p> Both personal observation and extensive research show that some companies maintain consistent strategies and senior management while others see a revolving door of CEOs and strategies. Many of these companies also produce wide variations in their financial performance. This raises critical questions about how these differences may be connected to each other. There is a substantial body of research that shows alignment between strategy, structure and people improves organization performance. This research demonstrates that organizations who effectively align their employees, leadership, culture, structure and systems with their strategic direction deliver better financial performance. To further test these conclusions with a new research design, data was collected and analyzed on four large real estate development companies in Qatar. This included a validated employee engagement survey with global benchmark data, seven years of financial statements, interviews with employees, and review of changes in strategies and CEO's over time. The study confirmed existing research that better aligned organizations outperformed organizations that were not as well aligned. This study calls out for further research with companies in multiple industries and additional alignment measurement tools to explore more hypothesis about strategic alignment. Several recommendations to improve company performance came out of this study. 1) Employees need to be involved in strategy formation. 2) When the strategy changes, so should alignment. 3) New CEO's shouldn't always change the strategy. 4) Strategies must be clear and focused. 5) Better leadership at all levels improves implementation. 6) CEO's can have an excessive impact on results.</p><p>

<p> U.S. government satellite acquisition programs have continually experienced large cost overruns, schedule delays, technology development problems, and performance shortfalls, which can potentially affect national security as well as the health and safety of civilians. Government program managers play a significant role in achieving organizational objectives through the acquisition life cycle of major U.S. government programs. Prior researchers have explored the importance of program managers&rsquo; competencies. Other researchers have identified key competencies of project managers to lead and manage the projects successfully in the aerospace industry. However, not enough research was conducted to assess the U.S. government program managers&rsquo; competencies to manage complex and challenging satellite acquisition programs in combination of other program context factors above and beyond program managers&rsquo; competencies, which could moderate and affect overall program success. The purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental survey research study was to examine the relationship and importance of U.S. government program managers&rsquo; perceived hard and soft competencies needed to achieve overall program success in managing major satellite acquisition programs. Additionally, the researcher examined how the program context factors moderated the relationship between program managers&rsquo; competencies and overall program success. A web-based survey, targeting aerospace and defense professionals garnered 104 valid responses. Utilizing the competency theory framework, multiple linear regression, chi-square goodness-of-fit, and hierarchical multiple regression tests were used to analyze the study data. The survey results revealed that program managers&rsquo; both hard and soft competencies predicted overall program success, <i>F</i>(2, 101) = 4.085, <i>p</i> = .020, <i>R</i>² = .075. Program managers&rsquo; soft competencies were found to be somewhat more important than hard competencies in achieving overall program success, &chi;²(4) = 29.3, <i>p</i> &lt; .001. Of the four program context factors, resource availability positively moderated the relationship between program managers&rsquo; soft competencies and overall program success, <i> F</i>(10, 93) = 2.116, <i>p</i> = .031, <i>R</i>² = .185. A future hypothesis-based study may be conducted for other major U.S. government defense programs or private sector programs, which may provide insight to senior management leaders into matching of program managers&rsquo; competencies to specific program contexts and program types. A qualitative study to identify the causal reasons for unsuccessful U.S. space acquisitions program outcomes may provide in-depth personal and professional perspectives of other program context factors, which may influence overall program success. </p><p>