The significant influence that practice learning plays within undergraduate nurse education cannot be overstated. By practice learning, I mean work-based learning immersed in the activities of nursing practice, typically involving learning undertaken in placements at hospitals and other clinical worksites. Practice learning is intended to achieve standards defined by professional regulatory bodies, and aims to enhance learners' capability and employability. Learning here refers to processes through which student nurses develop capabilities to practice effectively, critically, confidently and professionally in health care settings. Practice is a key concept in this thesis, much contested in debates about professional learning in practice which I will examine in detail in chapter 2. In terms of current policy regarding practice learning, I would, however, suggest that what we have at the moment is an inherited legacy which to date has not been robustly scrutinised. Based on my experiences as a nursing educator I came to believe that it was timely for a re-examination of policies, practices and philosophies underpinning the duration and structure of the current practice learning model. Taken together, the above experiences led me to focus this thesis on the following research question: How might practice learning experiences be better designed to promote nursing capability? This thesis brings together six published papers reporting studies that I conducted to explore this question, as well as chapters explaining the background literature, theory and methodology guiding these studies. My overarching aim is to contribute to the improved practice learning experiences of undergraduate student nurses, retaining them on programmes and easing their transition into the role of newly qualified practitioners (NQP). Chapter 1 charts the history of nursing educational developments. The aim is to demonstrate the influence of government and professional policy over nursing’s development from an apprentice-style model to the current-day academic model. In charting these developments alongside reviewing the contemporary research literature, what is obvious is that the issues of support, retention, models of practice learning and curricula to prepare nurses are perennial challenges. However, as a practice-based discipline, the focus of preparation has always remained grounded in practice. Chapter 2 sets forth the theoretical constructs of this thesis. During the course of conducting the studies reported in the publications of this thesis, I became frustrated with the relative lack of emphasis on contemporary learning theory in nursing education, and the paucity of supporting evidence for the ‘reflective’ theory that seems to be dominant in nursing. The discussion presented in this chapter aims to provide an overview of the major traditions of constructivism and reflective practice, as well as their historical theoretical foundations, which have been widely adopted in nurse education. I discuss the strengths and limitations of these theories as they apply to undergraduate nurses’ practice learning and capability development. These are then contrasted via the means of a critical discussion with more novel alternative models. These include situated learning theory and legitimate peripheral participation, and practice-based learning theory as advocated by contemporary writers such as Schatzki (2002). These theories changed my thinking about practice learning and informed my efforts to develop a more cogent understanding of learning through, for and at work for undergraduate nurse education. In setting out Chapter 3, I am presenting a brief overview of these publications for a nursing education audience. Firstly, I have included information that is generally considered important to this audience, such as details about the journal’s standing and article citations, the databases searched, and the percentage of my own contributions. Secondly, I report the studies from an evidence-based perspective of prediction and control aligned with the contexts of the commissioning process and the conduct of each project. By this I mean that I treat the findings in these papers as valid and credible within the stated limitations Chapter 4 presents the six publications in their entirety for the reader Chapter 5 explains the research methodology adopted in the papers presented for this thesis, and offers my critical reflections on these methodologies. I outline the philosophy that underpins the approach taken with the research studies, discussing the interpretive stance that was taken to research and the consequent choice of qualitative approaches. The chapter also discusses the strengths and limitations of the methods employed in each of my papers along with the means used to analyse the data, and the ethical considerations that an interpretive researcher must consider. In retrospect, given where my theoretical orientation has moved (as explained in chapter 2), I now look rather more critically on the premises of these studies, their categories of definition, multiple causes and uncertainties at play. In my reflections on the research approach, I explain some of these issues. In concluding this thesis, Chapter 6 details my recommendations and some future implications for policy and practice. It also explains my plans for carrying forward different methodological and theoretical approaches in my future research work examining nurses' practice learning.

Thesis (MA (Philosophy))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / It seems to be a priori impossible to formulate any general theory or model that encompasses all of the properties of complexity. So, one must make do with partial solutions. A possible approach we propose is to take inspiration from quantum theory, since there seems to be a strong analogy between complex systems and quantum systems. Although we do not propose any literal application of quantum mechanical formalism to complexity, we suggest that the language of quantum mechanics is already so well developed - and for a much wider spectrum of problems than most theories - that it can serve as a model for complexity theory. There are many problems common to both complex systems and quantum systems and we suggest that it might be useful to test the applicability of aspects of the “language” of quantum mechanics to a general complex system. What we suggest here is an interdisciplinary talk led between the natural sciences and philosophy, which we believe is the only way in which to deal with complexity “as such”.

Thesis (MA (Philosophy))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis is a philosophical exposition of violence informed by two theoretical positions which confront complexity as a phenomenon. These positions are complexity theory and deconstruction. Both develop systemsbased understandings of complex phenomena in which relations of difference are constitutive of the meaning of those phenomena. There has been no focused investigation of the implications of complexity for the conceptualisation of violence thus far. In response to this theoretical gap, this thesis begins by distinguishing complexity theory as a general, trans-disciplinary field of study from critical complexity theory. The latter is used to develop a critique and criticism of epistemological foundationalism, emphasising the limits to knowledge and the normative and ethical dimension of knowledge and understanding. The epistemological break implied by this critique reiterates the epistemological shift permeating the work of, among others, Friedrich Nietzsche and Jacques Derrida. In this context, critical complexity theory begins to articulate the idea of violence on two levels: first, as an empirical, ethical problem in the system; and, secondly, as asymmetry and antagonism. Violence in this second sense is implicated in the dynamic relations of difference through which structure and meaning are generated in complex organisation. The sensitivity to difference and violence shared by critical complexity theory and deconstruction allows for the parallel reading of these philosophical perspectives; and for the supplementation and opening of critical complexity theory by deconstruction within the architecture of this thesis. This supplementation seeks to preserve the singularity of each perspective, while exploring the potential of their points of affinity and tension in the production of a coherent philosophical analysis of violence. Deconstruction offers a more developed understanding of violence and a wealth of related motifs: différance, framing, law, singularity, aesthetics and others. These motifs necessitate the inclusion of other philosophical voices, notably, that of Nietzsche, Arendt, Kant, Levinas, and Benjamin. In conversation with these authors, this thesis links violence to meaning, to its possibility, to its production and to the process by which meaning comes to change. Given these links, violence is conceptualised in relation to the notion of difference on three distinct levels. The first is the difference between elements in a complex system of meaning; the second is the notion of difference between systems or texts around which boundaries or frames can be drawn; and the third is the notion of difference between meaning and the absence of meaning. This discussion examines the relationship between this violence implicated in the constitution of meaning and the more colloquial understanding of violence as atrocity, as rape, murder and other socially, politically and ethically problematic expressions thereof. It is to empirical violence, following Derrida and Levinas, that we are called to respond and to intervene in the suffering of the other. The ethical and political necessity of response anchors this discussion of violence. And, it is towards the possibility of an adequate response – the possibility of an ethics sensitive to its own violence and a politics that is directed at the eradication of empirical violence – which this discussion navigates. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis is ’n filosofiese uiteensetting van geweld wat deur twee denkwyses ingelig word wat kompleksiteit as fenomeen konfronteer. Hierdie denkwyses is kompleksiteitsteorie en dekonstruksie. Altwee ontwikkel sisteemgebaseerde verduidelikings van komplekse fenomene waar verhoudings van verskille die betekenis van hierdie fenomene beslaan. Daar is tot dusver nog geen gefokusde ondersoek na die implikasies van kompleksiteit vir die konsepsualisering van geweld nie. As antwoord op hierdie teoretiese leemte, begin hierdie tesis deur kompleksiteitsteorie as ’n algemene, trans-dissiplinêre studierigting van kritiese kompleksiteitsteorie te onderskei. Laasgenoemde word gebruik om kritiese denke van epistemologiese grondslae te ontwikkel, en beklemtoon die perke op kennis en die normatiewe en etiese aspek van kennis en verstaan. Die epistemologiese verwydering wat deur hierdie kritiek geïmpliseer word, herhaal die epistemologiese verskuiwing wat die werk van onder andere Friedrich Nietzsche en Jacques Derrida, deurdring. In hierdie konteks begin kritiese kompleksiteitsteorie om die konsep van geweld op twee vlakke te verwoord: eerstens as ’n empiriese, etiese probleem in die stelsel en tweedens as asimmetrie en antagonisme. Geweld in die tweede opsig word in die dinamiese verhoudings van verskil geïmpliseer, waar struktuur en betekenis in komplekse organisasie gegenereer word. Die sensitiwiteit vir verskil en geweld wat deur kritiese kompleksiteitsteorie en dekonstruksie gedeel word neem parallelle lesings van hierdie filosofiese perspektiewe in ag; sowel as die aanvulling en oopmaak van kritiese kompleksiteitsteorie deur dekonstruksie binne die struktuur van hierdie tesis. Hierdie aanvulling wil die enkelvoudigheid van elke perspektief bewaar, terwyl dit die potensiaal van hul punte van verwantskap en spanning in die produksie van ’n koherente filosofiese analise van geweld verken. Dekonstruksie bied ’n meer ontwikkelde verstaan van geweld en ’n rykdom van verwante motiewe: différance, beraming, wet, enkelvoudigheid, estetika en ander. Hierdie motiewe noodsaak die insluiting van ander filosofiese stemme, soos Nietzsche, Arendt, Kant, Levinas en Benjamin. Hierdie tesis tree in gesprek met hierdie skrywers en skakel geweld aan betekenis, aan die moontlikheid, aan die produksie en aan die proses waardeur betekenis na verandering lei. Gegewe hierdie skakels, word geweld in verhouding tot die begrip van verskil op drie spesifieke vlakke gekonsepsualiseer. Die eerste is die verskil tussen elemente in ’n komplekse stelstel van betekenis; die tweede is die begrip van verskil tussen stelsels of tekste waar grense of rame om getrek kan word; en die derde is die begrip van verskil tussen betekenis en die afwesigheid van betekenis. Hierdie bespreking stel ondersoek in na die verhouding tussen hierdie geweld wat in die samestelling van betekenis geïmpliseer word en die meer alledaagse verstaan van geweld as wreedardigheid, as verkragting, moord en ander maatskaplike, politiese en etiese problematiese uitdrukkings daarvan. Ons word geroep om op empiriese geweld, in navolging van Derrida en Levinas, te reageer en in te gryp om die lyding van ander te keer. Die etiese en politiese noodsaaklikheid van reaksie dien as grondslag vir hierdie bespreking van geweld. Uiteindelik beweeg hierdie bespreking nader aan die moontlikheid van ’n voldoende reaksie – die moontlikheid van ’n etiek wat sensitief vir sy eie geweld is en ’n politiek wat op die uitwis van empiriese geweld gerig is.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this mini-thesis I explore Hannah Arendt’s engagement with the problem of foundation in relation to the work of Derrida and complexity theory. In Arendt the problem of foundation takes shape as the attempt to develop a thinking of foundation that does not repress political freedom. The American Revolution is an important point of reference in Arendt’s attempt to develop such a notion of authority. According to Arendt the American republic could, however, not entirely succeed in realizing this conception of authority. I draw on Derrida and complexity theory in order to show that the shortcomings Arendt points to are structural to institutions as such. Following Derrida and complexity theory, I further that the recognition of this structural limitation is an indispensable step in the attempt to think political authority as something stable, but which nevertheless keeps open the possibility of political change. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie skripsie ondersoek ek Hannah Arendt se ommegang met die probleem van begronding deur dit in verband te bring met die werk van Jacques Derrida en kompleksiteitsteorie. Die probleem van begronding neem vir Arendt vorm aan in die poging om politieke gesag op so wyse te bedink dat dit nie politieke vryheid onderdruk nie. Die Amerikaanse rewolusie vorm ’n sentrale verwysingspunt in Arendt so poging om gesag op hierdie manier te bedink. Dit slaag volgens haar egter nie heeltemal daarin om hierdie alternatiewe vorm van gesag te verwesenlik nie. Ek steun op Derrida en kompleksiteitsteorie om te wys dat die tekortkominge waarop Arendt wys in ’n sekere sin struktureel is tot enige instelling. Ek argumenteer voorts in navolging van Derrida en kompleksiteitsteorie dat ’n erkenning van hierdie strukturele beperking ’n belangrike moment is in die poging om politieke gesag te bedink as iets wat stabiel kan wees, maar terselftertyd ruimte laat vir politieke verandering.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Globalisation, rapid changes in technology, and demographic trends are all important factors that contribute to conditions that require adaptive capacity in military organisations. The context of a majority of military operations is often asymmetric with blurred boundaries, and military organisations are expected to master a wide range of operations from humanitarian disaster relief to more regular warlike situations in a joint- and multinational framework. The complexity of the challenges facing military leaders in contemporary and future operations makes it relevant to develop a meta-competency model for leadership in complex military systems, which is the main purpose of this dissertation. A Complexity Approach represents a shift from a set of conservative laws to a perception of the world as an open and highly dynamic system, and some characterise complexity as a bridge between modernism on the one hand and post-modernism on the other. Complexity and complex systems have a number of characteristics, some of them being a large number of short-ranged interactions that are dynamic, non-linear and fairly rich. Another significant feature of complexity is the emphasis on emergent patterns that are codetermined through a dynamic process between the history of the system and the interaction with its local environment. Leadership in complex systems might be described by the dynamics of emergence, not merely by incremental influence, and increasingly considered to be a collective social phenomenon. A complexity-oriented leader acts as an enabler of a rich identity interacting in richly constrained play of difference, facilitating “bounded” individual and systemic adaptive capacity. The reigning paradigm in military organisations, however, are closely linked to an autocratic and bureaucratic structure and a fundamental quest for control, equilibrium and stability, all of which are deeply embedded in Newtonian Principles of linearity, reductionism and determinism. The investigation of empirical research on Norwegian Military Officers and the Norwegian Armed Forces reveal a considerable amount of homogenous force substantiating stability and control, at the same time as complexity and uncertainty are acknowledged. This dissertation argues that the definition of competencies as “an underlying characteristic of an individual that is causally related to effective and/or superior performance in a job or situation”, is not suitable for a complexity understanding and proposes competencies to be defined as “interconnected underlying characteristics of an individual or system, which through a dynamic and non-linear process of interaction between local agents and the environment contribute to the emergence of identifiable or unidentifiable patterns of individual or systemic behaviour”. Based on a synthesis of a non-empirical literature study, empirical research and a modelbuilding study, this dissertation suggests that heterogeneity of degree, androgynousity, cognitive flexibility, ethical reasoning, cross-cultural competence, intuition, identity and courage, are necessary meta-competencies for leadership in complex military systems. It is further argued that these meta-competencies must be interpreted as interconnected and interdependent, and the metaphor of a cloud is therefore presented as a suitable image of the intricate dynamics of complexity. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Globalisering, vinnige veranderinge in tegnologie en demografiese tendense is belangrike faktore wat bydra tot toestande wat aanpassingsvermoë in militêre organisasies vereis. Die konteks waarin ’n meerderheid militêre operasies hul bevind is dikwels asimmetries met onduidelike grense, en daar word van militêre organisasies verwag om ’n wye verskeidenheid krygsverrigtinge van humanitêre rampverligting tot meer gereelde oorlogsugtige omstandighede in ’n gesamentlike en multinasionale kader te bemeester. Die kompleksiteit van die uitdagings waarvoor militêre leiers te staan kom in huidige en toekomstige krygsverrigtinge is dit gepas om ’n meta-bevoegdheidsmodel vir leierskap in komplekse militêre stelsels te ontwikkel, wat die belangrikste doel van hierdie tesis is. ’n Kompleksiteitbenadering verteenwoordig ’n verskuiwing van ’n stel konserwatiewe wette na ’n waarneming van die wêreld as ’n oop en hoogsdinamiese stelsel, en kompleksiteit word soms gekenmerk as ’n brug tussen modernisme aan die een kant en die post-modernisme aan die ander. Kompleksiteit en komplekse stelsels het ’n aantal kenmerke, waarvan sommige van hulle ’n groot aantal kortafstandinteraksies wat dinamiese, nie-lineêre en redelik ryk is. Nog ’n belangrike kenmerk van kompleksiteit is die klem op die ontluikende patrone wat vasgestel word deur middel van beide ’n dinamiese proses tussen die geskiedenis van die stelsel en die interaksie met die plaaslike omgewing. Leierskap in komplekse stelsels kan beskryf word deur die dinamika van verskyning, nie net deur inkrementele invloed nie, en al hoe meer beskou as ’n kollektiewe sosiale verskynsel. ’n Kompleksiteitgeoriënteerde leier dien as ’n instaatsteller van ’n ryk identiteit wat wisselwerking uitoefen in streng beperkte verskilspel, wat “begrensde” individuele en sistemiese aanpassingsvermoë fasiliteer. Die huidige paradigma in die militêre organisasies word egter nou gekoppel aan ’n outokratiese en burokratiese struktuur, en ’n fundamentele soektog vir beheer, ewewig en stabiliteit, waarvan almal diep in Newtoniaanse Beginsels van lineariteit, reduksionisme en determinisme vasgelê is. Die ondersoek van empiriese navorsing oor die Noorse Militêre Offisiere en die Noorse Weermag openbaar ’n aansienlike aantal homogene mag wat stabiliteit en beheer staaf, terselfdertyd as wat kompleksiteit en onsekerheid erken word. Hierdie tesis is van mening dat die definisie van vaardighede as “’n onderliggende eienskap van ’n individu wat oorsaaklik verwant is aan doeltreffende en/of superieure prestasie in ’n beroep of situasie”, nie geskik is vir ’n kompleksiteitbegrip nie en stel voor dat vaardighede gedefinieer word as “onderling verbinde onderliggende eienskappe van ’n individu of stelsel, wat deur middel van ’n dinamiese en nie-lineêre proses van interaksie tussen plaaslike agente en die omgewing bydra tot die verskyning van identifiseerbare of nie-identifiseerbare patrone van individuele of sistemiese gedrag”. Gebaseer op ’n sintese van ’n nie-empiriese literatuurstudie, empiriese navorsing en ’n bou van modelle studie, stel hierdie tesis voor dat die heterogeniteit van graad, androgienisme, kognitiewe buigsaamheid, etiese beredenering, kruis-kulturele bevoegdheid, intuïsie, identiteit en moed, nodige meta-vaardighede vir leierskap in komplekse militêre stelsels is. Dit voer verder aan dat hierdie meta-vaardighede vertolk moet word as onderling verbinde en onderling afhanklik is, en die metafoor van ’n wolk word dus voorgestel as ’n geskikte beeld van die ingewikkelde dinamika van kompleksiteit.

Nature of the inquiry: My research inquiry investigated how qualities of personal interaction shape and affect the promotion of research utilisation for quality improvement in the US healthcare sector. The research investigated my own professional practice of consulting, teaching, and research regarding the improvement of healthcare practices and outcomes. Efforts to improve the quality of healthcare services are often difficult to realise and sustain. The quality improvement movement in the USA and elsewhere has not conducted much self-examination of its own processes for sources of these perennially problematic results. Relevance: The quality of healthcare services can be readily understood as having consequences of life or death, wellness or suffering. Healthcare expenditures in the USA are estimated at 16% of GDP and over 9% in the UK. Improving healthcare quality improvement efforts is a matter of profound human and social significance. Approach: The DMan research methodology is a reflexively aware process conducted as a cohort and as small learning groups of researchers during the three-year programme. The research inquiry used the complex responsive process of relating theory of learning as emergent changes of meaning or, equivalently, knowledge. As a social science of qualities, it uses the qualities of human interaction as the unit of analysis. The research utilised an interdisciplinary approach drawing upon: healthcare quality improvement literature; organizational discourse studies; research on strategy as practice; performance management; communications theories; the theory of mindful learning; interpersonal neurobiology; figurational sociology; and American pragmatist philosophy. The methodology employs a mindful reflexivity research strategy related to concepts from mindful learning and social neuroscience literature. Central methods included iterative peer and supervisor debriefing and iterative reflexive narrative practice. Findings: A contribution is made to the healthcare literature by describing how ordinary qualities of social coordination dynamics affect the promoters of healthcare research, not just potential users of research. A contribution is made to professional practice by providing a new perspective from which to analyse the sources of performance challenges prevalent in healthcare quality improvement efforts. The research findings indicate how applications of substantial organisational and social resources to promote research utilisation in the US health sector can be co-opted and dissipated away from ostensive substantive objectives. This occurs by research promoters‟ organizational discourse efforts to favourably shape power relating and other qualities of interaction of improvement initiatives. These efforts restrict the emergence of learning about the promoted changes.

This thesis explores the teaching and learning of English for Medical Purposes (EMP) in a Syrian Arab university (Tishreen University). It investigates the inherent contradictions in the position of EMP in an Arab-medium university by drawing on the socio-political and economic factors shaping English language education policy in Syria. It also critiques “mainstream” ESP through examining the “purpose” in English for Medical Purposes. Rather than viewing learning as an end product, this study suggests that learning English is part of a dynamic process of learning to become a doctor in Syria and as part of constructing the 21st Century Syrian “doctor” identity. I draw on aspects of poststructuralism and complexity theory to take the analysis of English for Specific Purposes beyond issues of needs analysis, content, and materials development. ESP, from its outset, has been proposed for decades as a commodity that meets students’ linguistic and communicative needs. However important these concerns are for the development of the discipline, as I argue in this thesis, ESP seems to adopt a “mechanistic” approach by predetermining “needs” and “purposes” which fails to account for the complexity of human beings’ behaviours and responses in educational contexts. The deterministic conceptualisation of ESP places rigid boundaries between ESP and the reality of the medicine profession, therefore, fails to meet students’ needs which transcend boundaries of classroom in aspiration for recognition by the medical community worldwide. English for Medical Purposes, in this study, goes beyond “specific purposes” to account for the role of English as a foreign language in constructing doctor identity and in the process of becoming a doctor. Data in this qualitative research were collected through focus groups with students of medicine in Tishreen University, semi-structured interviews with medical tutors and management officials in the Faculty of Medicine and the Higher Institute of Languages, as well as ESP teachers. Policy documents were analysed, and field notes were taken in classroom and hospital observations. Based on the analysis of these sources, a deeper understanding of EMP at Tishreen University is reached through the lens of poststructuralism and complexity theory. Finally, this thesis ends by drawing an ESP/Applied Linguistics relationship among the implications the findings have for policy makers, teachers and medical students, alongside recommendations for future ESP research directions.

The present work seeks to incorporate a popular descriptive, empirically grounded model of human preference under risk, prospect theory, into the equilibrium theory of noncooperative games. Three primary, candidate definitions are systematically identified on the basis of classical characterizations of Nash Equilibrium; in addition, three equilibrium subtypes are defined for each primary definition, in order to enable modeling of players' reference points as exogenous and fixed, slowly and myopically adaptive, highly flexible and non-myopically adaptive. Each primary equilibrium concept was analyzed both theoretically and empirically; for the theoretical analyses, prospect theory, game theory, and computational complexity theory were all summoned to analysis. In chapter 1, the reader is provided with background on each of these theoretical underpinnings of the current work, the scope of the project is described, and its conclusions briefly summarized. In chapters 2 and 3, each of the three equilibrium concepts is analyzed theoretically, with emphasis placed on issues of classical interest (e.g. existence, dominance, rationalizability) and computational complexity (i.e, assessing how difficult each concept is to apply in algorithmic practice, with particular focus on comparison to classical Nash Equilibrium). This theoretical analysis leads us to discard the first of our three equilibrium concepts as unacceptable. In chapter 4, our remaining two equilibrium concepts are compared empirically, using average-level data originally aggregated from a number of studies by Camerer and Selten and Chmura; the results suggest that PT preferences may improve on the descriptive validity of NE, and pose some interesting questions about the nature of the PT weighting function (2003, Ch. 3). Chapter 5 concludes, systematically summarizes theoretical and empirical differences and similarities between the three equilibrium concepts, and offers some thoughts on future work.

Conduct an exploratory study on operationally focussed managers within a South African company, using both quantitative and qualitative analysis, to determine the correlation between the required and actual levels of complexity and time-span of control at specific hierarchical levels / Organisational design needs to be in line with capabilities of the individual-inrole. The structure of an organization directly impacts the overall effectiveness and ultimately the success of such an organization and the number of layers required in any given hierarchy is a product of the organization’s mission (Jaques, 1989). Stratified Systems Theory (Jaques, 1989) defines work in seven strata based on a basis of decision-making complexity. The research presented here identifies a specific organisation’s current level of work based on complexity and the time-span of decision-making. Research was done in one specific geographical region of a company operating in the Supply Chain and Logistics industry in South Africa. Qualitative data collection was done by means of interviews with a defined sample group that provided an adequate cross-section of the main functions of the business, however, the sampling technique used may not provide results representative of the entire population. ii The Brunel Institute for Organisation and Social Studies’ (BIOSS) Matrix of Working Relationships was used as main basis for reporting results. The research indicates that the organisation is presently, according to Jaques Stratified Systems Theory (Jaques, 1989), operating at one level below their intended level that will allow them to effectively meet their longterm strategic objectives. The report identifies shortcomings in terms of the current capabilities of the individual-in-role and the actual work requirements, setting a foundation for further analysis of individual capabilities for effective organisational design. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / MBL

A proposta da tese é contribuir para um melhor entendimento das organizações por meio da utilização de conceitos da teoria da Complexidade e Caos. Entendendo a organização como um sistema adaptativo complexo, busca-se, através de aspectos relacionados à conectividade, interdependência e diversidade, a identificação de padrões de estrutura organizacional em empresas brasileiras. Foi realizada uma pesquisa exploratória a partir de bases de dados de 417 empresas, 118 mil de seus funcionários, de 22 setores de atividades diferentes que se candidatam ao prêmio de \"Melhores Empresas para se Trabalhar\", organizado pela FIA - Fundação Instituto de Administração e Você S/A. Para análise foram utilizadas técnicas diversas de mineração de dados, de escalonamento multidimensional e desenvolvidos algoritmos para o delineamento de formações gráficas da amplitude de controle e rotinas para análise da estrutura de tarefas e da tensão adaptativa entre objetivos individuais e da organização. Os resultados da pesquisa revelaram que foram identificados padrões relacionados à conectividade e interdependência interna. Especificamente, observou-se também que fatores como a amplitude de controle e tensão adaptativa entre objetivos pessoais e organizacionais também manifestaram a emergência de padrões estruturais, independente do setor de atividade. / The purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to a better understanding of organizations through the use of the concepts of the Chaos and Complexity theory. Assuming the organization as a complex adaptive system, it aims to identify patterns of organizational structure in Brazilian companies through connectivity, interdependence and diversity organizational aspects. The study entails an exploratory research in databases in 417 companies (22 economic sectors) and 118 thousands employees that applied for the award of the best companies to work for (Melhores Empresas para se Trabalhar) organized by FIA - Fundação Instituto de Administração and Você S/A. In the analysis it was used data mining techniques, multidimensional scaling and algorithms developed for the design of graphical formations, the span of control, structure and tasks and the adaptive tension between individual goals and the ones found in organizations where the employee works at. The results of the study point to patterns identified and related to organizational characteristics that denote the internal connectivity and interdependence. Structural patterns on information from different economic sectors companies were identified and related to factors such as span of control and adaptive tension between individual goals and perceived characteristics in organizations.