Management writers have emphasised that both new product development and innovation need to be stimulated in corporations if they are to prosper (Kanter, 1983; Lawrence and Dyer, 1983; Ouchi, 1981; Pascale and Athos, 1981) and they have focused mainly on issues of marketing and organisational behaviour and only to a limited extent on job autonomy. In the thesis aspects of team leader autonomy in new product development companies are investigated critically and empirically. The empirical study is based on data obtained from fifteen semi-structured interviews and two questionnaire surveys. The problems of managing and monitoring team leaders is discussed and conceptually represented in an improved definition of 'autonomy' originally proposed by Bailyn (1985). Autonomy is characterized in multi-dimensional terms and provides a new approach to understanding the complexity of team leader autonomy. Following a review of the literature and a grounded theory analysis of the pilot interview data, a number of common manifestations of autonomy were identified and subdivided into 'operational' and 'strategic' components. The findings of the pilot and main questionnaire studies into the level of team leader autonomy granted by top management are reported and analysed using correspondence analysis. 'Strategic' autonomy is found to reside primarily with senior management whilst team leaders are delegated more 'operational' autonomy. The literature on innovation cautions against too much hierarchical control but also draws attention to the top management dilemma of exercising responsibility and control of strategic tasks without stifling employees' technical competence and entrepreneurialism. A major finding from the main study is that in high technology types of company, management shares 'strategic" responsibilities with the team leader more than in other types of company. Top management cannot abrogate responsibility for directing and managing the company but, it is argued, a number of the strategic tasks could become more the responsibility of the team leader.

This thesis is concerned with some features of natural language in sociological argument and the implications of the presence of such features in such arguments for the satisfaction of the arguments. Part I describes some 'troubles' that natural language can occasion scientific methodology in research settings. It looks specifically at the damage to finality and uniqueness in questionnaire and interview interpretation. Part II describes four ways in which natural language may facilitate sociological arguments! by presentation devices; in display of author as credible; in transfer of materials in citation and in the invocation of common sense. It is suggested, then that natural language acts as a 'trouble' and a resource, the resource possibly repairing the trouble.

This essay is constructed around an empirical relationship which it attempts to interpret in terms of concepts and propositions of economic theory. This interpretation is necessary because the conceptual variables which enter the relationship as well as the method of their empirical measurement and the hypothesis of "causal" relation between them were not originally derived from economics, theoretical or applied. The principal concepts involved are called 'time-span of discretion1 (TSD), 'felt fair pay1 (FFP) and 'capacity1 (C). They are an original discovery, in a field where concepts and theory are scarce, of Elliott Jaques and the team of researchers who subsequently formed the Glacier Institute of Management. These three concepts are the principal elements of the structure for a theory of the evolution of organisational institutions. It is inside these institutions that the reality of work and payis found in present industrial society . . .

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This thesis examines separately two rhythmic styles: Renaissance mensural proportions and Elliott Carter's metrical modulation. Some historical background for each style is discussed (including examples from Gafurius' fifteenth-century treatise Practica Musicae) and the musical results of each are enumerated, examined, and compared. Examples of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century compositions are drawn from the works of Guillaume Dufay, Johannes Ockeghem, and Heinrich Isaac, among others. Elliott Carter's first string quartet and Double Concerto provide most of the sources for the study of metrical modulation.Similarities and differences between the two styles are noted, and their significance discussed. / School of Music

This dissertation critiques and rejects Elliott Sober's dismissal of intelligent design as a scientific hypothesis. Sober builds the case for this dismissal in chapter 2 of his 2008 book Evidence and Evolution. Sober's case against intelligent design as science is a philosophical one, emerging from a Bayesian likelihood approach. Sober claims that unlike neo-Darwinian processes, intelligent design cannot supply independent evidence to support the claim that it is a measurably likely cause responsible for the emergence of biological organisms and the structures or processes of which they are composed. Without an assessable likelihood, Sober asserts that intelligent design (again, unlike neo-Darwinian mechanisms) is not testable, and since it is not testable, it does not qualify as a scientific hypothesis. This dissertation argues however, that according to Sober's own standards in Evidence, because intelligent design and the neo-Darwinian hypothesis both address unrepeated, major biological changes in the unobservable past, and because they both depend upon crucial analogies in order to support either inductive arguments or likelihood assessments, the two hypotheses stand on equivalent evidential and logical grounds. Either Sober must reject both neo-Darwinism and intelligent design, or he must allow them both as equivalent, rival hypotheses based upon a fair application of his argumentation requirements. In addition, after explaining important basics of analogy theory, and its crucial, even unavoidable role in the historical (or "origins") sciences, the dissertation goes on to show how intelligent design's empirical support, based upon analogy with humanly designed artifacts, machines and increasingly cell-like creations in the laboratory, is continuing to grow stronger by the year in both likelihood and in explanatory power. The dissertation thus concludes that intelligent design should be treated as a viable scientific explanation for the dramatic examples of specified complexity being discovered in biology, and indeed should be regarded as an increasingly vigorous rival to the neo-Darwinian explanation of such complexity.

The main criterion of measuring the success of a marketing oriented company is the market share that it can achieve over its competitive rivals. The main objective of this study is to investigate the application of market share in the direction and control of the marketing activity for a brand or a product. To understand such applications.it is therefore necessary to consider the managerial use of this objective in the strategy formulation and control function at different managerial levels of an organisation. The differences of objectives, responsibilities, and type of decisions undertaken by managers at various levels require different definitions of a product's market. A higher level of market aggregation can be expected to take place at the higher managerial level to match the longer time span of the decision, and a greater responsibility. At the other end, segmenting the market by different criteria implies identifying these segments employed for measuring the share level of product. In addition, the constraints of a company's ultimate long term objective (Rol) over strategy formulation may affect the level of commitment of various marketing managers towards market share objective. A larger market share may not always produce higher profitability, and the product life cycle concept is used to identify conditions under which different results may be obtained. Finally, the study investigates the effects of factors "such as product characteristics and inflation rates on a manager's choice in selecting the marketing sales figure (sales value, or volume) for assessing the share level of a product. All the above factors generate the study hypotheses that will be tested by the postal questionnaire approach. The product/brand managers of heavily advertised fast moving consumer goods or of durable consumer products marketed by British or foreign companies in ttie UK market, will be surveyed. Since the collected data will tnko a number of forms, both non-parametric statistics, such as chi-square test, and mrametric statistics, such as Student's t-test, will be used for the purpose of analysis. In addition, to test the practical application and validity of the study findings, some of the senior marketing managers who responded to the questionnaire survey will be interviewed.

A literature review showed that social services departments use the traditional bureaucratic methods of formalisation and centralisation to control their social workers, and that social workers report this as a source of dissatisfaction. Organisation theorists identify the professional bureaucracy as an alternative organisational model, but there is no study of a social services department operating in this way. A department was found where the social workers stated that there were few rules or procedures governing their practice, and where they expressed satisfaction with their decision making powers. A research programme was designed in order to examine the department's organisation in more detail. Interviews were conducted with 27 social workers and 23 managers, up to and including the director. Detailed transcriptions were prepared and validated by the respondents as an accurate record of their views about their practice and the workings of the department. Analysis of these transcriptions revealed that the department was a variant of the professional bureaucracy model. The thesis explores the practice of the social workers and managers in detail. Whilst the social workers expressed considerable satisfaction with their freedom from rules and procedures and with their decision making powers, a number of concerns about the model are highlighted and discussed. The thesis also examines how a department organised on these professional lines dealt with the issue of accountability, and shows that there is no inevitable conflict between professional discretion and the need for accountability.

The thesis defines a profession as a group of workers who have been authorised by the state to determine aspects of their own work, training and organisation,usually,but not necessarily,as a result of their specialist expertise. It argues that knowledge about professions would be advanced by examining the social structures and processes of regulation and management of different professions, rather than by concentrating on the particular characteristics of the work or of the workers. Following this approach the thesis presents research into the different national regulatory structures, and local management structures of five "welfare service" professions in the U.K. In explaining the differences in structure the thesis shows how each occupation exploited characteristics which provided power in particular situations to establish organisation and control advantageous to its interests,and how characteristics such as specialist knowledge, status, and income were stabilised and further developed as a result. It also examines the complex involvement of the state in legitimating, advancing and limiting professional power. The main contribution of the thesis is to develop Freidson's theory of professions through logical critique and by reference to empirical evidence about five U.K. welfare professions, and by, - showing that national regulatory structures do not define a division of labour or provide the absolute autonomy which Freidson proposed, - showing that different types of professional autonomy are institutionalised in local management structures, usually on central government recommendation, and by providing a typology of professional autonomy based on empirical research, - showing that characteristics of professions are related to, but not, as proposed by Freidson, determined by professional autonomy, - developing Freidson's general perspective to accommodate the empirical evidence by reconceptualising the nature of professions in terms of professional authority, rather than autonomy, and by developing a model of the authorisation of professional power. In developing Freidson's theory the thesis also contributes, - to knowledge about professional organisation within state welfare bureaucracies, mainly by providing detailed descriptions of differences and changes in management structures, - to the methodology of action research by developing the theoretical basis of a method for investigating the legitimation of authority in establishing management structures, - to knowledge about the details of the relationship between the state and welfare professions, mainly by providing evidence of the involvement of the state at national and local levels in decisions and structures which profoundly shape the nature of practice, relationships with clients, and futures of welfare occupations.

This collection of work examines: the concept of youth; the social situation of young people; the nature and adequacy of the institution designed to attend to young people's general needs and problems - the Youth Service; and the training provided for the youth workers who staff that Service. It is made up of one book, chapters contributed to four other books, two occasional papers, and two papers published in scholarly journals. Several types of research are included: conceptual and theoretical analysis which seeks to evaluate assumptions, arguments, models, and plans concerning youth and the Youth Service; historical and documentary analysis aimed at providing an accurate account of the development of the Service and of the various attempts to improve its effectiveness; and empirical investigations involving field research with young people and with youth workers. My conclusions are as follows:- First that the concept of youth is a valid and important component of sociological analysis, recent criticisms not withstanding. Second that the Youth Service, as a result of fundamental structural and cultural changes implicit in modernization, has an important role to play in the social education of young people. Third that there is scope for considerable strengthening of the Youth Service, as much in terms of its underlying conceptual and philosophical foundations as in terms of practical issues such as policy, organisation, management and training.