No description available.

Political legitimacy is a fundamental problem in the modern state. According to Habermas (1973), current legitimation methods are losing the sufficiency needed to support political systems and decisions. In response, Habermas (1987) developed the theory of communicative action as a new method for establishing political legitimacy. The current study applies the communicative action theory to Kuwait’s current political transformation. This study addresses the nature of the foundation of Kuwait, the regional situation, the internal political context, and the current economic challenges. The specific political transformation examined in this study is a national development project known as Vision of 2035 supported by the Amir as the head of the state. The project aims to develop a third of Kuwait’s land and five islands as special economic zones (SEZ). The project requires new legislation that would fundamentally change the political and economic identity of the country. The study applies the communicative action theory in order to achieve a mutual understanding between different groups in Kuwait regarding the project’s features and the legislation required to achieve them. / Media & Communication

Similar to other healthcare systems worldwide, Kuwait faces challenges of increased demand and cost while trying to operate with constrained resources. There are some data suggesting that Lean methodology, first used by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota, could improve system efficiency or flow by waste elimination, may be useful in addressing some of the challenges found in healthcare. Lean has so far not been used in Kuwaiti primary healthcare centres. This thesis explores the case for using Lean in Kuwait by examines issues around diabetes, as Kuwait rank the six highest in the world. In Kuwait, patients with diabetes are mainly managed in primary healthcare centres. The case for using Lean was explored across five interrelated studies which are summarised below: Study 1 involved a review of the literature which found that Lean tools have been used mostly in hospital settings without any rigorous evaluation and with little or no attention paid to primary healthcare or in developing countries. Study 2 was a systematic documentary review of the challenges facing the healthcare system of Kuwait. In Kuwait, expenditure on healthcare services is expected to double within five years. Life expectancy is increasing, while the percentage of the elderly population is growing, leading to increasing demand of services to treat non-communicable disease such as diabetes. Kuwait still sends many of its patients overseas for treatment. Currently, 10 mega projects worth approximately 2 billion Kuwaiti Dinar are being constructed in Kuwait that will result in a doubling of the bed capacity. However, the average occupancy rate between 2006 to 2015 was 63.6%, which is considered low compared to the average occupancy rate in European Union countries. Study 3 sought the views of Kuwaiti healthcare leaders about Lean and challenges facing the healthcare system of Kuwait. The key findings were: (1) Most leaders agreed that the current healthcare system in Kuwait faces difficult challenges and needs to change its management approach; (2) Lean as a management approach is considered a new concept among leaders of Kuwaiti healthcare organisations; (3) They did not have adequate knowledge regarding Lean but were willing to support any future Lean improvement initiatives. Study 4 explored the knowledge of Healthcare Workers regarding Lean within Kuwait’s primary healthcare centres through a cross-sectional survey in four primary healthcare centres. Only 11% of participants were familiar with Lean. None of the participants were involved or had an ongoing Lean initiative or project but 80% of participants were willing to be involved in future Lean initiatives. Study 5 mapped the flow of patients with type 2 diabetes in primary healthcare centres to identify potential waste and make recommendations for improvement. Patients with type 2 diabetes typically visit their General Practitioner at least every two months for a review appointment. When a blood test is required to monitor blood sugar levels, three more visits are required, involving the blood test, collection of test results by the patient and a review of the results with the general practitioner. Four potential improvements were identified: using point of care testing, the posting of laboratory results to general practitioner computer systems, the introduction of guidelines that standardise the practice for the patient’s visit and permitting the general practitioner to prescribe medication that will last four months. The process map of patients with type 2 diabetes has highlighted waste and improvement suggestions that may reduce workload, enhance patient satisfaction, avoid unnecessary visits, enhance the timeliness of laboratory testing, improve communication between and across departments and minimise the use of resources without undermining the quality of care. These suggestions, if implemented on the national level, could bring tremendous benefits but still need to be rigorously evaluated. The thesis concludes by noting that there is considerable potential in adopting Lean to improve the healthcare services in Kuwait, but further work is required to implement the changes and rigorously evaluate them.

The adoption and integration of technology is limited in K-12 contexts worldwide, including in the Middle East. Based on the work of Everett Rogers (1995) and his disciplines, studies in the United States indicate that teachers' perceptions towards the attributes of technology (relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability) reflect the extent by which technology is used. Furthermore, teachers' characteristics and the support environment provided can potentially encourage or inhibit the adoption of technologies. This multiple case study was designed to show the applicability of Rogers' diffusion of innovation theory in Kuwait public school systems. The study was conducted with eight female Kuwaiti teachers in two primary public schools. A qualitative methodology was employed using interviews, participant observations, and physical artifacts for collecting data. The study reveals that Rogers' three attributes relative advantage, compatibility and observability (result demonstrability) contributed to use, while complexity and observability (visibility) limited use. Prior experience and practice, motivational support provided by the school administration and department head, and teachers' voluntary decisions on the type of technologies to use encouraged use. Anxiety from lack of functionality of devices and extra time and effort in preparing materials, centralized decision-making on technology purchases, budget constraint, and limited access to technology and classrooms in which devices are located were factors that limited teachers' use. The study showed that Kuwaiti teachers' acceptance of technology varied along the continuum, where some teachers were early adopters and some were laggards. Support initiatives are needed from the Ministry of Education and school administration, in order to facilitate technology adoption and use in Kuwaiti schools. / Ph. D.

In points, the description of this manuscript content, as follows: - Explores how administrative innovation is generated and implemented in Kuwait's public sector, particularly during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. - Focuses on understanding how such innovation contributes to adaptability in both crisis and post-crisis periods. - Employs a grounded theory methodology, utilizing data from interviews, document analysis, and observations to develop a theoretical framework. - Identifies key characteristics of Kuwait's public sector that both enable and constrain innovation, such as the dominance of oil-fueled public sector jobs and the prevalence of bureaucratic culture. - Examines the pandemic's impact on public sector operations and the adaptive measures taken, including the rapid adoption of digital technologies and increased reliance on public-private partnerships. - Proposes a theoretical framework highlighting the central role of "exploring feedback" in driving administrative innovation and enhancing adaptability. Suggests that actively seeking and incorporating feedback from citizens, stakeholders, and data analysis fosters a culture of continuous learning and improvement within the public sector. - Offers valuable insights into strategies for fostering innovation-driven resilience across diverse public sectors, contributing to the fields of public administration, innovation studies, and crisis management. / The dissertation investigates the generation and implementation of administrative innovation within Kuwait's public sector, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, to understand how such innovation contributes to adaptability in both crisis and post-crisis periods. The research employs a grounded theory methodology, utilizing data from interviews, document analysis, and observations to develop a theoretical framework. The study identifies key characteristics of Kuwait's public sector that both enable and constrain innovation, such as the dominance of oil-fueled public sector jobs and the prevalence of bureaucratic culture. It also explores the pandemic's impact on operations and the adaptive measures taken, including the rapid adoption of digital technologies and the increased reliance on public-private partnerships. The study concludes by proposing a theoretical framework that highlights the central role of "exploring feedback" in driving administrative innovation and enhancing adaptability. The findings suggest that actively seeking and incorporating feedback from citizens, stakeholders, and data analysis fosters a culture of continuous learning and improvement within the public sector. By analyzing the Kuwaiti experience, the research offers valuable insights into strategies for fostering innovation-driven resilience across diverse public sectors, contributing to the fields of public administration, innovation studies, and crisis management.

This research seeks to explore how the metal arts are taught to women in Kuwait in an undergraduate setting, making the call for the use of feminist pedagogy when teaching the metal arts to women in Kuwait. This research is achieved using the qualitative methodology of analytic autoethnography. The theoretical framework is a feminist lens bridging the social construction of gender with the gendering of objects and feminist standpoint theory. The data comes from the experiences of creating three of my own pieces of artwork as well as the pieces themselves in tandem with historical, political, and cultural contexts. The analysis from this research is then bridged with feminist pedagogy in order to begin to develop an inclusive metal arts curriculum for women in Kuwait.

No description available.

In Kuwait, an increase in the use of social media by the Kuwait National Assembly (KNA) has allowed it members to reach out to the public and so advance their political agenda. This study examines social media influences on the decision making process; addresses the lack of academic research in relation to KNA members; and seeks to understand the extent to which public political engagement using social media might affect the outcome of their decision making. The proposed social media influence model (SMIM) was used to explore the relationships and relative importance of variables influencing legislator decision making in a social media environment. The second decade of the twenty-first century saw a number of major issues emerging in Kuwait. A core mixed method design known as explanatory sequential was applied to multiple sets of data generated during KNA members' 14th (2013-2016) and 15th (2016-2018) terms. These data included Twitter messages (tweets), the KNA Information Center Parliamentary Information System legislation documents, and the news media articles. The sample was drawn from KNA membership, some of which used Twitter to comment on major events with specific hashtags and the Kuwaiti news media articles related to the same. Study results confirm and support the proposed SMIM. They also suggest that a single person or a group of individuals (in this case, legislators) can be influenced and motivated to use social media for self-promotion and/or advancing their political agenda. Consequently, they can be used to devise ways for improving the use of social media by KNA members in support of legislative work, which in turn will provide citizens with access to real-time information and enhanced political interaction.

In recent years the important of leadership in the organization has become an area of interest. Leadership has been noted to impact corporate culture, employee commitment and response and the overall performance of the organization. Given the fact that leadership is such an important part of organizational development and discourse, effective methods for developing effective leadership in the organization are needed. Without definitive methods for leadership development, organizations will not be able to optimize the outcomes of leadership in the organization. Thus, there is a clear impetus to delineate what works best in the context of leadership development. This study used concurrent qualitative and quantitative research to understand better the effect of cross-cultural influences on the leadership development programmes and leadership practices development in a study population consisting of managers and supervisors in the Kuwaiti banking industry. Although Kuwaiti organisations employ many international employees and operate foreign subsidiaries, they have not created leadership development programmes to improve cross-cultural leadership skills for managers. As a result, Kuwaiti managers often rely on traditional transactional methods and an authoritarian style of leadership that may be less effective with employees from different nations and cultural backgrounds. The qualitative phase of the research collected data from Kuwaiti bank managers through interviews while the quantitative phase of the research collected data with survey instrument. The quantitative phase of the study also tested the validity of a conceptual model and hypotheses using structural equation modelling and regression analysis. The research was guided by distributed leadership theory, which considers leadership as a series of interactions between leader and follower with the follower sometimes adopting an informal role as temporary leader. The theory also considers the context in which the leader operates as a critical factor for motivating leadership practise. The testing and validation of the theoretical model in the study led to the acceptance of a new 'Effective Cross Cultural Leadership' (ECL) model. This model describes the relationship between the exogenous or independent variables of cultural differences, training and development in traditional Kuwaiti leadership, cross cultural leadership development programmes and international leadership practises with the endogenous or dependent variables of leadership development programmes and leadership practises development. The testing of the hypotheses of the study showed a statistically significant relationship between the four independent variables and the two dependent variables with exception of the relationship between the independent variable of international leadership practises and the dependant variable of leadership programmes development. The quantitative findings also indicated that demographic variables do not have a moderating effect on the model. The qualitative findings of the study determined that cultural differences between employees and managers influence the managers' leadership behaviours and their understanding of the type of leadership development programmes to improve their cross-cultural leadership skills. Managers with greater experience or knowledge of foreign cultures adopt more flexible leadership practises when leading international teams. The qualitative findings also determined that front office managers are more willing to use participative leadership styles in leadership practises, while back office managers rely on authoritarian leadership styles focusing on tasks in their leadership practises, indicating that the context influences leadership styles and practise. The findings of the study including the development and validation of the Effective Cross-Cultural Leadership (ECL) model contribute to the theoretical and practical knowledge of cross-cultural leadership in Kuwait that can be extended to other Middle Eastern nations. In addition, the study finding extends cross-cultural theory by indicating that international influences both internal and external to the organisation affect leadership styles despite national norms and preferences. These findings implied that Kuwaiti organisations experience significant pressure to adopt some international leadership practises and styles to accommodate the expectations and needs of the many international workers employed in Kuwait. The practical implication of these findings showed that Kuwaiti managers would benefit from leadership training emphasising that no standard or correct approach to leadership exists and that it can be acceptable for leaders to use participative styles when warranted by the situation.

<p>I denna uppsats undersöker jag kulturella faktorer att ta hänsyn till vid lansering av en ny mobiltelefon i Mellanöstern för att vinna marknadsandelar, vilket även är syftet med undersökningen. Genom att använda teorier om kulturen i denna region kombinerade med teorier om konsumentbeteenden skapas utifrån dessa en analysmodell. Analysmodellen presenterar förväntade konsumentbeteenden vid val av ny mobiltelefon och jämförs med en liknande konkret modell grundad på 45 intervjuer med konsumenter i de tre länderna Förenade arabemiraten, Kuwait och Libanon. En intervju utförs även med det världsledande mobiltelefonföretaget Nokia för att få med företagets perspektiv om uppsatsämnet. Jag föreslår därefter kulturella faktorer för mobiltelefonföretag att ta hänsyn till och åtgärder att vidta för att vinna marknadsandelar. Det visar sig finnas en tendens till stark lojalitet gentemot utvalda varumärken och som kan förstås bättre genom att vidare bland annat undersöka kulturella faktorer, sociala och humana förhållanden i regionen.</p><p> </p>