This thesis explores in depth the factors influencing growth in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from a supply chain perspective and examines how entrepreneurship affects them in Omani SMEs. The study is undertaken in order to complement the scarce literature on SMEs related to supply chains and improve the understanding of what factors are crucial in determining growth in them. The research is focused on the role of entrepreneurial qualities and behaviours for the growth of SMEs in developing countries, as their economies are more dependent on smaller companies. The context of this research is within Oman, which represents a typical developing economy containing a large number of active SMEs. The main factors for SMEs growth are identified through a literature review of past and contemporary research studies on supply chain networks, SMEs, growth and entrepreneurship. The factors are divided into areas related to the positions of the company (market position of the firm, negotiating power, Supply chain relationships and firm's image), and to SMEs' value-adding capabilities (cost optimisation, and innovations). The review also reveals that the critical entrepreneurial traits are: managers' culture and motivations, strategic thinking, sense for opportunities, risk-taking, continuous learning, their leadership abilities and networking skills. Based on the literature review findings a conceptual framework is proposed. This research is exploratory and explanatory in nature and relies on a qualitative approach to find out how entrepreneurship relates to growth in SMEs. Primary data is collected from in-depth semi-structured interviews with managers in 25 Omani SMEs from various industrial and service sectors 10 representing different supply chain positions. The data is processed through content analysis using the factors identified from the literature review as initial themes. The findings affirm the importance of SMEs' supply chain positions and their value adding capabilities for growth. Furthermore, all elements of entrepreneurship are found to affect growth factors. Results show positive attitude and growth aspirations lead to more proactive market behaviour, while strategic thinking helps managers choose more sustainable market positions. Results indicate leadership improves company costs by increasing employees' motivation and productivity and also facilitates the implementation of innovations. Learning orientation is stated to be crucial for exploring new ideas for innovations, while a good sense for opportunity helps managers evaluate them and choose the right ones. Finally, risk-taking propensity emerges as instrumental in the actual undertaking of innovation projects as it is needed for initiating them.

This study’s purpose was to glean a comprehensive list of the leadership challenges faced and strategies utilized during campus crisis and tragedy. It also sought to examine the goals of leadership at different phases of a crisis, aspects of leadership focused on, and recommended leadership practices to follow. A typology was created to identify appropriate crises. The typology classified crises as (a) institution as victim, (b) natural disaster, or (c) institution having legal liability. Fourteen interviews were conducted at eight schools. Interview transcripts were segmented into units for analysis. These data units were coded, grouped into categories, and named as themes. Once all themes were identified, overarching themes established the findings. Eight major challenges were identified for campus leaders during crisis: (a) leading in spite of a loss of control, (b) coping with deficient, inadequate, or non-existent technical and human crisis response measures or systems, (c) evaluation of leadership decisions occurring almost simultaneously to leadership actions, (d) altering operations and relationships, (e) managing transitions within the life of the crisis, (f) communicating about the crisis, (g) dealing with multiple constituency groups, and (h) dealing with longterm effects. Ten categories of strategies were identified: (a) making safety the priority, (b) leading planning and policy development, (c) garnering resources, (d) leading intentional communications efforts, (e) clarifying the leadership infrastructure, (f) accepting responsibility for crisis leadership, (g) modifying the leadership approach, (h) framing the crisis for others, (i) leading the healing process, and (j) leading efforts to learn from the crisis. Study findings suggested that it is not the type of crisis but the amount of devastation that determines leadership challenges and approaches. Leadership challenges evolve through predictable stages, invoking a broad range of leadership skills and concepts. During crisis, campus leaders focus on collaborative, symbolic, and logistical leadership. Sharing a common orientation during crisis is facilitative in the decision-making process. Policy development is a powerful means of bringing structure to a chaotic situation and of demonstrating an ethic of care. Findings from this study provided not only an overview of leadership challenges and strategies during campus crisis, but insight into a variety of crisis types, and practical application strategies for university administrators.

Whether leadership can be taught is a decades-long debate. The purpose of this descriptive quantitative research study was to better understand how leadership is taught and learned. One- hundred-and-thirty-two K-12, college, or university faculty, staff, or administrators responded to a survey questionnaire on leadership. The majority (74.54%) of participants who were leaders reported that they felt prepared for leadership positions. The majority (86.36%) of participants reported that leadership can be taught, with only 3.79% indicating that leadership is not a teachable skill. Abilities to create positive work environments, communicate to constituent groups, lead change, and supervise personnel were the top-ranked leadership competencies. Dealing with personnel matters; navigating institutional, local, and state politics; and managing complex budgets were listed as the top challenges leaders face. Participants reported that leadership can be learned through formal education, mentorship, and leadership experience. Participants emphasized the importance of human relations and communication skills for leaders.

Whether leadership can be taught is a decades-long debate. The purpose of this descriptive quantitative research study was to better understand how leadership is taught and learned. Onehundred-and-thirty-two K-12, college, or university faculty, staff, or administrators responded to a survey questionnaire on leadership. The majority (74.54%) of participants who were leaders reported that they felt prepared for leadership positions. The majority (86.36%) of participants reported that leadership can be taught, with only 3.79% indicating that leadership is not a teachable skill. Abilities to create positive work environments, communicate to constituent groups, lead change, and supervise personnel were the top-ranked leadership competencies. Dealing with personnel matters; navigating institutional, local, and state politics; and managing complex budgets were listed as the top challenges leaders face. Participants reported that leadership can be learned through formal education, mentorship, and leadership experience. Participants emphasized the importance of human relations and communication skills for leaders.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to advance the literature on leadership by investigating the Full Range Leadership Model (FRLM) Bass and Avolio (1994-1997) in the context of the Colleges of Technology (CoTs) in Oman. Design/methodology/approach – In order to achieve the research objective and answer the research questions, a qualitative study was undertaken. The data was obtained by two methods, namely semi-structured interviews and focus groups. The semi-structured interviews were held with College Deans, Heads of Departments (HoDs) and teachers. The focus groups were carried out with seven groups of students from four CoTs. The data was analysed by a thematic approach, following the systematic steps outlined by Braun and Clarke (2006). Findings – Significant relationships were found between the transactional leadership approach and institutional theory (Isomorphism and legitimacy). The findings advance leadership knowledge by exploring the relationship between the components of FRLM, transformational and the transactional leadership approaches in hierarchical levels of leadership in the context of the CoTs in Oman. Both the Deans and the HoDs employed transactional leadership approaches to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Ministry of Manpower. Moreover, the study extended the leadership literature by exploring the interaction between leadership approaches of the Deans and the HoDs on multi-national teachers and Omani students. Originality/value – The originality of this research lies in its exploration of the relationship between transformational and transactional leadership approaches in hierarchical levels of academic leadership and its identification of the characteristics of effective leadership in HEIs from a multicultural perspective. / Ministry of Manpower (MoMP)

The purpose of this study was to gain a greater understanding of potential challenges from a moral stress perspective that Swedish military leaders can face when implementing autonomous weapons systems. Two questions were asked to investigate this: what demands may arise and how can leaders be impacted? The study was conducted as a literature study and data from nine peer reviewed articles and a research report from the Swedish Defense Research Institute were analyzed via thematic analysis. The result seems to show that the lack of control, the lack of trust and difficulty in demanding responsibility from an autonomous weapon system creates moral leadership challenges. Without control over the autonomous weapon system, the consequences of its actions risk going against the leader's moral and this creates problems with how leadership can and should be conducted. The study also seems to show that autonomous weapon systems can lead to a moral impact on leaders, since autonomous weapon systems risk leading to increased distancing and risking contributing to increased violence. Given the moral leadership challenges and the moral influence made visible in this study, there seems to be a great risk of moral stress and even moral injury if autonomous weapon systems are used for actions that go against the leader's morality.

The current environment of the automotive industry is affected by new technologies, growing market dynamics, increasing demands from customers, and regulations such as sustainability requirements. To handle rapid changes many firms are leaning towards a more agile and flexible way of working. Such transformations have a tremendous effect on how organizations are managed and led. This leads to challenges for the leadership that should be able to lead the organization and the people through changing environments. Transformational and servant leadership have been explored in the context of change. However, previous studies show contradictory views on appropriate leadership approaches for companies that are facing change. Therefore this study seeks to evaluate servant and transformational leadership in situations of agile transformations. The purpose of this thesis is to develop recommendations for leaders within incumbent firms that are facing agile transformations. A qualitative case study was conducted and limited to an R&D department within the hardware development at an incumbent automotive firm. Department managers, section managers, project managers, and group managers were interviewed to deepen the understanding of the challenges that the company was facing. Findings indicate that it is important for leaders to consider challenges such as facing resistance to change, considering a new role as a leader, and ensuring psychological safety. This was elaborated on further and the two leadership models; transformational and servant leadership, were expected to contribute to a smoother change process. As psychological safety was seen as important in this change, the leaders had a mindset to encourage followers to take risks. This was done by promoting autonomy and encouraging followers to “test and try”. Servant leaders support agile principles and transformational leaders strive to encourage change initiative. These leadership approaches can therefore enhance and support organizational efforts in working more agile. However, there can not be drawn any conclusion of which leadership model is most suitable for change. Servant and transformational leadership show indications of which leadership attributes are desired for change. Leaders need to evaluate the change situation and the followers' needs to determine appropriate leadership approaches. / Traditionella tillverkningsföretag möter utmaningar med ny teknik, förändrad marknadsdynamik, ökade krav från kunder och hållbarhetskrav. Dessa förändringar har en stor effekt på hur organisationer hanteras och leds. Detta leder till utmaningar för ledare som ska kunna leda organisationen och människorna genom förändrade miljöer. Transformativt och tjänande ledarskap har utforskats under förändringar. Tidigare studier visar dock motstridiga åsikter om lämpliga ledarskapsmetoder för företag som står inför förändring. Denna studie försöker därför undersöka transformativt och tjänande ledarskap i agila förändringar. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att finna rekommendationer för ledare inom traditionella företag som står inför agila organisatoriska förändringar. En kvalitativ fallstudie genomfördes och avgränsas till hårdvaruutveckling inom en FoU-organisation i ett traditionellt tillverkningsföretag. Avdelningschefer, sektionschefer, projektledare och gruppchefer intervjuades för att fördjupa förståelsen för de utmaningar som företaget står inför. Resultaten visar indikationer på att det är viktigt för ledare att hantera utmaningar som till exempel att möta motstånd i förändringsarbetet, överväga en ny roll som ledare och att skapa trygghet. De två ledarskapsmodellerna; transformativt och tjänande ledarskap, förväntades bidra till en smidigare förändringsprocess. Trygghet ansågs vara viktig i denna förändring och därför hade ledarna en inställning att uppmuntra medarbetare att ta risker genom att ledarna främjade autonomi och uppmuntrar medarbetarna att testa och prova. Tjänande ledare stöder agila principer och transformativa ledare strävar efter att uppmuntra förändringsinitiativ. Dessa ledarskapsstrategier kan därför förbättra och stödja organisatoriska insatser för att arbeta mer agilt. Det kan dock inte dras någon slutsats om vilken ledarskapsmodell som är mest lämplig för förändring. Transformativt och tjänande ledarskap visar indikationer på vilka ledarskapsattribut som är önskvärda i en förändring. Ledare måste därför utvärdera förändringssituationer och medarbetarnas behov för att bestämma lämpliga ledarskapsstrategier.

Thesis (MPhil (Curriculum Studies))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / Background to the study: The Critical Care nursing programme at the Faculty of Health Sciences (Stellenbosch University) is a one-year programme. The practical component consists of practical procedures and case presentations. Students have limited time available in the clinical areas to reach competency in the practical skills. Students tend to use the majority of the clinical teaching time available to reach competency in these practical procedures, rather than discussing the patient and learning the skills to integrate and understand the patient’s condition and treatment, which they can acquire by doing case presentations. The end result of this misuse of clinical contact time is that some of the students, by the end of their programme, still have difficulty to integrate a patient’s diagnosis and treatment regime, although they have managed to complete the expected practical procedures. Summary of the work: A case study design was used. I wanted to investigate whether one could make use of simulation and the Clinical Skills Centre (CSC) to complete the majority of the practical procedures so that more time would be available in the clinical areas for the students to do case presentations. The study focuses on describing how the tutors and students involved experienced the use of simulation, as well as how it impacted on the available teaching time in the clinical areas. Conclusions and recommendations: Some of the most important issues that were highlighted in the study and needs to be mentioned are the following: · The students highly valued supervision by a Critical Care tutor when practising their skills in the CSC. · Students indicated that they valued the opportunity to practise some of the more risky procedures in simulation, because it presents no risk to patients. · Case presentations seem important to be added to the CSC’s practical sessions in order to attempt making the practical simulated scenarios even more realistic. · The teaching at the bedside in the clinical areas used to be done somewhat ad hoc. With the teaching in the CSC now being much more structured, this necessitates the teaching at the bedside to be revisited and to be structured to a certain extent. Summary of the results: The information obtained from the Critical Care tutors and the students indicated that these two groups were largely in agreement that simulation seems to be valuable and can effectively be used in a Critical Care nursing programme.

Text in English, abstract in English, Afrikaans and Northern Sotho / This study examines why post-colonial African states are not able to institutionalise the ideal ethical and democratic societies, given their access to international best practices and the abundance of human and natural resources; why the future of democracy in Africa remains uncertain despite the current efforts at democratisation; if western democracy can be implemented in Africa; why the West is able to produce better systems of governance; why leaders and managers find it daunting to create the kind of society that is inspiring, ethical, immune to bureaucracy, and that possesses excellent economic performance; how leaders, members of the community, bureaucrats, corporate executives and managers can contribute to the realisation of the ethical and ideal African state; and the options for alternative democratic order for the African continent. The inability of post-colonial African states to institute systems and strategies that adequately address the needs and expectations of their citizens has created chaos and anarchy that in some states can be likened to Hobbes state of nature where the weak is at the mercy of the strong and life is nasty, brutish and short. While the West has been largely blamed for playing a significant role in Africa’s inability to effectively manage itself, other theorists criticise African leaders and the community members for their inability to conduct themselves ethically and to implement a constructive and effective system of governance. It is imperative that African states devise adequate means of ethically administering their territories in a manner that meets societal expectations and needs, and in order to avoid intractable socio-political and economic complications. / Hierdie studie ondersoek die redes waarom postkoloniale Afrika-lande nie die ideale etiese en demokratiese samelewings instabiliseer nie, gegewe hul toegang tot internasionale beste praktyke en die oorvloed van menslike en natuurlike hulpbronne; waarom die toekoms van demokrasie in Afrika onduidelik bly ten spyte van die huidige pogings vir demokratisering; as westerse demokrasie in Afrika geïmplementeer kan word; waarom die Weste beter stelsels van bestuur kan lewer; hoekom leiers en bestuurders dit skrikwekkend vind om die soort samelewing wat inspirerend, eties, immuun vir burokrasie is, te skep en wat uitstekende ekonomiese prestasie besit; hoe leiers, lede van die gemeenskap, burokrate, korporatiewe bestuurders en bestuurders kan bydra tot die verwesenliking van die etiese en ideale Afrika-staat; en die opsies vir alternatiewe demokratiese orde vir die Afrika-kontinent. Die onvermoë van post-koloniale Afrika-state om stelsels en strategieë in te stel wat die behoeftes en verwagtinge van hul burgers voldoende aanspreek, het chaos en anargie geskep wat in sommige state vergelykbaar kan wees met Hobbes se toestand van die natuur, waar die swakeling aan die genade van die wat sterk is afhanklik is en die lewe ‘n nare, brutaal en kort lewe is. Terwyl die Weste grotendeels die blaam kry in terme van hul groot bydra in Afrika se onvermoë om homself doeltreffend te bestuur, kritiseer ander teoretici Afrika-leiers en die gemeenskapslede vir hul eie onvermoë om eties op te tree en om 'n konstruktiewe en effektiewe bestuurstelsel te implementeer. Dit is noodsaaklik dat Afrika-state voldoende middele voorsien om hul gebiede eties te administreer op 'n wyse wat voldoen aan maatskaplike verwagtinge en behoeftes, en om onwikkelbare sosio-politieke en ekonomiese komplikasies te vermy. / Thuto ye e lekola mabaka a gore ke eng dinaga tša ka morago ga bokoloneale di sa kgone go hloma dipeakanyo tša maswanedi tša maitshwaro le ditšhaba tša temokrasi, tšeo di filwego phihlelelo go ditiro tše kaonekaone tša boditšhabatšhaba le bontši bja methopo ya semotho le tlhago: ke ka lebaka la eng Bodikela bo kgona go tšweletša mekgwa ye kaone ya pušo; ke ka lebaka la eng baetapele le balaodi ba hwetša go le boima go hlama mokgwa wa setšhaba seo se nago le mafolofolo, maitshwaro, se sa huetšwego ke mokgwa wa pušo wo o diphetho di tšewago ke bahlanka ba mmušo bao ba sa kgethwago, gomme ba na le tiro ye kgahlišago ka ikonomi; ka moo baetapele, maloko a setšhaba, batšeasephetho ba mmušo ba sa kgethwago, malokopharephare a dikoporasi le balaodi ba ka aba mo go phihlelelong ya maitshwaro le naga ya maswanedi ya Afrika; le go dikgetho tša peakanyo ye e hlatlolanago ya temokrasi mo kontinenteng ya Afrika. Go se kgone ga dinaga tša ka morago ga bokoloneale go hlama mekgwa le maano ao a maleba a go bolela ka ga dinyakwa le ditetelo tša baagi ba bona di hlotše tlhakatlhakano le tlhokapušo yeo mo go dinaga tše dingwe e ka bapetšwago le naga ya Hobbes ka tlhago moo mofokodi a lego ka fase ga yo maatla gomme bophelo bo se bose, bo le šoro le go ba bjo bokopana. Mola Bodikela bo pharwa molato kudu mo go bapaleng karolo ye e tšweletšego mo go se kgonego ga Afrika go itaola ka tshwanelo, borateori ba bangwe ba solago baetapele ba Afrika le maloko a setšhaba mo go se kgonego go itshwara gabotse le go phethagatša mokgwa wo hlamilwego gabotse wo o šomago wa pušo. A bonagala gore dinaga tša Afrika di loga maano a makaone a go laola ka tshwanelo dinagadilete tša bona ka mokgwa wo o tla fihlelelago ditetelo tša setšhaba le dinyakwa, le gore go thibelwe go se boelemorago ga dipolotiki tša selegae le tlhakatlhakano ya ikonomi. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Philosophy)