The thesis extends current knowledge and understanding of integrated performance measurement (PM) development into the context of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The research builds on existing knowledge of integrated PM development approaches and identifies the context-specific factors which affect its introduction into SMEs. These are used to design, develop and validate a new, continuous improvement based approach for the development of integrated PM systems, which is specifically designed for use in SMEs. First, a conceptual model of criteria for integrated PM development is synthesised from the literature and the characteristics of SMEs are established. An evaluation of current approaches for the development of integrated PM is undertaken and an approach which conforms to the conceptual model is selected for an empirical study in a SME. Along with a set of interviews examining the state of PM in SMEs, this study identifies several factors which affect integrated PM introduction in this environment. These factors enhance the conceptual model and indicate the need for a more effective development approach for SMEs. Design theory is used to inform and structure the design of the new approach, which is developed and refined for practical use through a SME case study. Two further cases are carried out to validate the new approach, in which cross-case comparisons are made. The results indicate the validity of both the new approach and the enhanced conceptual model. The formulation of an enhanced conceptual model of integrated PM development, detailing the context specific criteria for effective in use in SMEs, together with the validation of a new, continuous improvement based, approach for integrated PM system development in SMEs that conforms to the conceptual model, represents a significant contribution to both theory and practice from this research.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Glasgow, 1994. / Ph.D. thesis submitted to the Department of Management Studies, University of Glasgow, 1994. Includes bibliographical references. Print version also available.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Ashland Theological Seminary, 1990. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 216-220) and index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Duke University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MScEng)--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--Naval Postgraduate School, 2000. / Thesis advisors, Mark E. Nissen, James M. Barnard. "December 2000." Includes bibliographical references (p.75-77). Also available via the World Wide Web.

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<p> With operations involving global interindividual interactions and strategic organizational change, organizations face a human resource problem. Today, human resources departments seek individuals capable of interacting across and beyond sociocultural boundaries and sometimes in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous settings. The literature has identified that organizations underutilize a specific pool of employees with extensive international life-work experience. This study was designed to explore the phenomenon of the <i> transcultural individual</i> from a humanistic perspective. To be a transcultural individual is to have successfully integrated two or more cultures into their worldview. The study also examined transculturality, designating transcultural traits or characteristics, as a positive attribute to being an <i>agent of change</i> in the workplace. Three underlying premises drove this study: first, human relations are malleable; second, transcultural individuals are naturals in interindividual intercultural interactions; and third, change is continuous. </p><p> The study population included five women and four men located in Washington, D.C., and Paris, France. The study used a qualitative interpretive inquiry design and a transdisciplinary theoretical framework to explore the nine life stories. Semistructured interviews provided rich and thick descriptions for analysis. The results were threefold: the participants transcended their inherited culture to attain a degree of cultural freedom; a transcultural life lessens angst in the face of change; and self-perception of being a manager and/or leader of change seems normal to the participants. </p><p> The findings uncovered the transcultural life experience as a way of being and a way of knowing the world. Moreover, being transcultrual, from a human development and an existential transformative process, appears to predispose individuals to being proactive agents of change in the workplace. This study highlighted the positive humanistic perspectives, derived from being a transcultural individual, that organizations need from individuals with relevant knowledge to address cross-cultural challenges and complexified work settings due to a continuous state of change. The study also revealed a perception of change to be related to individuals&rsquo; prior life experiences with change, including emotional behaviors and coping mechanisms developed under such circumstances. Unforeseeably, conversations exposed personal the presence and role of temporalities in relation to personal perceptions of time in relation to change.change when revisiting and recollecting memories. In conclusion, recommendations for transcultural individuals and organizations are derived, and further research is suggested.</p><p>

<p> Cross-cultural factors affect the cognitive processes engaged in by subjects to respond to rating scales. By using a sequential explanatory strategy of mixed-method research design, this study investigates four cultural groups in the software industry (n=92) - Israelis, Latinos, Romanians, and Americans &mdash; to investigate cultural effects on the thought processes used by respondents performing selected verbal (ordinal) and numeric (interval) scales.</p><p> Cluster analysis of the qualitative data identified four main response styles used by subjects &ndash; Extremes, Midpoint, Range, and Refiners. While the clusters did not differ in their demographics, when evaluating their cognitive processes against the theory of Tourangeau, Rips, and Rasinski (2000), clusters used different cognitive processes. Specifically, Refiners and Midpoint were more likely to adjust their responses during the Judgment stage before responding. </p><p> The findings of this research identified that values as acquired through life experience (i.e., leadership position) and demographics (i.e., gender, age, and educational level) rather than basic culture play a key role in the cognitive processes used by subjects to respond to scales. These factors affected scale preference, response style, cognitive processes, and even generated sentiments and emotions. Focusing on cultural values rather than cultural practices is a key need to yield valid survey results. </p><p> While some of the subjects are oblivious to the cultural effects discussed in this study, those effects have theoretical and practical implications for surveys conducted by multi-national organizations and business leaders. Furthermore, identifying and handling cross-cultural differences described in this study can be used to train leaders in cross-cultural environments.</p>

This integrative doctoral report describes how my own experiential learning as a former practicing police investigator, artist and my current academic position in professional work-based education have been utilised to enable me to make a contribution to workbased education. To capitalise on my experience and on-going development as a critically reflexive researcher, I explored my own transformative learning through the storied accounts of key experiences, events and transitions in my professional work-based learning journey to develop a storied pedagogic approach to facilitate critical self-reflection and reflexivity in the transformative learning of professional work-based students. Using an action research approach with autoethnography as the method of inquiry, the report tells a story of my learning journey through the research process. The combination of action research and the inherently experimental spirit of autoethnography proved complimentary and the research developed from an initial individual approach to a more co-operative and collaborative endeavour between teacher and student, enhancing the critical self-reflection, reflexivity and transformative learning of both, evidenced in collective voices of teacher, participant and researcher. My contribution of knowledge to the theory and work-based practice of transformative learning has been made through the development of a conceptual model of 'Transformative Reflection', which extends Kolb's experiential learning cycle. My contribution to practice has been through a facilitated workshop in which the transformative reflection model is used to foster critical self-reflection and reflexivity through the autoethnographic use of alternative narrative perspectives and the creation of artefacts in a liminal learning space, thereby fostering transformative learning for the work-based learner.