Talent management has been viewed both as a relatively new phenomenon that can deliver competitive advantage and as the latest management fad that is nothing more than a sub-section of human resources. Much has been written on the subject, albeit predominantly by consultants, so there is little academic rigour on the subject. Moreover, the majority of the literature focused on highlighting the diminishing supply of talent and providing advice to practitioners around recruiting, retaining, developing and rewarding talent. This thesis reviewed the existing literature to provide a holistic view on talent management in order to add value both at the academic and practitioner level. It focussed on what conditions an organisation is advised to put in place in order to leverage the performance of talent and whether talent can have a significant impact on organisational performance. The secondary research suggested that talent could act as a lever for organisational performance. This was tested through primary research, from the organisational and individual perspective, and resulted in the identification of four conditions that impacted on the performance of talent. These conditions were grouped into a model, which was tested both by the case study organisations and by organisations that had not been involved in the research. The findings were used to adapt the model and this is offered for subsequent researchers to further develop in order to explore generalisability for all organisations.

<p> The topic of the study was the relationship between national culture and software development project team performance. Relationships were examined through the lenses of Hofstede&rsquo;s cultural dimension model and the human performance technology model. Research indicated that software development project teams continue to face challenges completing projects within planned scope, on schedule, and within budget despite improved project management methods. The identified gap in the research was that most studies were qualitative and non-productivity related, a gap addressed by this quantitative, productivity-focused study. Four research questions were posed to determine the relationship between national culture and project team performance. Each question inquired as to the relationship between a team-level cultural measure and the number of user stories completed by the team during a sprint. The power distance (PDI) measures were the project team&rsquo;s average PDI and the PDI variance within the project team. The uncertainty avoidance (UAI) measures were the project team&rsquo;s average UAI and the UAI variance within the project team. A quantitative method was applied using a sample from the population of software development project teams that used the Agile management method. The data were extracted from archived productivity project data from 73 sprints conducted by teams from one firm. Archived email data identifying each team member&rsquo;s country of origin was used for each member&rsquo;s national culture. Spearman&rsquo;s rho was applied to the dataset. Results indicated there was a statistically significant relationship between PDI variance and team productivity, and between UAI variance and team productivity. The relationship between a team&rsquo;s average PDI and team productivity, and between the team&rsquo;s average UAI and team productivity, tended toward significance. Avenues for future research include duplicating the study using additional cultures and analyzing the relationship using additional Hofstede cultural dimensions.</p><p>

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 1999. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 178-184). / by Sawan P. Deshpande. / S.M.M.O.T.

Agriculture has been reported to contribute a significant amount of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere among other anthropogenic activities. With still more than 870 million people in the world suffering from under-nutrition and a growing global food demand, it is relevant to study ways for mitigating the environmental impact of food production. The objective of this work was to identify gaps in the knowledge regarding the main factors affecting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from beef farming systems, to reduce the uncertainty on carbon footprint predictions, and to study the relative importance of mitigation options at the system level. A lack of information in the literature was identified regarding the quantification of the relevant animal characteristics of extensive beef systems that can impact on methane (CH4) outputs. In a meta-analysis study, it was observed that the combination of physiological stage and type of diet improved the accuracy of CH4 emission rate predictions. Furthermore, when applied to a system analysis, improved equations to predict CH4 from ruminants under different physiological stages and diet types reduced the uncertainty of whole-farm enteric CH4 predictions by up to 7% over a year. In a modelling study, it was demonstrated that variations in grazing behaviour and grazing choice have a potentially large impact upon CH4 emissions, which are not normally mentioned within carbon budget calculations at either local or national scale. Methane estimations were highly sensitive to changes in quality of the diet, highlighting the importance of considering animal selectivity on carbon budgets of heterogeneous grasslands. Part of the difficulties on collecting reliable information from grazing cattle is due to some limitations of available techniques to perform CH4 emission measurements. Thus, the potential use of a Laser Methane Detector (LMD) for remote sensing of CH4 emissions from ruminants was evaluated. A data analysis method was developed for the LMD outputs. The use of a novel technique to assess CH4 production from ruminants showed very good correlations with independent measurements in respiration chambers. Moreover, the use of this highly sensitive technique demonstrates that there is more variability associated with the pattern of CH4 emissions which cannot be explained by the feed nutritional value. Lastly, previous findings were included in a deterministic model to simulate alternative management options applied to upland beef farming systems. The success of the suggested management technologies to mitigate GHG emissions depends on the characteristics of the farms and management previously adopted. Systems with high proportion of their land unsuitable for cropping but with an efficient use of land had low and more certain GHG emissions, high human-edible returns, and small opportunities to further reduce their carbon footprint per unit of product without affecting food production, potential biodiversity conservation and the livelihood of the region. Altogether, this work helps to reduce the uncertainty of GHG predictions from beef farming systems and highlights the essential role of studies with a holistic approach to issues related to climate change that encompass the analysis of a large range of situations and management alternatives.

The aim of this research is to examine the factors influencing the adoption and success of HRIS in Saudi Arabian public sector organisations.

This thesis deals with the managerial competencies of school teachers and headmasters. It also focuses on finding the common features of such competencies as are shared by the two aforementioned professions and company managers. Its main aim is to find out whether a successful teacher would be equally successful in the position of a headmaster, or whether a company manager can be a successful headmaster without having worked as a teacher. The theoretical part deals with the definition of "management" and managerial functions, the definition of school management, and "classroom management". The personalities of a manager, their qualities, knowledge, skills, the term "leadership" as well as "competencies" are also clarified here. At the end of this part there is an analysis of managerial competencies in the position of a company manager, headmaster, and teacher as well. The practical part analyses the subjective perception of the job duties, required qualities, skills and competencies in teachers, headmasters and managers. The thesis contains a comparative research. Dialogue was used to map such activities as form the daily job duties of the two professions and such competencies as help the respondents to be successful at work. The generalised answers can be found in the tables. They are compared...

El objetivo general de la investigación fue comprobar que la implementación de un sistema de gestión gerencial mejorará la calidad de servicio a los usuarios de Luz del Sur - período 2016-2017. Para la investigación el tipo de estudio fue descriptivo-aplicada. Se utilizó el método deductivo-explicativo. The general objective of the research was to verify that the implementation of a management management system will improve the quality of service to the users of Luz del Sur - 2016-2017 period. For research the type of study was descriptive-applied. The deductive-explanatory method was used.

Thesis (doctoral)--Göteborgs universitet, 2002. / Added t.p. with thesis statement inserted. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Economics, December 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Increased competition, rapidly changing technology and customer expectations have caused the innovation process to become more complex and uncertain. This study examines the possible benefits of integrating some of the concepts of risk management into the innovation project. However, adopting rigorous risk management at every stage of the innovation process could be costly: some risk management could be valuable, but too much, or inappropriate risk management might stifle innovation. There are many separate models for innovation and risk management. This study develops a combined theoretical model which aims to help the understanding of appropriate risk management in innovation. The theoretical model is based on the classic innovation process but emphasises critical decision points and information needs at various stages, with various possible contributions from risk management. The stage-gate innovation process model, with its emphasis on decisions, provides a basis for incorporating risk management with decisions related to criteria and information needs; this stage-gate model was employed in the study as the core of a theoretical model combining innovation and risk management. The theoretical model was tested in a series of empirical case studies in the United Kingdom and Iran. These involved 40 detailed interviews in five medium-large companies from a variety of industries. The case studies suggest that the combined model of risk and innovation management should be relevant across diverse industries: staff from different countries (UK and Iran), industries and functional backgrounds could all relate to it and the theoretical model provided a useful structure for developing a more detailed understanding of the possible roles and implementation of risk management in innovation. The study suggests that there is no simple guidance that companies can apply in all situations. The choice of risk management techniques varies with different innovation projects, the characteristics of the particular industry and the environment. In addition, different aspects of the risk management system are useful in different stages of the innovation project and attempting to apply a standard technique throughout the innovation project could lead to failure. A prime example is in the creativity stage: simple risk identification at this stage may be useful but more rigorous risk analysis may be stifle creativity. More rigorous risk analysis may be more appropriate in the later stages of the innovation process. Companies can use this theoretical model to help people appreciate the possible contribution of risk management at the different stages of the innovation project.