Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Industrial relations; Organizational change'

The theoretical underpinning of Human Resource Management assumes the existence of individual motivation, which can be manipulated or managed in a way that enables organisational objectives to be achieved with the compliance and commitment of the individual worker. However, the increasing incidence of mergers, takeovers and reengineering has imposed on the individuals caught up in it change and challenge, which leaves even those retaining their employment doubtful of the benefits of HRM proclaimed by employers. Job insecurity has been well researched by those who wish to examine how enforced change affects the survivors both within the organisation and those who move on to alternative employment elsewhere. Charting the change undergone by individuals suffering such enforced change at work has traditionally involved attempts to measure the antecedents of change and correlating it to the consequences of the change. In this way the effects of imposed change on individuals can be linked to organisational consequences like intention to leave or job satisfaction. The present research allows individuals to reflect on their own confirmed and disconfirmed expectancies following the experience of enforced change at work. It allows them to examine what assumptions they had about their employer's behaviour during enforced change and how far they have accepted or rejected the legitimacy of that behaviour. For each of them this has involved interpreting events occurring during enforced change. Such interpretation may reinforce the meaning of work and its inherent value or threaten continued belief in the value of employers' promises of employment and career development. Identifying expectancies enables the researcher to examine the different responses to questions of attribution, self-sufficiency and the traditional elements of loyalty and trust together with the individual's assessment of how he or she would respond to a repeat of such enforced change. The conclusions of the present research indicate that individuals who maintain traditional beliefs of loyalty and trust are more likely to experience alienation than those who evince an independence who seek to use working experience to gain more knowledge and skill and so increase their own employability. The future dependence of employers on traditional promises of career development and life long learning would seem to have been circumscribed by the many individuals whose experience of enforced change has convinced them they need to take ownership of their own destiny in which different employers will play but a fleeting part.

This project examines how changing organizational arrangements in a technological field affect individual level outcomes and processes of career formation. In the field of the life sciences, the biotechnology industry has emerged as an employment option with a fundamentally different organizational form. Three main research questions are addressed concerning the changing organizational setting of life science careers: (1) How are traditional stratification of science patterns affected by the option of employment in network rather than hierarchical, organizations? (2) Who enters a new, sought after, employment arena first? and (3) How does a new career path become legitimate? The data collected for this project are both quantitative and qualitative. The quantitative data were gathered from National Institutes of Health archives. Logistic regression analyses were performed on the sample of 3395 PhDs to estimate dichotomous career outcomes. The qualitative data come from interviews and ethnographic observations with scientists in a variety of settings--university laboratories, commercial firms, and government institutes. While traditional patterns of stratification in science--educational background and gender--were found to have effects in this sample as well, organizational context is very important to understanding how stratification may be mitigated. Gender inequality in the attainment of leadership level positions was consistently found in more hierarchical organizational settings, but did not appear in network organizations (biotechnology firms). In contrast, educational background had significant effects across all types of organizational forms. PhDs with elite educations were more likely to enter biotechnology both in earlier and later periods of industry history. Male and female PhDs were equally likely to enter the biotechnology industry, and this result also did not vary by time period. The common frames used by scientists in biotech and other science-based organizations to legitimate biotechnology work include: resources (scientific as well as monetary), networks (ties to respected scientists who endorse biotech), and analogies to academe. Biotechnology employment is retroframed as similar to yet different from academic work---indicating some interesting frame tension. This study has implications for scholarship particularly in the areas of organization theory, sociology of science, and gender and work.

It is not unknown that the evolution of firm theories has been developed along a path paved by an increasing awareness of the organizational structure importance. From the early “neoclassical” conceptualizations that intended the firm as a rational actor whose aim is to produce that amount of output, given the inputs at its disposal and in accordance to technological or environmental constraints, which maximizes the revenue (see Boulding, 1942 for a past mid century state of the art discussion) to the knowledge based theory of the firm (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995; Nonaka & Toyama, 2005), which recognizes in the firm a knnowledge creating entity, with specific organizational capabilities (Teece, 1996; Teece & Pisano, 1998) that allow to sustaine competitive advantages. Tracing back a map of the theory of the firm evolution, taking into account the several perspectives adopted in the history of thought, would take the length of many books. Because of that a more fruitful strategy is circumscribing the focus of the description of the literature evolution to one flow connected to a crucial question about the nature of firm’s behaviour and about the determinants of competitive advantages. In so doing I adopt a perspective that allows me to consider the organizational structure of the firm as an element according to which the different theories can be discriminated. The approach adopted starts by considering the drawbacks of the standard neoclassical theory of the firm. Discussing the most influential theoretical approaches I end up with a close examination of the knowledge based perspective of the firm. Within this perspective the firm is considered as a knowledge creating entity that produce and mange knowledge (Nonaka, Toyama, & Nagata, 2000; Nonaka & Toyama, 2005). In a knowledge intensive organization, knowledge is clearly embedded for the most part in the human capital of the individuals that compose such an organization. In a knowledge based organization, the management, in order to cope with knowledge intensive productions, ought to develop and accumulate capabilities that shape the organizational forms in a way that relies on “cross-functional processes, extensive delayering and empowerment” (Foss 2005, p.12). This mechanism contributes to determine the absorptive capacity of the firm towards specific technologies and, in so doing, it also shape the technological trajectories along which the firm moves. After having recognized the growing importance of the firm’s organizational structure in the theoretical literature concerning the firm theory, the subsequent point of the analysis is that of providing an overview of the changes that have been occurred at micro level to the firm’s organization of production. The economic actors have to deal with challenges posed by processes of internationalisation and globalization, increased and increasing competitive pressure of less developed countries on low value added production activities, changes in technologies and increased environmental turbulence and volatility. As a consequence, it has been widely recognized that the main organizational models of production that fitted well in the 20th century are now partially inadequate and processes aiming to reorganize production activities have been widespread across several economies in recent years. Recently, the emergence of a “new” form of production organization has been proposed both by scholars, practitioners and institutions: the most prominent characteristic of such a model is its recognition of the importance of employees commitment and involvement. As a consequence it is characterized by a strong accent on the human resource management and on those practices that aim to widen the autonomy and responsibility of the workers as well as increasing their commitment to the organization (Osterman, 1994; 2000; Lynch, 2007). This “model” of production organization is by many defined as High Performance Work System (HPWS). Despite the increasing diffusion of workplace practices that may be inscribed within the concept of HPWS in western countries’ companies, it is an hazard, to some extent, to speak about the emergence of a “new organizational paradigm”. The discussion about organizational changes and the diffusion of HPWP the focus cannot abstract from a discussion about the industrial relations systems, with a particular accent on the employment relationships, because of their relevance, in the same way as production organization, in determining two major outcomes of the firm: innovation and economic performances. The argument is treated starting from the issue of the Social Dialogue at macro level, both in an European perspective and Italian perspective. The model of interaction between the social parties has repercussions, at micro level, on the employment relationships, that is to say on the relations between union delegates and management or workers and management. Finding economic and social policies capable of sustaining growth and employment within a knowledge based scenario is likely to constitute the major challenge for the next generation of social pacts, which are the main social dialogue outcomes. As Acocella and Leoni (2007) put forward the social pacts may constitute an instrument to trade wage moderation for high intensity in ICT, organizational and human capital investments. Empirical evidence, especially focused on the micro level, about the positive relation between economic growth and new organizational designs coupled with ICT adoption and non adversarial industrial relations is growing. Partnership among social parties may become an instrument to enhance firm competitiveness. The outcome of the discussion is the integration of organizational changes and industrial relations elements within a unified framework: the HPWS. Such a choice may help in disentangling the potential existence of complementarities between these two aspects of the firm internal structure on economic and innovative performance. With the third chapter starts the more original part of the thesis. The data utilized in order to disentangle the relations between HPWS practices, innovation and economic performance refer to the manufacturing firms of the Reggio Emilia province with more than 50 employees. The data have been collected through face to face interviews both to management (199 respondents) and to union representatives (181 respondents). Coupled with the cross section datasets a further data source is constituted by longitudinal balance sheets (1994-2004). Collecting reliable data that in turn provide reliable results needs always a great effort to which are connected uncertain results. Data at micro level are often subjected to a trade off: the wider is the geographical context to which the population surveyed belong the lesser is the amount of information usually collected (low level of resolution); the narrower is the focus on specific geographical context, the higher is the amount of information usually collected (high level of resolution). For the Italian case the evidence about the diffusion of HPWP and their effects on firm performances is still scanty and usually limited to local level studies (Cristini, et al., 2003). The thesis is also devoted to the deepening of an argument of particular interest: the existence of complementarities between the HPWS practices. It has been widely shown by empirical evidence that when HPWP are adopted in bundles they are more likely to impact on firm’s performances than when adopted in isolation (Ichniowski, Prennushi, Shaw, 1997). Is it true also for the local production system of Reggio Emilia? The empirical analysis has the precise aim of providing evidence on the relations between the HPWS dimensions and the innovative and economic performances of the firm. As far as the first line of analysis is concerned it must to be stressed the fundamental role that innovation plays in the economy (Geroski & Machin, 1993; Stoneman & Kwoon 1994, 1996; OECD, 2005; EC, 2002). On this point the evidence goes from the traditional innovations, usually approximated by R&D investment expenditure or number of patents, to the introduction and adoption of ICT, in the recent years (Brynjolfsson & Hitt, 2000). If innovation is important then it is critical to analyse its determinants. In this work it is hypothesised that organizational changes and firm level industrial relations/employment relations aspects that can be put under the heading of HPWS, influence the propensity to innovate in product, process and quality of the firm. The general argument may goes as follow: changes in production management and work organization reconfigure the absorptive capacity of the firm towards specific technologies and, in so doing, they shape the technological trajectories along which the firm moves; cooperative industrial relations may lead to smother adoption of innovations, because not contrasted by unions. From the first empirical chapter emerges that the different types of innovations seem to respond in different ways to the HPWS variables. The underlying processes of product, process and quality innovations are likely to answer to different firm’s strategies and needs. Nevertheless, it is possible to extract some general results in terms of the most influencing HPWS factors on innovative performance. The main three aspects are training coverage, employees involvement and the diffusion of bonuses. These variables show persistent and significant relations with all the three innovation types. The same do the components having such variables at their inside. In sum the aspects of the HPWS influence the propensity to innovate of the firm. At the same time, emerges a quite neat (although not always strong) evidence of complementarities presence between HPWS practices. In terns of the complementarity issue it can be said that some specific complementarities exist. Training activities, when adopted and managed in bundles, are related to the propensity to innovate. Having a sound skill base may be an element that enhances the firm’s capacity to innovate. It may enhance both the capacity to absorbe exogenous innovation and the capacity to endogenously develop innovations. The presence and diffusion of bonuses and the employees involvement also spur innovative propensity. The former because of their incentive nature and the latter because direct workers participation may increase workers commitment to the organizationa and thus their willingness to support and suggest inovations. The other line of analysis provides results on the relation between HPWS and economic performances of the firm. There have been a bulk of international empirical studies on the relation between organizational changes and economic performance (Black & Lynch 2001; Zwick 2004; Janod & Saint-Martin 2004; Huselid 1995; Huselid & Becker 1996; Cappelli & Neumark 2001), while the works aiming to capture the relations between economic performance and unions or industrial relations aspects are quite scant (Addison & Belfield, 2001; Pencavel, 2003; Machin & Stewart, 1990; Addison, 2005). In the empirical analysis the integration of the two main areas of the HPWS represent a scarcely exploited approach in the panorama of both national and international empirical studies. As remarked by Addison “although most analysis of workers representation and employee involvement/high performance work practices have been conducted in isolation – while sometimes including the other as controls – research is beginning to consider their interactions” (Addison, 2005, p.407). The analysis conducted exploiting temporal lags between dependent and covariates, possibility given by the merger of cross section and panel data, provides evidence in favour of the existence of HPWS practices impact on firm’s economic performance, differently measured. Although it does not seem to emerge robust evidence on the existence of complementarities among HPWS aspects on performances there is evidence of a general positive influence of the single practices. The results are quite sensible to the time lags, inducing to hypothesize that time varying heterogeneity is an important factor in determining the impact of organizational changes on economic performance. The implications of the analysis can be of help both to management and local level policy makers. Although the results are not simply extendible to other local production systems it may be argued that for contexts similar to the Reggio Emilia province, characterized by the presence of small and medium enterprises organized in districts and by a deep rooted unionism, with strong supporting institutions, the results and the implications here obtained can also fit well. However, a hope for future researches on the subject treated in the present work is that of collecting good quality information over wider geographical areas, possibly at national level, and repeated in time. Only in this way it is possible to solve the Gordian knot about the linkages between innovation, performance, high performance work practices and industrial relations.

The globalization has converted the world into a small global village; a village in which there is an ever high stream of contentions and competitions between organizations. In this scenario the most effective and beneficial maneuver for any organization is to create innovative ways in conducting business. This thesis deals with the role of leadership in the phenomena of organizational change and innovation. The leader as a person in charge or as a change agent can manage an organization or the process of organizational change more effectively and successfully if h/she is capable and competent. Rapid technological advancements, high expectations of customers, and ever changing market situations have compelled organizations to incessantly reassess and reevaluate how they work and to understand, adopt and implement changes in their business model in response of changing trends. Organizational change is a demand of the day, and needed for organizations to survive. Organizations now a days, well understand the importance of the matter, and are serious to prepare themselves not only the current, but also for the future trends to get the level of sustainable success, but Along with all of its implications and importance the process of organizational change is also a very complex and challenging.  Research shows that 70 percent of organizational changes fail to get their goals. As leadership has a central role in evolution and cultivating an organization, the process of organizational change demands a very effective and highly competent leadership that is well capable to perceive the most desirable shape of an organization and address the issue of organizational change in most appropriate way. The analysis of literature reviewed and the results of real life cases of organizations which are studied for this thesis shows, that a leadership with the competencies of “Vision” and “Innovative Approach” along with other characteristics can prove more effective to conclude the complex phenomena of organizational change with success. Further the successful organizational change can leads to innovation for organization, which is the key of long term success and sustainability. This thesis as a result proposed a model which is derived from the leadership competencies, organizational change, and sustainable success and innovation literature. This model expresses relationship between successful organizational change and leadership on the basis of h/her characteristics, which are ‘Vision” and “Innovative Approach”. With the help of proposed model this relationship can be viewed graphically.

An approach to organizations which views them as social constructions provides new insights into the phenomenon of organizational decline. In this view, organizations are seen not as objective entities, but, rather, are viewed as products of the human beings who comprise their membership. This view also sees human beings as actors whose behavior is governed not only by rationality, but also by unconscious processes. Any full understanding of organizational action requires an appreciation of the extent to which human beings are governed by the dynamics of the psyche, which operates outside of conscious awareness. An approach to organizational decline which encompasses these assumptions examines how the members of the organization consciously and! or unconsciously collaborate to create the conditions of decline. This research begins with a psychoanalytic model of human behavior, Bowen Theory, which explains how individuals function within relationship systems such as families and organizations. The theory also examines how dysfunction is created within those systems when the relationship process becomes ineffective or dysfunctional. Using the case study method, the dissertation describes how the decline experienced by three distinct organizations can be understood as a consequence of the relationship process created and sustained by the participants in each of the organization's human system.
Ph. D.

This research investigated technology change management at Bridgestone/Firestone in the Port Elizabeth metropole. From a manufacturing organisation’s point of view it is clear that technology change is a constant force that determines competitiveness. The thesis outlines the specific requirements needed for utilising the concept of technology change management at Bridgestone/Firestone. The literature survey was aimed at placing the concept of technology change management and the correct organisational structure and organisational focus points in perspective to ensure successful technology change and its implementation at Bridgestone/Firestone. The purpose of the empirical study was to test managements perseptions of technology change management at Bridgestone/Firestone and to contribute useful information to the organisation. From the findings improvements and recommendations were suggested as guidelines for any tyre manufacturer to follow to improve technology change management. The empirical study results show that there is room for improvement. The responses to statements outlined areas that need improvement and those that do not according to the views of Bridgestone/Firestone’s management.

This thesis reconstructs the concept of International Non-Governmental Organization (INGO) accountability to beneficiaries through the development of a strategic model for INGO accountability to beneficiaries. It works through the history and arguments surrounding the rise of the debate around whether INGOs should be held accountable to their beneficiary populations. Unique definitions are developed for the terms and concepts related to this topic and a framework for understanding the strategic model for INGO accountability to beneficiaries is outlined: Accountable to whom? Accountable for what? Accountable how? A practical example of an internal assessment for measuring an INGO's accountability to beneficiaries is examined, analyzing data from Mercy Corps' internal accountability to beneficiaries survey conducted in 2010. This thesis defines accountability to beneficiaries as the process of justifying and being responsible for the manner and results of one's actions to any individual or group who is a member of the society whose interests the project or program is intended to promote. The main conclusions from this thesis are that the traditional model should be expanded to be more strategic and include a) a broader beneficiary and stakeholder population who may be affected, either positively or negatively, by the actions of an INGO, b) the actions of all members of the organization, and c) the enduring impacts of their work over time. Accountability to beneficiaries is a concept that can be applied to all INGO projects in a way that requires minimal resources and will ultimately improve the quality of the services delivered.

The Western Australian State Government’s local government reform programme, initiated in February 2009, provides the context for this research. Nedlands, a local government in Perth’s western suburbs, resolved to participate in this reform programme and signed a Regional Transition Group Agreement with Subiaco local government in August 2010. The purpose of the Regional Transition Group was to prepare a business plan to investigate the potential benefits and viability of a Nedlands and Subiaco amalgamation. Whilst the local government of Nedlands is currently investigating the more operational and technical aspects of local government reform in the merger feasibility study, this research focused on employee readiness, more intangible but no less important. The difficulties of achieving success with organisational change initiatives are well documented. A number of models of planned organisational change have been developed to address these difficulties and support successful change and are outlined. This research highlights the value of the first phase of planned change, namely readiness for change, where organizational members are prepared for and become supporters of change. It also highlights the importance of change communication with respect to developing employee readiness. Definitions and some of the dimensions of ‘readiness for change’ are outlined. The five dimensions of readiness for change - discrepancy, appropriateness, principal support, efficacy and valence - provide the ‘lens’ through which readiness for change at Nedlands is explored. From this perspective, the documentation communicating local government reform at Nedlands was analysed. These dimensions were also used to ascertain, from the perspective of the Nedlands' managers, their level of readiness and the readiness of the employees of Nedlands for local government reform. The findings suggest that Nedlands local government has not consciously planned to ‘ready’ employees for local government reform. A number of management recommendations are made to strengthen the change readiness message communicated by the Nedlands local government and to support the development of the Nedlands employees’ readiness for change.

A central concern of this thesis is the expansion, distribution and control of 'non-standard' employment in Namibia since independence. The employment relationship has assumed various historical forms under capitalism, each of which corresponds to a specific mode of regulation with distinct structural dynamics. An attempt is made to extend the regulation approach 'downwards' to account for the problem of order in the workplace and to place the employment relationship within its own regulatory framework. The point of departure in this study of the dynamics of labour regulation is the contradictory nature of labour's incorporation, allocation, control and reproduction within the labour market. The employment relationship is never only an economic exchange, but is also mediated through an institutional framework that connects the processes of production and social reproduction, and regulates conflicting interests inside and outside the workplace. This relationship, as critical realists have pointed out, is a product of the indeterminate intersection of several generative structures. The roots of these generative structures can be traced to three sets of social processes: the processes of production and the structuring of labour demand; the processes of social reproduction and the structuring of labour supply; and the forces of regulation. Non-standard employment is viewed as a particular social and spatio-temporal 'fix' for the various regulatory dilemmas generated by the standard employment relationship. This conception underscores the fact that a national system of labour regulation decisively shapes the conditions under which employers are able to casualise a part of their workforce. The differential experience across national boundaries suggests that analytical space needs to be provided for systems of labour market regulation which may either accentuate or moderate pressures for casualisation. Segmentation on the demand side of the labour market is explored through an analysis of the types of non-standard jobs created in different economic sectors. The various forms of employment 'flexibility' tend to vary in importance according to the specific manner in which a firm chooses to compete. Consequently, non-standard employees are distributed in a complex and uneven manner across industrial sectors and the occupational hierarchy, and face a diverse range of possibilities and liabilities that shape their levels and forms of participation in the labour market. By counteracting the homogenisation effects of labour law and collective bargaining, the mobilisation of cheap and disposable labour through non-standard employment contracts allows employers much greater discretion in constructing the wage-effort bargain. With non-standard employment, social and statutory regulation is weak or underdeveloped and hence managerial control is autocratic, with a significant contractual component. Although the changing social composition of the workforce associated with employment 'flexibility' poses serious challenges to the modes of organisation that have long served the labour movement, trade unions in Namibia and elsewhere have been slow to respond to the threats of casualisation. Of concern here, is the extent to which attempts to promote the security of existing union members is compatible with attempts to organise non-standard employees. This thesis shows that the unions have developed a complex amalgam of strategies in their efforts to regulate non-standard employment relationships.

Organizational change and development (OCD) has been studied by researchers to identify the effectiveness of change initiatives. Because of the broad scope of interventions in OCD, these studies have covered a range of areas including multiple interventions and the methodological rigor used by researchers. However, few have looked at organizational versus individual change within an organization, to examine whether individual change is more effective than organizational change. The purpose of this study is to determine if organizational change occurs in a top down or bottom up manner. A meta-analysis was conducted using 238 field experiments. Each study was coded for intervention and organizational outcome and for individual or organizational level variables. Effect sizes were calculated for each study, each level, and each level by intervention and outcome measure. Results indicate that while OCD interventions overall had a moderate effect size, the level of intervention or outcome was not a moderating variable.

Over recent years, the study of industrial districts, and inter-organizational relations has become a major theme of interest in network research. Theories characterized by an increased inter-relatedness between heterogeneous actors and knowledge fields point to a new form of inter-organizational relationship development. This is basicly based on the idea of creating trust between firms to increase their chances of success and to keep pace with the development of all relevant technologies. In this thesis, we present some data from a research project we have conducted in OSTIM industrial district, Ankara, Turkey. First, we present the theoretical perspectives which appear relevant to such investigation, and which aims at developing a better a network model of the inter-organizational relations of district firms, as well as trust, informal contracts and centrality issues, particularly as regards technological innovation and technology transfer of firms, respectively. Moreover, the evidence presented in this thesis is unequivocal in noting that long term inter-organizational relations and trust may be a necessary and a sufficent condition for a small and medium sized enterprise (SME) to take its place in the center of a complex web of inter-organizational relations as seen in an industrial district.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the variables associated with the sustainability of Person Centered Planning over time by Support Coordinators working in an agency that provided services to individuals with developmental disabilities. Identifying these factors that positively or negatively affect the implementation and longterm sustainability of Person Centered Planning was an important outcome of the current study. The study was designed to investigate the following areas: (a) the current level of use of Person Centered Planning by Support Coordinators in the agency; (b) the variables associated with the degree to which Person Centered Planning has been sustained; (c) strategies for ensuring sustainability of Person Centered Planning; and (d) the agency's demonstration that its values are consonant with the philosophy and goals of Person Centered Planning. The research in this study was qualitative in nature, utilizing questionnaires, interviews and document reviews. Fourteen Support coordinators and five administrators employed by the agency comprised the population in the present study. Support coordinators who participated in this study were asked to complete a questionnaire related to specific demographics, as well as a questionnaire that illustrated the individual's perception of his/her use of Person Centered Planning. Both the administrators and the support coordinators were interviewed. The interviews were semistructured, guided by a set of questions, which provided consistent parameters around the areas for discussion. The review of documents included a portion of the Individual Service Plans completed during the years 2000--2001, and a review of the agency's mission statement and other planning documents. From the review of the ISP, a paucity of documentation exists from which to corroborate the numbers of support coordinators that self-reported they are either using Person Centered Planning or completing ISPs, which are person-centered. The results of the study provided evidence that Person Centered Planning has not been sustained as an overall organizational change within the agency under study.

      Organizational change and game theory were separately investigated over time. Due to lack of scientific research on the relationships of those two fields of knowledge, an investigation of the game theoretic applications in managing change was performed in this research. Game theoretic applications were structured concerning the analytical use of game theory, strategic formulation with game theory and equilibrium analysis. By a qualitative flexible research method, main problematic areas of organizational change were identified with suitable game theoretic applications. Those problem areas are: making cooperation and coalition in change, group dynamic difficulties and the problem of incentive rewards. In each problem area, game theoretic solutions were discussed to help managers to make better decisions. Four mechanisms were inferred to support the game theoretic analysis of change management problems. Those mechanisms are: sub games, practical games, specific modeling and behavioral studies of games. Finally, an instructional framework was developed to conclude findings and illuminate the game theoretic approach in organizational change.

This study seeks both to describe and account for the patterns of industrial relations which have emerged in the UK coal industry since privatisation in 1994. In doing so, it also aims to address some of the wider questions concerning the relationship between ownership and industrial relations. A series of hypotheses are advanced concerning how changes in ownership might affect industrial relations within the industry, and whether such changes would have positive or negative implications for organised labour. A case study approach is utilised to analyse labour relations developments at a number of collieries, and it is shown that the industrial relations strategies adopted by management within the new coal enterprises have had a determining effect upon the patterns of labour relations within the privati sed industry. This study also demonstrates that the emergent pattern of labour relations in the privatised industry is characterised by both continuity and change. However, whilst continuity with the patterns of labour relations established during the final decade of public ownership is shown to have had negative implications for organised labour within the industry, the changes associated with privatisation are demonstrated to have been a more ambivalent force. Change has, in different contexts, had some positive implications for organised labour, but in the majority of cases, the implications for labour have been negative. Overall, therefore, this study concludes that privatisation has had a significant influence upon industrial relations within the coal industry, and that organised labour has been detrimentally affected by these developments.

"Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration from the Naval Postgraduate School, June 2009."
Advisor(s): Rendon, Rene G. ; Yoder, Cory. "June 2009." "MBA professional report"--Cover. Description based on title screen as viewed on July 13, 2009. Author(s) subject terms: FISC, Contracting, Contract Management Maturity Model, COMFISCS, NAVSUP Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-89). Also available in print.

This is a history of the mechanisation programme in the British postal service in the 1960s and 1970s, providing a record of the first six years of the network restructuring project known as the Letter Post Plan. This involved the introduction of automated sorting and coding machines and the creation of large, mechanised sorting offices. This brought fundamental changes to mail operations and was the subject of much disagreement and discussion within the industry. The key groups involved were unions, management and engineers, and their roles are considered through planning, negotiation and implementation of the plan. The central theme of the thesis is the interrelation of new technology and industrial relations. The main issues addressed include: the reasons for commissioning the plan in 1969; the preparations made for organisational change including R&D, financial modelling, training and consultation; the effects of the political and economic troubles of the 1970s; the introduction of new consultation arrangements following an embargo on new technology by the Union of Post Office Workers in 1972; and the course of negotiations which led to agreement upon a revised plan in 1975. The Post Office has been criticised over the introduction of mechanisation in this period, including charges of naive management, inadequate engineering and union obstruction. The limited attention the subject has received from historians has echoed this. This thesis contests this interpretation by arguing that the Post Office deserves more credit for the design and implementation of the plan, and that its problems were largely caused by external political and economic forces. It offers a detailed account of the workings of the postal service and the political and technical challenges faced in changing its operations, documenting several progressive and constructive aspects of this process. This therefore contributes to a historiographical reinterpretation of 1970s industrial politics and questions the negative portrayal of the nationalised industries in this period. The research is based primarily on the archival holdings of the British Postal Museum & Archive in London, including policy papers and board minutes, scientific and technical reports, union newspapers and publications, diagrams, photographs and correspondence. Other resources include the Modern Record Centre in Warwick, the National Archives, the works of modern postal historians and literature in the history of science, technology, labour and twentieth century public enterprise.

Here Be Dragons: How Global Business Executives Navigate Change and Paradox Globalization has resulted in increased international trade, enhanced information flows, diasporas, and a greater dependence on the global economy, as well as dramatically changing the context in which leaders operate today. Studies show that there is a shortage of global leaders and that most organizations are concerned that this lack of global leadership skills may threaten corporate performance and continued business growth. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how senior executives in globally integrated business enterprises navigate change, as viewed through the lens of paradox theory. This exploratory study employed a basic qualitative design. Data were collected from 23 global executives, working for 20 unique global enterprises, in 12 different functions, across 18 different industries, through a preinterview participant qualifying profile, an in-depth semistructured interview, and follow-up verification.

The key findings of this study build on existing research and show that (1) executives who are global leaders are contextual leaders; (2) global leadership roles are inherently paradoxical because they balance both task complexities and relationship complexities; (3) for these global executives, change is continuous and contextual; (4) paradox is the process that global executives use to navigate continuous change; (5) global executives are savvy sensemakers; (6) the global leadership capabilities to navigate paradox can be learned, and global leaders are constant and agile learners; and (7) to navigate change, executives who are global leaders oscillate/balance constantly by navigating paradox + sensemaking + learning. The study concludes with implications for theory and practice, along with recommendations for further research.

Volumes of empirical studies have focused on leader-member exchange (LMX) theory since its inception. Few qualitative studies have investigated LMX behavior in the context of Chinese organizations. To address this gap in literature, an in-depth examination of LMX behaviors was conducted, adopting the four-dimensional LMX- Comm model. The study focused on the communication topics, tangible behaviors, and communication channels present in leader-member mutual interactions. Eleven small group interviews with three employees from organizations in ten cities were conducted. Through thematic analysis of the interview data, this study examined LMX behaviors and communication channels. Themes were investigated according to the four LMX dimensions: work communication exchange, social communication exchange, tangible work exchange, and tangible social exchange. Several work communication exchange themes emerged from the data, including performance discussion, and decision-making involvement. In the social communication dimension, topics related to family, friends, asset management, entertainment activities, and hobbies were identified. Tangible work exchange behaviors were found in leader-member interactions, such as mutual helping behavior and compensatory time-off for overtime work. Participating in social and entertainment activities, exchanging gifts and red envelopes, and helping one another with personal matters, were also identified as tangible social exchange themes. Negative topics in communication exchange, including gossips and complaints, emerged from the data. In addition to LMX, several one-way behaviors, such as helping subordinates to map out a career plan, also were identified, contributing to a clearer understanding of the leader-member relationship. Additionally, this study looked at the communication channels used by the leader-member dyad. Social media and face-to-face communication were found to be the most frequently used communication channels. The findings of this study can be applied to leadership training and be used to guide future scale development and other quantitative studies surrounding the construct of LMX

This thesis examines how a range of companies from the UK's defence industrial base were affected by and responded to the end of the Cold War. Specifically it examines the relationship between an organization's capabilities and behaviour to the character of its operating environment. It considers both how organizational capabilities are shaped by the operating environment and the extent to which organizational strategy is shaped and constrained by environmental factors. The research draws broadly on both evolutionary economics and contingency theory, which both consider a firm's operating environment to be central in shaping its behaviour. To represent the heterogeneity of the defence industrial base the aerospace, electronics and vehicles sectors were examined, with a range of companies from prime contractors to component suppliers being examined within each sector. The research found that the capabilities of the companies examined were shaped by the character of their operating environment. However the character of the operating environment varied substantially across the defence industrial base, resulting in the capabilities of companies also varying greatly. For example, the market and technological character of the operating environment for the prime contractors was substantially different from that of the component suppliers, resulting in them possessing very different organizational capabilities. The capabilities of the companies examined were also found to be specific and cumulative in nature, limiting their relevance to other market environments, thus making profound organizational change difficult to accomplish. One of the most noticeable findings was the similarity in the strategies adopted by most of the companies examined. The strategies adopted did not involve diversifying out of defence markets, instead concentrating on modifying their organizational structures and operating practices in responses to the changes in their defence markets.

Rapid changes and increased competitiveness in business environments, together with greater demands by employees for improvements in the quality of their work lives, make it necessary for organisations to review their operating styles and functions. Many companies have found an answer in Organisation Development (OD) which focuses on ways in which people associated with organisations learn to diagnose and solve those problems which limit organisational effectiveness. The present study evaluates the progress of an OD intervention underway in an organisation in Zimbabwe. A formative evaluation is undertaken during an OD intervention. It is designed to assess the change effort's progress in such a way that steps can subsequently be taken to correct, modify or enhance such aspects of the intervention as may be determined by the evaluation. The study begins with a review of the company's original and revised Mission Statements as well as the present and last two sets of corporate three-year plans. These documents inform the construction of an interview guide. Individual interviews are then used to ascertain attitudes of respondents to the OD intervention and the changes it is bringing about. In addition the interviews are used to gauge the degree of commitment of respondents to the intervention. All the senior managers in the organisation are interviewed as well as the holding company's chief executive and the external consultant facilitating the intervention. The study records fundamental changes taking place in the attitudes of top managers and the first signs of an impact of these attitude changes on the formulation of company plans. Management styles and the culture of the organisation also show some change and influence on routine business operations. In addition there are early indications of an alteration of behaviour at other levels in the organisation. Business outcomes are improving and it is proposed that the benefits are due to fortuitous market developments assisted to an extent by the culture and attitude changes brought about by the OD intervention.

This poststructuralist research into managerial subjectivity follows ten senior managers’ experience, during significant organizational restructuring in the National Health Service. Located in the North of England the managers were interviewed three times during an eighteen-month period. An autoethnographic component is integral to the study; this recognises the researcher was a practising manager undergoing the same organizational change, whilst researching the field. Judith Butler’s theories provide the principle theoretical framework for the study. Whilst the managers narrated a fantasy of having a ‘true’ and coherent self, the research illustrated how fragile, fleeting and temporary each managerial self is and how passionately attached to their managerial subjectivity (despite how painful) they were. Emotion is presented as inextricably tied up with gender performativity and managerial subjectivity; despite best efforts the emotional ‘dirt’ of organizations cannot be ordered away; there is a constant seepage and spillage of emotion – as illustrated in the vignettes and profiled in the Butlerian deconstruction. During organizational change there was a fear of a social (organizational) death and even the most senior of managers were profoundly vulnerable. This fear and vulnerability heightened in contact with others perceived as more powerful (in critical conversations and interviews). Failure to receive the desired recognition and the risk of being organizationally unintelligible compounded this vulnerability and triggered recurrent, unpredictable patterns of loss, ek-stasis and unravelling of the managerial self. This acute vulnerability during restructuring anticipates and therefore (re) enacts a Machiavellian discourse, one that excuses unethical behaviour and relations as a ‘necessary evil’.

Most companies lack the ability to implement organizational change; over 70% of Organization Change Initiatives (OCIs) fail. This inability has negative economic and survival implications for companies. OCIs must be effective and rapid to match the high pace of change in the business environment. Transformational leadership (TL) has been linked to successful OCIs through its positive influence on employee commitment and reduced resistance to change, yet little research has been done to identify its association with OCI implementation speed. This study tested TL and change theory and their association with change implementation. It sought to determine if a relationship exists between TL behavior and OCI implementation time. Archival survey and change data from 98 domestic and international manufacturing plants were used to examine relationships between employees' perceptions of leadership communication and trustworthiness and the speed of change. Hierarchical linear regression was used to determine if these behaviors could predict the change speed of an OCI. The study confirmed the association between effective leadership communication and employee trust in leadership, but it found no significant relationship between TL behavior and the speed of change. This finding is inconsistent with the majority of TL literature; however, companies may still benefit from exploring the potential of the study's theoretical concepts to help them improve the speed of organizational change. The limitations of the study were also noted as a potential contributor to the lack of significant findings, and recommendations are offered to reduce validity risk for similar studies in the future.

This poststructuralist research into managerial subjectivity follows ten senior managers’ experience, during significant organizational restructuring in the National Health Service. Located in the North of England the managers were interviewed three times during an eighteen-month period. An autoethnographic component is integral to the study; this recognises the researcher was a practising manager undergoing the same organizational change, whilst researching the field. Judith Butler’s theories provide the principle theoretical framework for the study. Whilst the managers narrated a fantasy of having a ‘true’ and coherent self, the research illustrated how fragile, fleeting and temporary each managerial self is and how passionately attached to their managerial subjectivity (despite how painful) they were. Emotion is presented as inextricably tied up with gender performativity and managerial subjectivity; despite best efforts the emotional ‘dirt’ of organizations cannot be ordered away; there is a constant seepage and spillage of emotion – as illustrated in the vignettes and profiled in the Butlerian deconstruction. During organizational change there was a fear of a social (organizational) death and even the most senior of managers were profoundly vulnerable. This fear and vulnerability heightened in contact with others perceived as more powerful (in critical conversations and interviews). Failure to receive the desired recognition and the risk of being organizationally unintelligible compounded this vulnerability and triggered recurrent, unpredictable patterns of loss, ek-stasis and unravelling of the managerial self. This acute vulnerability during restructuring anticipates and therefore (re) enacts a Machiavellian discourse, one that excuses unethical behaviour and relations as a ‘necessary evil’.

This dissertation explores the extent to which organizational and institutional factors continue to influence the economic and safety performance of nuclear power plants. Although the importance of non-technological factors during the developmental period of nuclear power has been recognized after the fact, most contemporary research fails to recognize the continued importance of organizational and institutional factors for ongoing nuclear power plant operations. Moreover, a second generation of advanced nuclear reactors is now imminent but technological advances will not suffice to prevent many of the mistakes of this first era of nuclear power. The lessons learned from our experience with the current generation of nuclear power plants must include more than technological improvements. As yet a systematic investigation of the impact of organizational and institutional factors on nuclear power plant performance has not been conducted. This dissertation progresses us much further toward accomplishing this task, although much additional research is still needed.

There is a dual accountability accepted by top executives of large multi-business firms (MBFs) to both consistently deliver performance in the short term and cultivate scalable opportunities for future growth, which requires that they be able to implement both evolutionary and revolutionary change. Researchers have defined this capability as organizational ambidexterity (OA) and deemed it a crucial requirement for every organization. Literature in the field of organizational ambidexterity (OA) describes the need to simultaneously orchestrate attention and activities along two dimensions of ambidexterity: exploitation and exploration. This dissertation peels back the layers in MBFs to generate a deeper understanding of OA in the MBF, by answering three research questions, using a mixed method approach-qualitative study followed by quantitative study: (1) What is an appropriate specification of OA in an MBF? (2) Are there differences in exploration and exploitation across the three levels within the MBF? and (3) Is there a relationship between exploration and exploitation and MBF performance at each of the three levels within the MBF? Qualitative Study 1 was conducted in December 2017, to investigate and confirm the appropriateness of the three-level operationalization of OA in MBFs. The data comprised eleven semi-structured interviews with senior executives that serve or have served as independent board directors (IBDs), chief executive officers (CEOs) or business unit general managers (BUGMs). The executives were able to articulate the existence of and differences in exploitation and exploration roles and activities at each of the three levels. Study 2 was conducted during June 2018, designed to test five sets of hypotheses. The study used a qualified panel of senior executives to generate a representative sample of respondents in each of three roles: IBDs, CEOs, and BUGMs. Data was collected through an online survey instrument, distributed to the panelists by Qualtrics and Centiment. Completed surveys resulted in a sample of 256 MBFs. Two separate one-way ANOVAs and Tukey post hoc means comparison tests were conducted; the results find significant differences in exploration at the board, corporate and business unit levels. Likewise, findings support statistically significant differences in exploitation at the board, corporate and business unit levels. For the third research question, exploration and exploitation were individually regressed against two measures of MBF performance, using IBM SPSS 25 software. At each of the three levels (board, corporate and business unit), statistically significant relationships were found between at least one of the ambidexterity dimensions and MBF performance, providing partial support of the hypotheses.

Tourism has been acknowledged for the past decade as one of the leading driving forces for economic development in post-apartheid South Africa (Nel & Binns, 2002:189). The objective of this study was to investigate the determinants of corporate entrepreneurship for firms in adventure tourism sector in the Eastern Cape Province; South Africa. The population for the study were firms registered with the Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism Portal (NMBT) and the Dirty Boot Adventure South Africa. Convenience sampling method was used. Data was collected through the use of a self-administered questionnaire. For the purpose of data collection, one hundred and fourteen questions were identified through a thorough review of the literature. Principal component analysis was used to reduce the one hundred and fourteen questions to twelve factors namely: flat organisational structure, management support for intrapreneurship, vision and strategic intent, rewards / reinforcement and sponsorship, innovativeness and creativity, multi-disciplined teamwork and diversity, entrepreneurial leadership, resources and time, strong customer orientation, continuous cross-functional learning, tolerance of risk, mistakes and failure and work discretion and discretionary time. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation, T-test and ANOVA. Cohen`s (d-value) was used to measure the effect size of differences for t-statistics. The Cronbach’s alpha was used to test the reliability of the scales. The results showed significant positive relationships between the twelve factors and corporate entrepreneurship. Recommendations included an integrated framework that could assist adventure tour operator to establish and sustain corporate entrepreneurship within this sector.

With the accelerated process of political and socio-economic transformation in South Africa, revolutionary organisational change has become a given in contemporary South African business life (Human & Horwitz, 1992). For revolutionary organisational change to succeed in South Africa, middle managers who represent the 'cement' of the organisation, need to adjust at the individual level. However, the literature on organisational change remains curiously silent about individual adjustment (Ashford, 1988). The goals of the research were firstly, to recount the middle manager's perceptions and experiences of revolutionary organisational change. Secondly, to detail the psychological re-