Strategic orientations in practice:Exploring the strategic belief structures of line-managers embedded in practice

Recently researchers have started to investigate the cognitive strategic orientations of individual top managers and have pointed out these may be key in determining the direction and success of their organizations in terms of performance, but they have been unable to effectively operationalize this notion in empirical research and this is holding up knowledge development. To make a contribution that helps overcome this limitation a theoretical framework is developed which specifies the different possible cognitive strategic orientations of top managers as well as those of managers at lower organizational levels involved in the strategy process. This theoretical framework is investigated in the empirical phase of the study into strategic orientations in practice. Additional contributions to knowledge of strategic orientation are made in three main domains. Firstly, current knowledge of strategic orientation is largely limited to analysis at the level of the firm whereas there is a lack of understanding of any relationships with practice at lower organizational levels. The exploratory research undertaken for this thesis contributes to new knowledge of different rational, developmental and interactive strategic orientations of front-line managers and this contributes to a cognitive explanation for emergent strategy linked to strategy processes embedded in practice. In theorising the presence of different strategic orientations in practice the discussion highlights the importance of network and spatial embeddedness within enacted environments. Secondly, a contribution to further knowledge of the links between strategy processes and the content of strategies within a retail context is made. The research highlights different strategy processes used in practice by retail front-line managers in a branch network of stores and these are linked to consequences such as different objectives, performance expectations and the fulfilment of personal goals. Thirdly, a contribution to research methodology is made by addressing problems associated with the comparison of cognitive maps.

A comparative analysis of cultural value orientations of Polish and Turkish employees:implications for international human resource management

This study empirically compares and contrasts the cultural value orientations of employees from Poland and Turkey by testing the compatibility of their values in three stages through seven cultural dimensions. The first phase of the study deals with the assessment of inter-country cultural value differences; the second phase investigates the intra-country cultural dynamics between selected demographic groups; and the third phase examines the inter-country cultural differences among the selected demographic groups of employees. The research has been conducted adopting the Maznevski, DiStephano, and Nason's (1995) version of cultural perspectives questionnaire with a sample of 744 (548 Polish and 196 Turkish) respondents. The results show significant cultural differences between Poland and Turkey, a presence of cultural dynamics among certain demographic groups within the country, and a mixture of convergence and divergence in the value systems of certain demographic groups both within and between the two nation(s). The research findings convey important messages to international human resource strategists in order for them to employ an effective and rational employment policy and business negotiation approach(es) to effectively operate in these countries. It also highlights that diversity of cultural values not only requires viewing each of them through cultural dimensions at a macro-level with a cross-country reference, but also requires monitoring their dynamics at the micro-level with reference to controlled demographic groups. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.

Comparison of a preferred and actual method of selecting and implementing computerised control systems in a manufacturing environment

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Preferred orientation in 18/10, 18/12 and 18/14 chromium/nickel steels and its relation to tensile and press forming properties

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Stress-induced platelet formation in silicon:a molecular dynamics study

The effect of stress on vacancy cluster configurations in silicon is examined using molecular dynamics. At zero pressure, the shape and stability of the vacancy clusters agrees with previous atomistic results. When stress is applied the orientation of small planar clusters changes to reduce the strain energy. The preferred orientation for the vacancy clusters under stress agrees with the experimentally observed orientations of hydrogen platelets in the high stress regions of hydrogen implanted silicon. These results suggest a theory for hydrogen platelet formation. © 2005 The American Physical Society.

Cultural value orientations of the former communist countries:a gender-based analysis

This study examines the cultural value orientations of employees working in major industrial and commercial centers of six ex-communist Central Eastern European Countries (CEECs) and Euro-Asian countries, in particular the former Soviet Republics (FSRs). The analysis is based on a questionnaire survey administered with 1052 respondents. The study tests a number of hypotheses regarding the cultural orientations of the sample populations, using gender as the core variable. The study reports cultural dimensions on which the female respondents clearly differ from their male counterparts, and there is more cultural homogeneity among males than among females within the CEECs and FSRs. Furthermore, the findings show similar cultural patterns emerging between the Czech Republic, former East Germany (FEG), and Poland on the one hand and Georgia and Uzbekistan on the other, whereas Russia culturally stands between the two groups. The research also highlights the basis of cultural aspects from which both national and managerial cultures of each research country are emerging. It brings to light the methods employed by management toward human resources in these countries, and also identifies key issues for overseas operators currently undertaking a business or planning to establish one in these countries. © 2011 Taylor & Francis.

A hazai kis - és középvállalatok teljesítményét befolyásoló stratégiai orientációk (The effect of strategic orientations on the performance of Hungarian SMEs)

A szerzők 300 magyar kis- és középvállalatot (KKV) tartalmazó mintán vizsgálják a különböző stratégiai orientációk teljesítményre gyakorolt hatását. Ismeretes, hogy a gazdasági környezet változása erősítheti (stimulálhatja), illetve korlátozhatja e kapcsolat szorosságát. Az eredmények alapján elmondható, hogy a modellben alkalmazott stratégiai orientációk közül elsősorban a vállalkozói orientáció és mérsékelt módon az ügyfélkapcsolati orientáció hat pozitívan a KKV-k teljesítményére. Megerősítést nyert az a sejtés, hogy a piaci és az innovációra irányuló orientáció akkor értékelődik fel, ha a környezetben turbulens (gyakran előre jelezhetetlen) erők hatnak. / === / The authors examine the effect of different strategic orientations on business performance on a sample of 300 small and medium sized enterprises (SME) in Hungary. It is widely known that the competitive environment might stimulate or hinder the relationship between strategic orientations and business performance. The results show that out of six strategic orientations the entrepreneurial orientation has the strongest effect on SME performance. Customer relationship orientation is also responsible for the performance development of SMEs, although to a lesser extent. Furthermore, it has been reinforced that market and innovation orientation takes its importance if there are turbulent forces in the environment.

Effect of water on olivine single crystals plasticity, deformed under high pressure and high temperature

The Earth's upper mantle, mainly composed of olivine, is seismically anisotropic. Seismic anisotropy attenuation has been observed at 220km depth. Karato et al. (1992) attributed this attenuation to a transition between two deformation mechanisms, from dislocation creep above 220km to diffusion creep below 220km, induced by a change in water content. Couvy (2005) and Mainprice et al. (2005) predicted a change in Lattice Preferred Orientation induced by pressure, which comes from a change of slip system, from [100] slip to [001] slip, and is responsible for the seismic anisotropy attenuation. Raterron et al. (2007) ran single crystal deformation experiments under anhydrous conditions and observed that the slip system transition occurs around 8GPa, which corresponds to a depth of 260Km. Experiments were done to quantify the effects of water on olivine single crystals deformed using D-DIA press and synchrotron beam. Deformations were carried out in uniaxial compression along [110]c, [011]c, and [101]c, crystallographic directions, at pressure ranging from 4 to 8GPa and temperature between 1373 and 1473K. Talc sleeves about the annulus of the single crystals were used as source of water in the assembly. Stress and specimen strain rates were calculated by in-situ X-ray diffraction and time resolved imaging, respectively. By direct comparison of single crystals strain rates, we observed that [110]c deforms faster than [011]c below 5GPa. However above 6GPa [011]c deforms faster than [110]c. This revealed that [100](010) is the dominant slip system below 5GPa, and above 6GPa [001](010) becomes dominant. According to our results, the slip system transition, which is induced by pressure, occurs at 6GPa. Water influences the pressure where the switch over occurs, by lowering the transition pressure. The pressure effect on the slip systems activity has been quantified and the hydrolytic weakening has also been estimated for both orientations. Data also shows that temperature affects the slip system activity. The regional variation of the depth for the seismic anisotropy attenuation, which would depend on local hydroxyl content and temperature variations and explains the seismic anisotropy attenuation occurring at about 220Km depth in the mantle, where the pressure is about 6GPa. Deformation of MgO single crystal oriented [100], [110] and [111] were also performed. The results predict a change in the slip system activity at 23GPa, again induced by pressure. This explains the seismic anisotropy observed in the lower mantle.

Academic orientations of African -American adolescents in Miami-Dade County

The purpose of this research was to answer the following research questions: (a) how high-achieving African-Americans maintain a “racefull” Black identity; (b) how African-American identity affects academic orientation and achievement; (c) how the school's ethnic composition affects African-American students' identity; and (d) how family structure, specifically living in female single-parent households, affects academic orientation and achievement. ^ The data were gathered in an inner-city high school in Miami, Florida. Participants were African-American adolescents, males and females, who started their first-year of high school in the fall of 1995 until their graduation in June 1999. The number of students in the sample varied from 27 students at the beginning of the project to 24 students at the time of graduation. ^ Data were gathered through intensive ethnographic field work, which involved direct participant observation of students in natural contexts; in-depth interviewing of students, peers, teachers, and families; open-ended classroom discussions on matters about the research; and focus groups. Data on demographics, levels of self-esteem and depression, hours spent doing homework, family help with school work, aspirations, and other factors were gained through a survey. ^ African-Americans in this high school developed a racefull persona and still embraced education. They did not need to be raceless to succeed. The ethnic composition of the school where these students were a minority within a minority school resulted in their developing reactive ethnicity formation. Family structure did not affect academic orientation. What made a difference in these students lives were parental support and family ties, which affected their academic orientation. ^

Preferred semantics as Socratic discussion

Funding For M.C., the major part of the work on this article was carried out while he was affiliated with the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust at the University of Luxembourg. His research was supported by the National Research Fund, Luxembourg (LAAMI project), as well as by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC, UK), grant ref. EP/J012084/1 (SAsSY project). For S.V., the major part of the work on this article was carried out while he was affiliated with the Computer Science and Communication Research Unit at the University of Luxembourg. He worked on this article during the tenure of an ERCIM Alain Bensoussan Fellowship Programme, which is supported by the Marie Curie Co-funding of Regional, National and International Programmes (COFUND) of the European Commission. During this time, he was also funded by the National Research Fund, Luxembourg. When finishing the work on this article, he was a CRNS researcher affiliated with CRIL

Preferred semantics as Socratic discussion

Funding For M.C., the major part of the work on this article was carried out while he was affiliated with the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust at the University of Luxembourg. His research was supported by the National Research Fund, Luxembourg (LAAMI project), as well as by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC, UK), grant ref. EP/J012084/1 (SAsSY project). For S.V., the major part of the work on this article was carried out while he was affiliated with the Computer Science and Communication Research Unit at the University of Luxembourg. He worked on this article during the tenure of an ERCIM Alain Bensoussan Fellowship Programme, which is supported by the Marie Curie Co-funding of Regional, National and International Programmes (COFUND) of the European Commission. During this time, he was also funded by the National Research Fund, Luxembourg. When finishing the work on this article, he was a CRNS researcher affiliated with CRIL

Axis Mapping: The Estimation of Surface Orientations and its Applications in Vehicle Localization and Structural Geology

The map representation of an environment should be selected based on its intended application. For example, a geometrically accurate map describing the Euclidean space of an environment is not necessarily the best choice if only a small subset its features are required. One possible subset is the orientations of the flat surfaces in the environment, represented by a special parameterization of normal vectors called axes. Devoid of positional information, the entries of an axis map form a non-injective relationship with the flat surfaces in the environment, which results in physically distinct flat surfaces being represented by a single axis. This drastically reduces the complexity of the map, but retains important information about the environment that can be used in meaningful applications in both two and three dimensions. This thesis presents axis mapping, which is an algorithm that accurately and automatically estimates an axis map of an environment based on sensor measurements collected by a mobile platform. Furthermore, two major applications of axis maps are developed and implemented. First, the LiDAR compass is a heading estimation algorithm that compares measurements of axes with an axis map of the environment. Pairing the LiDAR compass with simple translation measurements forms the basis for an accurate two-dimensional localization algorithm. It is shown that this algorithm eliminates the growth of heading error in both indoor and outdoor environments, resulting in accurate localization over long distances. Second, in the context of geotechnical engineering, a three-dimensional axis map is called a stereonet, which is used as a tool to examine the strength and stability of a rock face. Axis mapping provides a novel approach to create accurate stereonets safely, rapidly, and inexpensively compared to established methods. The non-injective property of axis maps is leveraged to probabilistically describe the relationships between non-sequential measurements of the rock face. The automatic estimation of stereonets was tested in three separate outdoor environments. It is shown that axis mapping can accurately estimate stereonets while improving safety, requiring significantly less time and effort, and lowering costs compared to traditional and current state-of-the-art approaches.

Using virtual topology operations to generate analysis topology

Virtual topology operations have been utilized to generate an analysis topology definition suitable for downstream mesh generation. Detailed descriptions are provided for virtual topology merge and split operations for all topological entities. Current virtual topology technology is extended to allow the virtual partitioning of volume cells and the topological queries required to carry out each operation are provided. Virtual representations are robustly linked to the underlying geometric definition through an analysis topology. The analysis topology and all associated virtual and topological dependencies are automatically updated after each virtual operation, providing the link to the underlying CAD geometry. Therefore, a valid description of the analysis topology, including relative orientations, is maintained. This enables downstream operations, such as the merging or partitioning of virtual entities, and interrogations, such as determining if a specific meshing strategy can be applied to the virtual volume cells, to be performed on the analysis topology description. As the virtual representation is a non-manifold description of the sub-divided domain the interfaces between cells are recorded automatically. This enables the advantages of non-manifold modelling to be exploited within the manifold modelling environment of a major commercial CAD system, without any adaptation of the underlying CAD model. A hierarchical virtual structure is maintained where virtual entities are merged or partitioned. This has a major benefit over existing solutions as the virtual dependencies are stored in an open and accessible manner, providing the analyst with the freedom to create, modify and edit the analysis topology in any preferred sequence, whilst the original CAD geometry is not disturbed. Robust definitions of the topological and virtual dependencies enable the same virtual topology definitions to be accessed, interrogated and manipulated within multiple different CAD packages and linked to the underlying geometry.

The Shrine of ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī in Baghdad & the Shrine of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Jīlānī in ʿAqra: Mapping the multiple orientations of two Qādirī Sufi shrines in Iraq

This thesis charts the stakeholder communities, physical environment and daily life of two little studied Qādiriyya Sufi shrines associated with Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī (1077 – 1165 AD), a 12th century Ḥanbalī Muslim theologian and the posthumous founder of one of the oldest Sufi orders in Islam. The first shrine is based in Baghdad and houses his burial chamber; and the second shrine, on the outskirts of the city of ‘Aqra in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, is that of his son Shaikh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (died 1206 AD). The latter was also known for lecturing in Ḥanbalī theology in the region, and venerated for this as well as his association with Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir. Driven by the research question “What shapes the identity orientations of these two Qādiriyya Sufi shrines in modern times?” the findings presented here are the result of field research carried out between November 2009 and February 2014. This field research revealed a complex context in which the two shrines existed and interacted, influenced by both Sufi and non-Sufi stakeholders who identified with and accessed these shrines to satisfy a variety of spiritual and practical needs, which in turn influenced the way each considered and viewed the two shrines from a number of orientations. These overlapping orientations include the Qādirī Sufi entity and the resting place of its patron saint; the orthodox Sunnī mosque with its muftī-imams, who are employed by the Iraqi government; the local Shīʿa community’s neighbourhood saint’s shrine and its destination for spiritual and practical aid; and the local provider of welfare to the poor of the city (soup kitchen, funeral parlour and electricity-generation amongst other services). The research findings also revealed a continuously changing and adapting Qādirī Sufi scene not immune from the national and regional socio-religio-political environments in which the two shrines exist: a non-Sufi national political class vying to influence and manipulate these shrines for their own purposes; and powerful national sectarian factions jostling to do the same. The mixture of stakeholders using and associating with the two shrines were found to be influential shapers of these entities, both physically and spiritually. Through encountering and interacting with each other, most stakeholders contributed to maintaining and rejuvenating the two shrines, but some also sought to adapt and change them driven by their particular orientation’s perspective.