{"id":{"repo_id":"bradford","oai_identifier":"oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/4885"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/bradford/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/4885","repository":{"repo_id":"bradford","name":"University of Bradford","base_url":"https://bradscholars.brad.ac.uk/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"The importance of aligning managerial characteristics to functional strategy in public sector organisations: An empirical study of Dubai government.","abstract":"Managerial characteristics have an important influence on strategy implementation. Previous studies have looked at the alignment of managerial characteristics with strategic type and aspects of performance. In all cases, the focus has been on corporate strategy and, predominantly, in private sector organisations. This study combines these objectives and investigates alignment between managerial characteristics, strategy and perceived performance. It focuses on management at the functional level in a public sector setting and demonstrates that classical upper-echelon theory is also relevant when applied at the functional level of management. The Miles and Snow (1978) typology is applied to the functional strategy for Dubai government organisations, to investigate whether functional units pursuing strategies are led by functional managers with dissimilar attributes, and whether the alignment between managerial characteristics and strategy is related to performance of the functional unit. Based on the extant literature, a research model has been developed, which yields two types of hypothesis. Data was collected by means of interviews and surveys to obtain knowledge of strategy types, and demographic and psychological characteristics for the functional managers. Regression techniques have been used for data analysis rendering support for two types of hypothesis. Consequently, this study supports the view that Upper Echelon theory can also apply at the functional level, emphasising the role of the functional managers, at the lower management levels of the organisations, in strategy implementation.","abstract_html":"Managerial characteristics have an important influence on strategy implementation. Previous studies have looked at the alignment of managerial characteristics with strategic type and aspects of performance. In all cases, the focus has been on corporate strategy and, predominantly, in private sector organisations. This study combines these objectives and investigates alignment between managerial characteristics, strategy and perceived performance. It focuses on management at the functional level in a public sector setting and demonstrates that classical upper-echelon theory is also relevant when applied at the functional level of management. The Miles and Snow (1978) typology is applied to the functional strategy for Dubai government organisations, to investigate whether functional units pursuing strategies are led by functional managers with dissimilar attributes, and whether the alignment between managerial characteristics and strategy is related to performance of the functional unit. Based on the extant literature, a research model has been developed, which yields two types of hypothesis. Data was collected by means of interviews and surveys to obtain knowledge of strategy types, and demographic and psychological characteristics for the functional managers. Regression techniques have been used for data analysis rendering support for two types of hypothesis. Consequently, this study supports the view that Upper Echelon theory can also apply at the functional level, emphasising the role of the functional managers, at the lower management levels of the organisations, in strategy implementation.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Sebaa, Ali A."],"institution":"University of Bradford","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Wallace, James","Cornelius, Nelarine"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2011,"date_issued":"2011-05-19","date_published":"2011-05-19","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:14:32Z","subjects":["Strategy","Alignment","Functional managers","Characteristics","Dubai government","Management","Upper Echelon theory"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["<a rel=\"license\" href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/\"><img alt=\"Creative Commons License\" style=\"border-width:0\" src=\"http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png\" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel=\"license\" href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/\">Creative Commons Licence</a>."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10454/4885","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Wallace, James","Cornelius, Nelarine"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Sebaa, Ali A."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2011-05-19T08:19:18Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2011-05-19T08:19:18Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2011-05-19"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["School of Management"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Bradford"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["PhD"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Strategy","Alignment","Functional managers","Characteristics","Dubai government","Management","Upper Echelon theory"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["<a rel=\"license\" href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/\"><img alt=\"Creative Commons License\" style=\"border-width:0\" src=\"http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png\" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel=\"license\" href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/\">Creative Commons Licence</a>."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10454/4885"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Managerial characteristics have an important influence on strategy implementation. Previous studies have looked at the alignment of managerial characteristics with strategic type and aspects of performance. In all cases, the focus has been on corporate strategy and, predominantly, in private sector organisations. This study combines these objectives and investigates alignment between managerial characteristics, strategy and perceived performance. It focuses on management at the functional level in a public sector setting and demonstrates that classical upper-echelon theory is also relevant when applied at the functional level of management. The Miles and Snow (1978) typology is applied to the functional strategy for Dubai government organisations, to investigate whether functional units pursuing strategies are led by functional managers with dissimilar attributes, and whether the alignment between managerial characteristics and strategy is related to performance of the functional unit. Based on the extant literature, a research model has been developed, which yields two types of hypothesis. Data was collected by means of interviews and surveys to obtain knowledge of strategy types, and demographic and psychological characteristics for the functional managers. Regression techniques have been used for data analysis rendering support for two types of hypothesis. Consequently, this study supports the view that Upper Echelon theory can also apply at the functional level, emphasising the role of the functional managers, at the lower management levels of the organisations, in strategy implementation."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The importance of aligning managerial characteristics to functional strategy in public sector organisations: An empirical study of Dubai government."]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Wallace, James","Cornelius, Nelarine"],"dc:creator":["Sebaa, Ali A."],"dc:date.accessioned":["2011-05-19T08:19:18Z"],"dc:date.available":["2011-05-19T08:19:18Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2011-05-19"],"dc:description.abstract":["Managerial characteristics have an important influence on strategy implementation. Previous studies have looked at the alignment of managerial characteristics with strategic type and aspects of performance. In all cases, the focus has been on corporate strategy and, predominantly, in private sector organisations. This study combines these objectives and investigates alignment between managerial characteristics, strategy and perceived performance. It focuses on management at the functional level in a public sector setting and demonstrates that classical upper-echelon theory is also relevant when applied at the functional level of management. The Miles and Snow (1978) typology is applied to the functional strategy for Dubai government organisations, to investigate whether functional units pursuing strategies are led by functional managers with dissimilar attributes, and whether the alignment between managerial characteristics and strategy is related to performance of the functional unit. Based on the extant literature, a research model has been developed, which yields two types of hypothesis. Data was collected by means of interviews and surveys to obtain knowledge of strategy types, and demographic and psychological characteristics for the functional managers. Regression techniques have been used for data analysis rendering support for two types of hypothesis. Consequently, this study supports the view that Upper Echelon theory can also apply at the functional level, emphasising the role of the functional managers, at the lower management levels of the organisations, in strategy implementation."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10454/4885"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:publisher.department":["School of Management"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Bradford"],"dc:rights":["<a rel=\"license\" href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/\"><img alt=\"Creative Commons License\" style=\"border-width:0\" src=\"http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png\" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel=\"license\" href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/\">Creative Commons Licence</a>."],"dc:subject":["Strategy","Alignment","Functional managers","Characteristics","Dubai government","Management","Upper Echelon theory"],"dc:title":["The importance of aligning managerial characteristics to functional strategy in public sector organisations: An empirical study of Dubai government."],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["doctoral"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["PhD"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:14:32Z"}