Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Professor Guy Merchant, my tutor, for his wise advice and his ability to gently steer me away from my wilder flights of fancy.

Thanks also to Richard Pountney, the course leader for TELIC, for his help in shaping my research proposal, his encouragement to do things slightly differently and bearing with me when I went slightly doolally halfway through!

I’d like my TELIC compatriots and tutors to know how much they have helped me over the last 4 years and that I’ll miss being part of such a friendly group now it’s all over. [sad face]

At Netskills I’d like to acknowledge the assistance of David Hartland, my director for allowing me to put the organisation under the microscope, and the research participants for giving up their valuable time to help with this case study. Among my colleagues, special thanks goes to Will Allen for his encouragement and intellectual support and his many helpful comments on the blog, and to Steve Boneham for his technical help with WordPress-wrangling.

I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without the support of my wife Susan and our two children who have had to do without Daddy for much of the last 7 months. I’ll make it up to you I promise!

And a final big thank you to Wattie Thomson for his encouragement and financial support which meant I was able to undertake this work in the first place. Thanks Dad, it was definitely worth it.