This article was written in response to the editor's invitation to provide an alternative perspective to Zarestky and Cole's article in this same issue. While appreciating the perspective provided, I question the assumption that SOAR (strengths, opportunities, aspirations, results) as an approach to strategic planning will strengthen organization…

Can the current education programme of the Australian trade union movement contribute to reviving union growth and union culture, develop new activists and leaders, and encourage and facilitate the organisational change needed to re-orient unions to develop broader alliances? Twenty-five Australian trade union leaders were asked to describe the…

After an absence of 10 years, strategic planning has returned as a prime management issue. New attitudes, new approaches, and new players have emerged with new practices. A good strategy can make a company more attractive to customers and investors as well as a better place to work. (JOW)

Purpose: This paper argues that failing to grasp thoroughly the influence of power on the strategy-making process can severely inhibit the potential of strategy making as a vehicle of organizational learning. Design/methodology/approach: First the organizational learning perspective on strategic management is sketched and an attempt is made to…

Addresses the following myths: manufacturers are all large businesses; services are the wave of the future; all manufacturers use new technologies; manufacturing jobs are low skill; manufacturing is unionized; manufacturers are resistant to change and care only about production. Suggests that advisors can help small businesses by serving as a…

Effectiveness of organizational training and development (T&D) hinges on three factors: (1) relationship of T&D to the organizational culture; (2) management practices that cause training to flourish or fail; and (3) extent of awareness that T&D should be integrated into strategic planning processes. (SK)

Discusses marketing and management strategies and evaluates the path most traveled; going beyond market-driven; proactive and reactive organizational positioning; ways to manage human and physical resources to make both market-driven and market-making contributions; and values necessary for an organization to move from market-driven to…

Discussion of planning organization design within the higher education environment stresses the goal of integrating structure and process to maintain stability while increasing organizational flexibility. Considers organization culture, organization structure and processes, networked organizations, a networked organization in action, and personal…

This paper explores transformation and change in American higher education. It begins by examining the debate over the type of change needed in higher education from the radical change suggested by some as necessary for survival to concepts of continual improvement urged by others. A definition of transformational change is offered which…

Many school systems today find themselves in amazingly complex and puzzling environments. They are increasingly expected to turn direction quickly in response to changes in their environments, but they cannot change direction because they are bound by the arthritic bureaucratic designs of their systems, by old mental models of hierarchical power…

Discusses need for appropriate knowledge base, support from colleagues, a timeline, and an environment of trust and respect to successfully complete a center accreditation effort. Identifies eight strategies for persevering and nine benefits of the process. Offers seven pieces of practical advice. (DLH)

Discusses the need to shift from the old models for organizational development to the new methods of quality management and continuous improvement, visions and visioning, and strategic planning, despite inappropriate criticisms they receive. (AEF)

Suggests that organizational effectiveness research has made considerable progress in empirically deriving a systematic framework of theoretical and practical utility in Australian higher education. Offers a taxonomy based on the competing values framework and discusses use of inter-organizational comparisons and profiles for diagnosis in…

Complexity is an important principle for those building new media and new ways to make content work. New media and forms of content must complement existing media, instead of aiming to replace them. People may be more willing to try something new if there's a connection with the old. (AEF)

More than a decade ago, the predominant means by which colleges and universities deployed major information systems shifted from in-house development to the acquisition of packaged software. The author of this article suggests, however, that institutionally defined business or academic processes may or may not fit the embedded definition of…