Business students are thoroughly schooled about the importance of measurement systems that, by their very nature, are designed to accurately measure the past performance of organizations, departments, and individuals. This article describes a team-based, active-learning exercise that clearly illustrates an additional important and often…

This article describes the use of scenarios as a tool to assist a large distance learning library service in its strategic planning. Through a description of the scenario process from beginning to end, the authors detail the steps that the library director and the consultant took initially; their missteps; and the successful conclusion. This study…

The paper considers the extent to which the education sector has embraced performance management and performance-related pay. It contemplates the transfer and adaptation of performance management by the public sector as an audit mechanism for improving the performance, productivity, accountability and transparency of public services. The paper…

This article provides a critical perspective on the increasing involvement of young people in participatory evaluation as well as identifies the factors to consider when designing a youth-led evaluation project. Through this avenue, young people will increase their participation in organizational development and community change. Youth-led…

From 1998 to 2008, the Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD) offered its employees a variety of options for formation, a type of reflective practice. The district encompasses 10 locations, seven of them independently accredited colleges. Formation is based primarily on Parker Palmer's model for Circles of Trust as described in "A…

This article describes the use of "business-driven" action learning in a healthcare setting. It reviews and reflects on an example where action learning does not "take", identifying the likely causes of this. It also poses four questions--whether action learning is counter-cultural in some organisations; whether the…

One tradition within the complexity paradigm considers organisations as complex adaptive systems in which autonomous individuals interact, often in complex ways with difficult to predict, non-linear outcomes. Building upon this tradition, and more specifically following the complex systems leadership theory approach, we describe the ways in which…

Effective principals are those who boost academic achievement for all students, increase the effectiveness of their teaching staffs, and consistently take leadership actions shown to improve outcomes for students. Therefore principal evaluation systems should place 70% of their weight on the ability of principals to increase student achievement…

The dominant metaphor/model used to characterise the relationship of the student to the university, that is, the "student as consumer", is partial and not appropriate to the realities of contemporary higher education. This article suggests that co-production, a concept drawn from the public administration literature, offers a more…

This article describes a framework for managing the life cycle of knowledge in organizations. The framework emerges from years of work with the laboratories and facilities that are under the direction of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The article begins by describing the instructional systems design (ISD) process and how it is used to…

All executives strive for better results in their organisations and they are always dependent on others to achieve these results. This article is concerned with the ways in which these better results might be achieved and the role senior management might play in this process. The traditional view is that senior executives design and control the…

Traditionally, expertise theories have focused on skills acquisition with little regard for the domain or contextual factors affecting expertise development and retention. Because the development, retention, and recruiting of individuals with expertise is critical to organizational success, it is essential that HRD professionals understand the…

Increasingly hostile and turbulent environments have rendered top-down, problem-focused management structures inadequate for competing in the ever-changing postsecondary knowledge industry. The community college abundance model (CCAM), a strengths-based approach to performance enhancement in community colleges, is presented as a viable…

The Council on the Role and Status of Women in Social Work Education (WC), a volunteer committee of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), has a 37-year history. This article presents an overview of the WC from the late 1960s to September 2006 and acknowledges the needs, status, and contributions of women in social work education. Drawing on…

Problems with implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) can be assessed in light of change management theory. Viewing stakeholders collectively as a corporate entity supports employing change management strategies to make the NCLB work. Examining ways that organizational controls and change management can work together points to…