Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe how interruptions in organizational learning effect institutional absorptive capacity and contribute to organizational inertia. Design/methodology/approach: An exploratory model is presented as a heuristic to describe how interruptions in organizational learning affect absorptive capacity.…

Outlines the nature of the learning organization and describes how action technologies can be used to build learning organizations. Outlines the strategies and dilemmas of consultants who use this approach to build learning organizations. (Author)

Action science can play a role in virtual team development. Participants write action science cases of problematic interactions in their work and discuss them in small groups. (JOW)

Presents a case study of how action research can be used to design a career development program based on the principles of change used in organization development. Steps in the model are data collection, analysis, feedback, program draft, recommendations, and evaluation. (CH)

This paper discusses a procedure for diagnosing adult educational needs, which the author developed and tested for her doctoral dissertation to study the work performance of attendant supervisors at a mental retardation facility. She describes the methodology used as ethnographic research, which entails an analytic description of a culture by…

This symposium on organization development (OD) consists of three presentations. "A Study of Gender Management Preferences as Related to Predicted Organizational Management Paradigms for the Twenty-First Century" (Cathy Bolton McCullough) reports a study that found that access to diverse management preferences and the manner in which the…

This guide is intended to help organizational researchers involved in diagnosing organizations and helping them change. Part 1 focuses on defensive routines that limit learning at the organizational, intergroup, group, and individual levels. Part 2 focuses on the case study of a consulting firm at which a climate fostering learning and change was…

This book contain papers 13 papers on enhancing inter-firm networks, including by intervening in mergers and acquisitions and developing strategic alliances and partnerships. The following papers are included: "Introduction" (Anthony F. Buono); "Making Mergers and Acquisitions Work: A Guide to Consulting Interventions" (Mitchell Lee Marks);…

This document contains three papers from a symposium on tools in human resource development (HRD). "Game Theory Methodology in HRD" (Thomas J. Chermack, Richard A. Swanson) explores the utility of game theory in helping the HRD profession address the complexity of integrating multiple theories for disciplinary understanding and…

This document contains presentations from four poster sessions at a conference on human resource development (HRD). "Human Resource and Organization Development Program Brochures: What Prospective Students Want" (Rose Opengart, Mary Wilson Callahan) reports on a study of promotional materials of graduate programs in the field of human…

An ecological framework for predicting citizen participation in grassroots community organizations and predicting community disorder problems (such as crime and fear) was developed and tested. The framework, which is called an ecological framework for sustainable community learning and development, delineates the relevant economic, political,…

Appreciative inquiry (AI) is based on the heliotropic principle, which has been variously described as art and science, holistic theory and practice, and practical philosophy and change process. AI engages people and organizations in discovering what gives life to human systems when they are most effective and constructive and using that knowledge…

These proceedings consist of 44 presentations in these categories: distance education and evaluation; community issues and research; multicultural issues and research; teaching and learning; research methods; and organizational development. The papers are "Philosophical Foundations of Andragogy and Self-Directed Learning" (Alfred);…