The importance of public education has never been greater as we enter the dawn of a new millennium. Innumerable efforts have been focused on improving public education, but the unfortunate result has been an array of fractured, piecemeal efforts. What is needed is a systemic approach to go from "tweaking" to "transforming"…

Within the framework of the strategic journey undertaken between 2005 and 2010, this paper seeks to examine how the University of Melbourne sought to differentiate itself through the introduction and reconceptualisation of a "third stream" of academic work. Specifically, this paper seeks to investigate, through qualitative methods, how…

Purpose: This paper seeks to understand whether significant senior management and structural changes within an Australian university is the result of learning or other influences and how these explain the impact of change on the careers of two individuals within the organisation. Design/methodology/approach: The organisation and the changes are…

This qualitative study in a Midwestern US city examines how school and community-based organizations support homeless students' connections to education-related resources and relationships. Drawing from organizational brokerage theory, which delineates how individuals' chances to thrive are shaped by the organizations in which they participate,…

Purpose: This paper aims to demonstrate how an institutional learning, teaching and assessment (LTA) strategy was developed and a "dynamic" strategy created in order to achieve the ongoing enhancement of the quality of the student learning experience. Developing LTA strategies that foster ongoing engagement and provide inspiration to…

An organizational development consultant is expected to perform a thorough and unbiased diagnosis of the organization's functioning. This is an account of a case study of the effect of top management influence on the consultant's awareness and definition of problems. (Author/MLF)

This paper reports on a case study investigating learning outcomes at the individual and organisational level of a cross-institutional innovation project based on the SOAP approach. SOAP integrates "S"chooling of teachers, "O"rganisational development of schools, "A"ction- and development-oriented research, and…

This is an account of errors made by the author in his role as organizational change agent working as a process consultant. For each error there is an illustrative case study in which he was directly involved. (Author)

This paper reports on a study that took place in a faculty of humanities and social sciences at a UK university. The institution had recently undergone a radical restructure and the vision for the future presented by the new senior management team highlighted internationalization as one of four major areas for growth. The internationalization…

Academic leaders face particular challenges when they assume formal leadership roles in higher education. For the most part, they have had little prior engagement with the political, economic and strategic context of their institution and limited leadership networks on which to draw. The University of Western Australia has trialled a number of…

Organization development is an approach to planned change that is used in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. However, relatively little is known about OD in universities. This paper examines the challenges associated with the use of OD in universities that may not be present in the private sector and other non-university settings. Five…

Reports of social conflict and failure within organizational planned change are few. This study, based on 15 months of participant observation, historical analyses, and informal interviews, depicts a three-year intervention into a commercial enterprise. The state of the organization and the strategies by which change was introduced are analyzed.…

When Palmdale School District and Pivot Learning Partners entered into their first contract in 2006, neither organization foresaw the magnitude and complexity the relationship would take over time. Pivot Learning Partners (formerly known as Springboard Schools) is a non-profit service provider that first entered the Palmdale School District…

Rather than a direct report on staff development programs, the speaker presents a case study of a district's experiences in organization change that were planned to improve the ways in which the school system fulfills its basic mission and goals. The change plan emphasized staff development at the administrative level as a means of decreasing the…

Discusses the critical issue emerging in the implementation of change strategies designed to improve the effectiveness of human service delivery systems. Describes the process by which change was introduced and implemented in a human service organization. Suggestions, theoretical guidelines, and a model are provided for future interventions.…