Information and communication technologies are opening up vast new arenas for conducting the work of health promotion. Technology-based health promotions expand reach, standardize information and its delivery, provide opportunities for tailoring, create engaging interactivity within content delivery, provide for privacy and autonomy, improve…

Media portrayals and education policies have combined with anecdotes about charter school successes to produce a favorable assessment of charter schools by two-thirds of Americans. Such media celebrations often group an array of charter school types together, thereby disguising their differences. Indeed, the public seems unaware there are…

This article addresses the issue of how to monitor and develop the quality of teaching in schools by identifying the international lessons of teacher appraisal, monitoring and support systems and by interrogating the recently introduced South African Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS). The aim is to show why teacher monitoring and…

The call to be strategic--and with it the concept of strategic management--can bring to mind a wide range of definitions, and there is now a huge array of academic literature supporting the different schools of thought. At a basic level, however, strategic thinking is probably most simply about focusing on the whole, rather than the part. In…

Purpose: If collaboration and knowledge sharing lie at the core of providing added-value to either services or products can we improve this process? The purpose of this paper is to suggest that it can be improved and this lies in how we develop the systems that support collaboration and knowledge sharing. This can be achieved within the…

The increasing complexity and diversity of a typical portfolio of research awards coupled with advancing technology makes successful implementation and delivery of system benefits more challenging than ever. Moreover, the role of systems in knowledge management is a fundamental issue faced by all research active organizations. One of the principal…

The author describes an approach to planning that differs from conventional concepts. This approach, called interactive or proactive planning, deals with interdependent problems and pursues goals, objectives, and ideals. Emphasizing that ideals play the key role in interactive planning, Ackoff contrasts this approach with prevailing planning…

In a time of constant change, sometimes it is worthwhile to ruminate on the future and how things ought to be. "Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship" wanted to capture some of these ruminations from around the field in a new column called "E-Opinions from the Field" where readers are asked to send in their thoughts on a topic and respond…

The defects which are now showing up in the lifetime employment system and the internationalization of product and labor markets are forcing Japanese corporations to reevaluate their management structures. The Japanese management system cannot be reproduced in the United States because the same social conditions do not exist. (RM)

Training and development professionals may want to evaluate the implications of the conflict-reducing mechanisms that are imbedded within a Theory Z culture before recommending this approach to their corporate leadership. (JOW)

As the sophistication of technology has increased, so has public demand for quality. This expectation of quality has occurred across a broad range of products and systems, including education. To meet the demand for quality, many products and systems (including educational ones) have become increasingly complex. Within education there are also…

Offers a conceptual framework for organizational development consultation, through a brief definition of the process, with attention given to the systems approach. The consultation process is described, and a brief statement about consulting in business and higher education settings is included. (Author/JEG)

Discusses the application of participative management within a college library environment, and sketches management theories pertaining to the hierarchy of human needs, motivation, Rensis Likert's Systems Four, and Herzberg's dissatisfiers. (FM)

Considers how the concept of knowledge management (KM) is inherently problematic and many uses tend to be either tension ridden or trivial. Identifies three common departures from knowledge and two departures from management in KM. Concludes that KM provides rhetorical appeal to a broad and differentiated field that neither deals very specifically…

Assesses the contributions of T. B. Greenfield's "Alternative Theory" to a comprehensive theory for school administration in practice and scholarship. Considers Greenfield's standpoint in relation to rational, natural, and open systems perspectives. (DMM)