Purpose: This paper aims to examine the importance of new employee orientation (NEO) programs, the quality of typical NEOs, and how to improve NEOs. Design/methodology/approach: The paper provides a viewpoint of the importance of new employee orientation programs, the quality of typical NEOs, and how to improve NEOs. Findings: Although western…

Evaluation capacity building, or ECB, is an area of great interest within the field of evaluation as well as in Extension evaluation. Internal Extension evaluators have long offered training and technical assistance to help Extension educators conduct evaluation. Today ECB in Extension encompasses myriad activities and processes to advance…

Presents and compares the results of 1973 and 1975 analyses of the organizational development (OD) effort at a government research laboratory and assesses the laboratory's present organizational climate. Concludes that the OD program has been a qualified success that provides a viable model for other organizations. (Author)

Part 1 examines the basics of training, the company's attitude, and training's role in business. Part 2 presents ways of validating training courses: against student perceptions and comments and against course objectives. It describes specific validation methods. (SK)

This paper presents and illustrates some principles for organizational development approaches to improving school climate. It discusses a specific structure for facilitating school improvement entitled Program Development Evaluation, and it illustrates the use of school climate assessments for school diagnosis and the evaluation of improvement…

This first part of a two part series describes the activity of the York County (Canada) Board of Education's Organization Development Unit, designed to provide assistance for individuals or groups so that they may improve their own effectiveness. (Author/JH)

This article explores indicators which will reveal if organizations are ready to deal with the change implied in undertaking a quality circle (QC) program. It discusses characteristics of successful QC programs and lists readiness indicators which include internal project staffing, openness from management, time commitment, and financial…

Preventive consultation, rather than focusing on individuals or specific problems, focuses on the environmental factors within a social setting that contribute to the incidence and prevalence of a specific problem. The ecological paradigm is a useful assessment for directing the design of a preventive consultation. The design focuses on the life…

Action Learning is now a well established strategy for reflective inquiry in healthcare. Whilst a great deal is know about action learning there has been inadequate research on the process of learning that takes place, and the impact that this holds for individuals, groups or organisations. This article reports on the findings of 15-month action…

Examines a confrontation team-building intervention that was highly successful in building the supervisors into a unified group. Evaluation indicated the team became the most important variable with little consideration given to the rest of the organization, resulting in the whole organization being severely crippled and having to be rebuilt.…

A large urban school district has undertaken the development of an Educational Management System and monitored the impact of the administrative innovations on organizational climate. The participation of both teachers and administrators in management and decisionmaking is complemented by periodic assessment of progress in accomplishing the…

The change process was examined in a community college in which there was evidence of events precipitating change, including leadership succession, new management/governance structures, proposed cultural shifts, and a period of rapid growth. The case illustrates that not all organizational change is positive, and that those promoting change should…

Recent experiences of manufacturing and commercial service industries provide insights to college facilities managers for combining downsizing with quality improvement. The Service Excellence Model emphasizes creation of shared responsibility, focus on core service processes, empowerment of cross-functional process-improvement teams, performance…

This book discusses practical ways to improve a school's climate by increasing both productivity and satisfaction concurrently. Chapter 1, "Defining School Climate," identifies the overarching goals of school climate improvement, the basic human needs that school climate must address, the factors that make up a school's climate and…

Development of community outreach partnership centers (COPCs) requires adaptations in the university environment. Institutions must reexamine and reinterpret the roles and responsibilities of faculty, design of the undergraduate curriculum, structures of the university that create the capacity to support and sustain different working relationships…