How can action learning be used as part of an overall approach to changing the culture of an organisation? This article describes some of the work being done by managers in South Cambridgeshire district to build a more empowered and engaged organisation following the appointment of a new chief executive tasked with raising standards in an…

Professional organizations exist to provide specialized networking and development opportunities to a specific profession, group of individuals or field of study. These organizations are generally broad in scope and may have a wide range of interests among its members. To support specialized research and communication, smaller subgroups within 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…

The steadily increasing degree of globalisation of enterprises implies development of many skills, among which the skills to learn are among the most important. Learning takes place at the individual level, but collective learning and organisational learning are also important. Learning styles of individuals are different and learning styles are…

User-centered design methodologies have gained increasing attention as a way to support the goals of small groups in a variety of use contexts. A central tenet of user-centered design is the direct participation of actual or potential users in the design process. As user participation becomes more prevalent, it becomes increasingly important to…

A method is described to help identify important groups in an organization, rank their probable actions, and arrive at a list of the most important group-action pairs for that company. Available from: The Institute of Management Sciences, 146 Westminister Street, Providence, Rhode Island 02903.

The educational administrator interviewed in this article expounds upon his theory that a low-level authority profile, communications skills, and leadership qualities in innovative education are the essential elements of a successful school principal. (LH)

Explores applications of work teams and proposes an analytic framework for team effectiveness. Presents the following applications: (1) advice and involvement; (2) production and service; (3) projects and development; and (4) action and negotiation. Depicts team effectiveness as interdependent with organizational context, boundaries, and team…

The idea of using groups, rather than individuals, as the basic building blocks for an organization is suggested in this paper. Although this idea is not new in theory, it is new in practice. To design an organization from scratch around groups appears to violate the American value of individualism. Groups, however, have advantages over…

This book relates the radically new sciences of the 20th century--quantum mechanics, chaos theory, and complexity theory--to organizational problems and challenges facing corporate leaders. The book draws on the science of the human brain, with its three different kinds of neural structures--mental, emotional, and spiritual--to illustrate how to…

Reviewed published studies (N=36) of an organization development and team building strategy, focusing on research designs, sample sizes, dependent variables, and the length of time the intervention was investigated. Results indicated team building appeared to be an intervention with great potential for improving employee attitudes and…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to illuminate the question "given all that we know about knowledge transfer in organizations, why do problems persist?" This is achieved by examining the challenges confronting organizations in developing an effective knowledge transfer strategy. Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire was administered to…

This book, which is designed for individuals interested in changing and developing their organizations, examines the organizational learning cycle and ways of learning collectively. Among the topics discussed in the book's nine chapters are the following: (1) changing nature of work and organizational learning; (2) theoretical framework of…

Participatory management (PM) is discussed in this step-by-step guide that shows how PM can be made to work effectively on a daily basis in academe. Suggestions are offered for helping higher education administrators consult efficiently with representatives of campus groups--faculty, other administrators, advisory board members, policy council…

Designed to help community college leaders direct the power of decision making and communication to fulfill the institution's mission, this book draws from on-site interviews and a survey of hundreds of community college leaders to identify and describe models of effective governance. "Leadership in governance" is defined as the creation of…