Published studies have reported that Information System (IS) projects succeed or fail based on how effectively the organizational issues were understood and addressed in the specification, development and implementation stages of the project. This is particularly true in the design and delivery of Inter-Organizational Systems (IOS) that can affect…

There are no simple answers to the tricky business of managing conflict within organizations. Almost every conflict is a unique case with its own issues, participants, dynamics, and consequences. Still, it appears possible to differentiate between organizations that handle conflict productively and those that do not. Successful organizations view…

Proposes a new model--the extended model--for firms to respond to consumer complaint letters. Indicates that aspects of response, such as interest in solving the problem and specificity affect effectiveness judgments and impact on the recipient's overall impression of the company. (NKA)

Managers can improve their decision making skills through training in organizational communication which emphasizes the intuitive processes. The article describes the role of intuitive processes in executive decision making and outlines the four levels of a taxonomy for developing intuition as it relates to creative thinking and problem solving.…

Three instruments designed to evaluate the performance of work groups in organizations were analyzed with reference to a recently developed comprehensive model of the group problem solving process. Although each instrument measured nine or ten dimensions of group behavior, none of them measured more than seven of the 16 categories of variables…

Current educational planning systems have often failed or been irrelevant because they have been based on inaccurate assumptions about educational organizations. Traditional planning models assume educational organizations are goal-driven, follow rational and sequential processes, operate in predictable environments, and have effective internal…

Employees in different kinds of organizations were surveyed for their perceptions of their companies' client and operational problem-solving networks. The individuals came from a manufacturing firm, a community college, a telephone company, a farmers' cooperative, and a hospital. Interviews were conducted with those people reporting numerous…

This report describes a study of two small-to-middle-sized midwestern school districts, each observed for about one year. The aim was to clarify the nature of the organizational form of school systems and to examine the organizational processes, using qualitative rather than quantitative methods. Two central concerns of the study were to explore…

Local school districts must strengthen their innovative capacity in order to respond effectively to the problems facing them. Success depends on both an organization's technical capacity to match problems with appropriate solutions and its political capacity to move an innovation through the process from adoption to incorporation. Research shows…

This volume offers a theory-based approach intended to create organizations that are both adaptable and stable, sensitive to the needs of constituents, and able to achieve goals productively. It is addressed to those who are interested in identifying and releasing organizational potential. The book begins with a practical working model of the…

This module discusses the theory and practice of school improvement and outlines a nine-step systematic problem-solving process for developing an action plan addressing school improvement goals. The first section describes a general model for the study of the school as a social system, as developed by Getzels and Thelen (1960). The second section…

The development and implementation of a program to facilitate communication and improve working relationships between elementary school staff members is described. Methodology involved observation of inservice faculty training sessions and a participant survey. The program was based on three components: a series of faculty inservice workshops,…