This active-participation article is designed to identify five organizational elements related to needs assessment. Concepts and terms related to internal and external organizational elements, means and ends, efforts, results, and societal impact are presented, followed by a set of exercises testing the reader. Informative feedback is included.…

This paper deals with a possible way of separating six modes of needs assessment (Kaufman, 1972) into two types. The most common, internal, looks at needs from within the organization, and external needs assessment looks at needs from the outside of the organization doing the study. (VT)

Roles, perspectives, and skills of superintendents and their fit to the Organizational Elements Model (OEM) are examined by defining the elements in the model and providing examples of applications, analyzing superintendents' roles in the planning process, and discussing a method of determining the roles of superintendents in different situations.…

Reviews the organizational elements model of Kaufman and English, which uses internal factors alone as the basis for planning, and argues for reversing its order of consideration to achieve more useful results; i.e., to start with outcomes (societal requirements) and then move back through outputs, products, processes, and inputs. (Author/JD)

This alternative model for identifying, diagnosing, and treating organizational needs identifies the basic elements of organizations, determines gaps between what is and what should be for each element, and allows interventions which are internally and externally consistent and successful. Common tools for closing these gaps are described. (MBR)