The systems view of quality postulates that product or service quality comes as the result of interactions between various components that comprise a production process. In view of this, most problems in the organization, like an institution of higher education, can be attributed to the system. To be effective, any quality improvement initiative…

W. Edwards Deming has suggested 96% of organization performance is a function of the organization's structure. He contends only about 4% of an organization's performance is attributable to the people. This is a fundamental difference as most school leaders work with the basic assumption that 80% of a school's performance is related to staff and…

Using a systems approach, this paper explores the impact of devolution on additional learning needs (ALN) policy in compulsory phase education. Focus is placed on ALN/SEN Codes of Practice, the schools curriculum, teacher training, and the work of education inspectorates and tribunals. Analysis reveals that the move to quasi-federalism in the UK…

This paper begins by connecting cosmopolitanism to notions of universal and particular knowledge in contemporary conditions. Drawing on the work of Immanuel Wallerstein, we then outline a world-systems approach to knowledge. This approach focuses on the capacity of epistemological structures to either reinforce existing inequalities or produce…

Behavioral systems analyses typically address organizational problems in business and industry. However, to the extent that a behavioral system is an entity comprised of interdependent elements formed by individuals interacting toward a common goal, a scientific enterprise constitutes a behavioral system to which a behavioral systems analysis may…

This article provides a behavioral systems approach to improve operational performance in health and human service organizations. This article provides six performance truths that are relevant to any organization and a case study from a community mental health network of agencies. A comprehensive analysis, as described here, will help health and…

When President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act into law in 2002, the U.S. national high school graduation rate was 72.6 percent. Today, the national high school graduation rate has reached an all-time high of 81 percent and the number of low-graduation-rate high schools has declined considerably. While this progress is notable,…

Recent surveys of information technology management professionals show that understanding business domains in terms of business productivity and cost reduction potential, knowledge of different vertical industry segments and their information requirements, understanding of business processes and client-facing skills are more critical for…

Networks aiming for fundamental changes bring together a variety of actors who are part and parcel of a problematic context. These system innovation projects need to be accompanied by a monitoring and evaluation approach that supports and maintains reflexivity to be able to deal with uncertainties and conflicts while challenging current practices…

The movement to strengthen the nation's workforce by redefining what all students need to learn has profound implications for the design of state assessment systems. The confluence of events--the change in the national and international climate, acknowledgment of long-standing inequities in education opportunity and achievement, and the…

System Dynamics is a well formulated methodology for analyzing the components of a system including cause-effect relationships and their underlying mathematics and logic, time delays, and feedback loops. It began in the business and manufacturing world, but is now affecting education and many other disciplines. Having inspired by successful policy…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) and RCE-Barcelona in the context of two organisations with a strategic aim to further Education for Sustainable Development. A special emphasis is put in the role that UPC has had in the creation and development of this project,…

Discusses the trend in academic debate on policy questions toward a wide acceptance of counterplans, encouraging combinations of proposals which appear at face value able to coexist but upon deeper analysis are incompatible. Argues in opposition to this trend by applying concepts from general systems theory to competition. (KEH)

Student data are gaining increased attention in education, spurred by accountability policies such as those contained in the federal No Child Left Behind legislation. Student data are useful for informing classroom practice, and user-friendly technologies for organizing and accessing data are enabling access by all teachers. In this study, we…

Presented is a description of the evolution and curriculum of the masters program in aeronautical systems at the University of West Florida between 1969 and 1976. An explanation is given of the purpose and outcome of the group theses and research project in which the students taught themselves the systems approach. (SMB)