Comments on recent literature that reflects the increasing influence of situational thinking on management philosophy. (JF)

The author describes an approach to planning that differs from conventional concepts. This approach, called interactive or proactive planning, deals with interdependent problems and pursues goals, objectives, and ideals. Emphasizing that ideals play the key role in interactive planning, Ackoff contrasts this approach with prevailing planning…

Discusses performance management which links the strategic partnership between human resources and line management and enterprise direction. Considers the challenges in measuring an individual's success within an organization and explains 11 different processes that comprise performance management. (Author/LRW)

The Moodle course management system is an open source system that educators can use to create online courses. Begun in 1999, the Moodle community has now grown so that by early June 2005 there were about 3,500 Moodle sites in more than 100 countries (and that counts only registered users). To use Moodle, one first needs to install it on a Web…

The rate of technological diffusion and the pace at which technology is altering how and with whom we connect is astounding. Although not at the same pace, theoretical views of learning and teaching are also changing. Whereas much of the initial e-learning simply patterned old models of teaching and learning, the new technological possibilities…

The increasing complexity and diversity of a typical portfolio of research awards coupled with advancing technology makes successful implementation and delivery of system benefits more challenging than ever. Moreover, the role of systems in knowledge management is a fundamental issue faced by all research active organizations. One of the principal…

Distance learning has been around since the old "course in a box" correspondence classes, but with the advent of sophisticated online course management systems, learning at a distance is contributing to a major paradigm shift in higher education. That shift includes applying corporate concepts to education--students, for example, are "consumers,"…

Semantic integrity constraints are business-specific rules that limit the permissible values in a database. For example, a university rule dictating that an "incomplete" grade cannot be changed to an A constrains the possible states of the database. To maintain database integrity, business rules should be identified in the course of database…

In this article, the author discusses a project they undertook to reshape the libraries' Web services of the University of Houston site. The site had been in a state of flux and it needed a new structure for both managing and organizing it. She realized the staff was looking for a Web site that was more "Web 2.0" in nature. Web 2.0 is often…

As school leaders adjust to the demands of new college-and-career-ready (CCR) standards, research is showing a yawning gap between what students need to know and be able to do to succeed in college and beyond and how schools are currently preparing them. These higher expectations demand a more challenging curriculum, more sophisticated…

Unilateral enterprise resource planning (ERP) curriculum improvements from the instructor's perspective are likely to generate only limited success. Understanding student motivations and beliefs with ERP systems is the missing link to effective ERP education. Relatively little attention in the ERP literature has been given to student learning…