Discusses methods to determine why employees leave or stay, based on experiences at Pennsylvania State University libraries. Considers retention tools that work best to retain diverse employees, including mentoring, networking, career and learning opportunities, balance between work and home life, a welcoming climate, and support for research.…

Electronic communication can either facilitate or sabotage decision-making contexts. This article formulates recommendations about when and how to use electronic communication to enhance decision making and describes various decision contexts. Solutions to communication problems such as groupthink, social deadlock, bureaucratic isolation from…

Argues that to affect lasting change in terms of what mathematics is taught and how it is taught requires programs that recognize the different intersecting needs and perspectives of a school's administrators, teacher-leaders, teachers, students, and parents. It discusses how these types of professional development programs can extend the impact…

Presents a framework--grounded in the classic rhetorical concept of "ethos"--for technical communicators to examine the unique characteristics of the World Wide Web and the audiences it serves. Suggests that technical and marketing communicators can use the idea of online "ethos" to evaluate existing Web sites and design new…

Discusses the need for libraries to engage in strategic planning rather than reacting to change. Highlights include long-range planning techniques; focusing on vision and the organizational environment; defining the planning process, including the role of the staff and prioritizing; common pitfalls; and experiences at the Ann Arbor District…

Reports on factors reflecting or contributing to family economic adversity in the current U.S. economy, including consumer confidence figures, a rise in long-term unemployment, the need to extend the temporary federal unemployment benefits program, and families' debt concerns and spending. Highlights findings that kindergartners from the lowest…

A superintendent describes his district's use of an assessment tool to diagnosis internal conditions and relationships in the district and then prescribe action plans for improvement that were implemented through the remainder of the year. Also contains a six-point list of leadership belief statements. (MLF)

Evaluates the importance of mutual trust and understanding in the workplace, and presents practices that promote the sense of ownership and the steps necessary to instill an environment in which leadership is everyone's business. (Contains 11 references.) (Author/MLF)

Finds that student knowledge about shelter is tacit rather than well-developed, frequently distorted by misconceptions, and scattered rather than gathered around big ideas. States that children typically do not acquire learning about cultural universals through everyday experience. (DAJ)

Argues that recent dramatic increases in the numbers and prices of scholarly journals are evidence of a distorted economic marketplace for scholarly information. The discussion covers the strategies needed to reshape the current system of scholarly communication and the need for leadership within the research library community. (34 references)…

Presented are the arguments of two different points of view on the mass extinction of the dinosaurs. Evidence of extraterrestrial impact theory and massive volcanic eruption theory are discussed. (CW)

At Southern Methodist University, the athletic problems were merely the tip of the iceberg. The real scandal was the way the university was organized and run. Some implications for American higher education in general are presented. (MLW)

Argues that current models of group leadership fail to illuminate the relationship between leadership and group performance. Presents an alternative model of leadership based on communication competencies, which are influenced by task complexity, group climate, and role relationships. A series of heuristic propositions are offered linking…

Administrators use different organizational perspectives, or "frames," to help them understand situations, problems, and day-to-day activities. In higher education, four frames are identified as bureaucratic, collegial, political, and symbolic. Frames used by 32 college presidents are analyzed according to content, complexity,…

Steps in developing a workplace literacy partnership include (1) creating community awareness; (2) developing organizational readiness; (3) analyzing organizational needs, climate, and resources; (4) negotiating program content, structure, participation, and schedule; (5) setting goals and objectives and planning instruction; and (6) implementing…