Describes the 10-year process in which Hagerstown Junior College (HJC) (Maryland) underwent a transition from a passive institution to a proactive agent for community renewal. Indicates that HJC redefined its civic purpose and executed its agenda through community-based programming and the facilitation of community problem solving. Includes 15…

Describes the development of Tennessee's community colleges, indicating that their establishment followed a carefully laid-out master plan. Attributes the colleges' success to a single governing board and strong relationships with each other and with sister universities. Discusses future challenges resulting from decreases in funding, especially…

Describes ways in which college and university public relations professionals have addressed the challenge of information dissemination in an era of rapidly changing electronic communication. Others are encouraged to know their audiences, discover commonly used technologies, include television in the mix, make the most of a World Wide Web home…

Successful use of college and university World Wide Web sites for institutional development requires attention to use of staff/staff time and to site design/content/maintenance. Suggestions include using student volunteers for insight into what makes a site attractive; presenting a development viewpoint; considering users' technological…

Data from an evaluation of the Annenberg Challenge in Los Angeles, a reform effort that experimented with school networks as a vehicle for improving schools, revealed that when school networks created structures that decentralized power and distributed organizational resources throughout the network, they also enhanced school capacity for reform.…

A case study of an organization development intervention in a large New York State school district describes to staff developers the complex process of discovering and responding to organizational needs. The discussion focuses on understanding the problem; frameworks for diagnosis and intervention; and implementing the intervention strategy.…

Evaluated acceptance by multiple constituencies in a large organization of six human resource management programs: quality circles, flextime, flexible benefits, job posting, cash awards, and a fitness program. Significant differences in acceptance were correlated with program experience, hierarchical level, seniority, and organizational unit.…

Discusses various issues concerning child care, including charitable contributions of low-income households, corporate giving, preschool children's attitudes toward teacher choice and school improvement, and the growth of on-site corporate child care services. (BB)

Adaptation of the Total Quality Management approach to organizational improvement at Oregon State University involved creation of 10 pilot finance and administration teams and implementation of a 10-step problem-solving process. The approach has improved staff morale as well as client services. (MSE)

Three community colleges illustrate redesigned learning systems that have transformed a "teaching college" into a "learning college": Lane Community College (Oregon); Palomar College (California); and Maricopa Community Colleges (Arizona). All illustrate the important role of the president in leading and nurturing change. (MSE)

Describes the development and operating strategies of the Coalition for Networked Information that was formed to promote the creation of and access to information resources in the academic networked information environment. Topics addressed include organizational development theory and referent organizations; technological developments;…

This article suggests that benchmarking, the process of comparing one's own operation with the very best, can be used to make improvements in colleges and universities. Six steps are outlined: determining what to benchmark, forming a team, discovering who to benchmark, collecting and analyzing data, using the data to redesign one's own operation,…

The history and main features of organizational behavior management (OBM) are compared and integrated with those of total quality management (TQM), with emphasis on W.E. Deming's 14 points and OBM's operant-based approach to performance management. Interventions combining OBM, TQM, and statistical process control are recommended. (DB)

A discussion of college faculty development and its role in improving college instruction focuses on current trends in several related areas (faculty development, instructional development, organizational development, and personal development for teachers), emerging needs and priorities, development program staffing, and obstacles to program…

The "Participative Process Model" of management is presented in which the team leader establishes what tasks need to be accomplished; then team members determine the resources required and develop a plan to complete the tasks. Suggestions are offered on how to implement the participative management process in existing organizations. (SLW)