Although, theoretically, an organizational vision can unite school-community members, it can also destroy organizational culture without the consensus of those members. This publication offers guidelines for creating a collaborative vision--one that gives all members the opportunity to help create the vision. Each school should choose a strategy…

New managerial techniques such as total quality management and similar worker participation programs are an important albeit controversial component of the recent changes in the workplace brought about by increasing globalization of the economy. In addition, organized labor is faced with a changing and increasingly diverse population of new…

The establishment, design, and location of American higher education institutions correlate directly with the evolution of American thinking regarding the nature of democracy, the knowledge required by the citizenry for full participation in democracy and the "American Dream," and the progression of the American economy from an agrarian to an…

This article provides a brief introduction to learning organization and systems thinking. It contains three experiential learning activities designed to teach systems thinking concepts. The first activity, "Pellets," helps learners discover the advantages of applying systems thinking to the solutions of workplace problems. The next two…

This paper summarizes a recent organizational climate survey conducted at Villanova University (Pennsylvania). The campus-wide project distributed questionnaires to all faculty and staff, both full-time and part-time (N=1800) and a 39 percent response rate was achieved. The survey measured perceptions of the following core processes and values:…

Resulting from a forum for community college leaders exploring the effects of technological change on education, this three-part monograph discusses the role of technology in community colleges and reviews strategies for responding to changes. The first part addresses the vision and leadership needed to bring the colleges into the next century and…

These five papers are from a symposium facilitated by Verna J. Willis on the learning organization at the 1995 Academy of Human Resource Development (HRD) conference. "Processes of Organizational Learning: A Framework for Training and Development Policies and Methodologies in a Learning Organization Perspective" (Massimo Tomassini)…

The General Accounting Office (GAO) examined the status and scope of total quality management (TQM) in federal organizations by mailing questionnaires to the heads of 2,800 civilian and Department of Defense installations. According to the 2,277 usable responses, approximately 68% of federal installations are working on various phases of TQM.…

As the newest college in the 10-member Maricopa Community College System, Arizona's Estrella Mountain Community College Center (EMCCC) is highly capable of innovation since it does not have to battle years of tradition. As part of its emphasis on innovation, EMCCC operates under the relatively new paradigm of being a customer-driven organization.…

School restructuring can be frightening for teachers, administrators, and even students as they give up familiar roles and are introduced to new paradigms. Educators affected by restructuring efforts often feel out of place, are reluctant to change, and anxious about the unknown. This paper describes approaches for helping school community members…

Based on personal interviews with key figures in the information industry about the success or failure of their partnering efforts, this report provides a case-by-case study of what works and what doesn't when selecting a partner, planning a joint service or product, and following through with the joint-development efforts. Thirteen information…

This guide offers a comprehensive set of practical tools to lead novice and veteran practitioners through the complexities of business process redesign. This hands-on kit integrates systems theory, economics, and psychology to provide the detailed procedures, checklists, data analysis worksheets, and other resources essential to identify, analyze,…

Designed to assist community college planners develop a vision of learning in the emerging Knowledge Age, this booklet introduces a set of principles for using revolutionary vision to stimulate action and discusses how community colleges can apply these principles in strategic planning. Following a discussion of the characteristics of the new…

The time has come to shift the focus from the "what" of knowledge (content) to the "how" of learning (processes). This book is the third in a series of three books in the Process as Content trilogy. The book offers suggestions and strategies for educators beginning the journey of transferring education into a process-oriented paradigm. The book…

This paper analyzes the stages of educational development beginning in the 1950s and 1960s, when mass economies began to emerge, immediately after World War II. This essay covers the last 40 years that have been characterized by rapid change and the most fascinating acceleration in the history of humanity. During those four decades, education…