A member of the Activities Committee on Directions for ALA (ACONDA) reflects on what threatens to be an ongoing process of backing, filling, retrenching, and revisioning." (Author)

More than 200 ARCA members were surveyed for their opinions on the present structure and services of the Association and to assist in establishing its future needs and goals. Respondents indicated varying degrees of satisfaction with ARCA and a general desire for increased membership participation. Followed by comment by Leonard A. Miller in same…

Deficiencies in existing models in organizational science may be remedied by applying the population approach, with its concepts of taxonomy, classification, evolution, and population ecology; and natural selection theory, with its principles of variation, natural selection, heredity, and struggle for existence, to the idea of organizational forms…

Answers an earlier article by Jean Hills and the previous article by Donald Willower by proposing that organizations are invented social reality. (JM)

Reports on the development and exploratory testing of a model relating the amount and equivocality of information processing to the variety and ease of analysis of work-unit activities. (Author/WD)

Identifies five basic assumptions of the "proactive approach" to instructional development and argues for the use of that approach by instructional technologists in training developed for business organizations. Four tactics for moving an organization in a proactive direction are described, and guidelines followed by a large California bank are…

A parent recounts her satisfaction with a state ACLD (Association for Children with Learning Disabilities) conference. (CL)

The transactions cost approach provides a framework for evaluating organizations on the basis of efficiency because it allows the identification of the conditions that give rise to the costs of mediating exchanges between individuals. The three basic mechanisms of mediation or control are markets, bureaucracies, and clans. (Author/IRT)

Describes the implementation of a training course that used selected, experienced persons within an organization as a means of gaining that organization's acceptance of the course. (JD)

At the 1979 mid-year convention of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), topics discussed were Indian legislative priorities for the 96th Congress, a plan for increasing political awareness among tribes, and the May 1979 action by NCAI President Veronica Murdock requesting the resignation of the NCAI executive director. (NQ)

Examines the legal concept of "corporate body" in French and English law, as well as that of the "company," the "corporation," and the "society"; and discusses the manifestations of a dual legal heritage in commercial enterprises in Quebec. (AM)

The author reviews the nature and purposes of Epsilon Pi Tau (the international honorary professional fraternity in industrial arts and industrial vocational education) from its inception to its current challenges concerning regional conferences, publication of a journal, achievement recognition, and research awards. (EA)

This dialectical analysis is guided by four basic principles--social construction, totality, contradiction, and praxis. The organization is seen as a concrete, multileveled phenomenon beset by contradictions that continuously undermine its existing features. (Author/IRT)