Presents and examines the "Stages of Commitment to Organizational Change" model in order to provide managers with a cognitive map of how commitment can be generated. Stages include contact, awareness of change, understanding, positive perception, installation, adoption, institutionalization, and internalization. (CT)

Suggests that meaningful evaluation requires a pre-evaluation design that assures evaluators and decision-makers that they know what they want from an evaluation and that they are able to get unambiguous and useful information, and that methodological and logistical problems of evaluation be considered at the outset. (Author/IRT)

Argues that the application of policy analysis to technology assessment requires the abandonment of stereotyped approaches and a reformulation of analytical paradigms to include consideration of institutional constraints. Available from: Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Box 211, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, single copies available.…

Labor needs new organizing and political strategies if it is to revitalize itself. Unions advance when they achieve goals that benefit the broader society. (JOW)

Discusses how colleges and universities can become "learning organizations," asserting that they must have the same drive toward curiosity and problem solving that they attempt to instill in their students. (EV)

A model of large-scale organizational change (LSOC) was tested using survey data and financial and customer service measures in 26 departments. Organizations experiencing LSOC performed better financially than those experiencing incremental, negative, or no change, and they showed greater improvement in managerial competence. (Contains 64…

A survey of 448 managers, trainers, and support staff in corporations identified distance education methods used: computer conferencing (237), CD-ROM/multimedia (80), print (52), and videoconferencing (25). The greatest barriers were lack of technical expertise and organizational change. A relationship between an organization's distance education…

This study's purpose was to test whether evaluative judgments concerning a job's motivating potential result from a piecemeal or a categorization process. Results showed that categorization clues heavily influenced respondents' judgments. Organizational change efforts may be particularly effective when specifically aimed at introducing prototypic…

Presents an overview of research on innovations and organizations. Criticizes past research and calls for a focus on process research in future investigations, moving from a stage-by-stage conception of the innovation process to a dynamic, continuous conception in which the variables involved are sequenced and analyzed through time. (SR)

Describes seven important characteristics of the performance environment that can affect a performance outcome. Topics discussed include the performance environment as an open system, performance variables that can affect outcomes, how performance can be improved, and how performance variables are interrelated. (LRW)

The process by which Eastman Chemical changed their training program when the company restructured yields recommendations for those in similar circumstances: have a powerful, high-level person lead the project, and work with a team of high-potential or experienced employees. (JOW)

Using various types of businesses--furniture makers, car parts suppliers, paper mills, and food and steel industries--the various ways work is classified are illustrated. The ways classification is used for organizational learning and change are demonstrated. (SK)

The demand for more efficient delivery of health care services has created a boundaryless organization that links hospitals, primary care, home care, and rehabilitative organizations. As a result, today's health care leaders must be skilled in negotiation and political awareness while addressing the human resource needs of those providing the…

Using the analogy of flying kites, considers how to free educational organizations from many mundane and prescriptive encumbrances. Applies the analogy to organizational structure and purpose, leadership, ambiguity, and the myth of control. (DMM)

Considers three types of organizational changes that may facilitate the development of behavioral medicine teaching, practice, and research over the next decade: (1) role of Department of Behavioral Medicine within the medical school; (2) support for development of research collaborations across centers; (3) changes in role and organization of…