This paper presents a model of how organizations adapt to the uncertainty in their environment by making changes in the way they structure themselves for decisionmaking. The research reported here indicates that it is not just a single change in organizational structure, but rather a shifting between a more rigid and more flexible decision…

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE STUDIES AND FACTORS AFFECTING EDUCATIONAL CHANGE WERE DISCUSSED. A REVIEW OF SOME STUDIES INDICATED THAT ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE IS USUALLY SEEN AS ACCEPTANCE OF CHANGE BY PARTICIPANTS WITHIN AN ORGANIZATION. FIVE CATEGORIES OF FACTORS AFFECTING THE PUBLIC ACCEPTANCE OF EDUCATIONAL CHANGE WERE DISCUSSED. AVAILABLE RESEARCH FROM…

This study reports the results of a pilot Change Agent Research (CAR) project initiated in the summer of 1975 by the Sports Institute for Research (SIR) for the Windsor Minor Lacrosse Association. The purpose of the project was to audit the association to diagnose the nature of its organizational problems and assist in initiating change in order…

For the academic social scientist who aspires to or actually assumes the dual role of expert and activist, the applicability of scientific knowledge and action-oriented expertise becomes an extremely practical problem. When the "knowledgeable" activist fails, the theoretical gap between knowledge and action intensifies the problem, and the…

This guide contains an introduction to and the materials for use in the Local Office Decision-Making and Implementation (LODI) Workshop, a self-managed small group workshop designed to teach planning and management techniques for identifying and resolving priority needs of an agency's program. (A "need" is defined as the difference…

This report discusses the importance of research on the ways in which educational institutions develop and adapt to their environments and examines three different approaches for conducting such research. Most of the report is organized into three major sections, each of which focuses on a different method of organizing and structuring research on…

Examines the impacts of a computerized information system on eight neighborhood service organizations and their funding sources. Discusses how the new system changed interorganizational relationships and what effect those changes had on the integration of services. (Available from American Society for Public Administration, 1225 Connecticut…

The results of this research study indicate that organizational status and status risk outweigh psychological or demographic conditions in explaining the receptivity to organizational change. (Author/DE)

Defines the academic and union models, illustrates the separation of these in the Rider College contract (Oct. 1974 following the first strike against a private, 4-year college by an AAUP chapter), and identifies subsequent events and decisions that may lead to the breakdown of the academic relationship. (JT)

A case study portrayal of the human dynamics of collective bargaining between the faculty and administration at Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, a public university of 6,700 students whose faculty of 300 was represented by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). Notes effects on people, policies, and decision-making…

Educational planning involves giving attention to the social, political, and educational complexity of schooling. Where reform programs do not consider the underlying patterns of school belief and conduct, innovations may only rearrange the technological surface. (Author)

A review of the 75 year history and current activities of the Worker's Educational Association, a voluntary society for adult liberal studies and trade union courses. (SJL)

Three new evaluation models (responsive, transactional, goal-free) are described and discussed in terms of their implications for student affairs. They hold more promise for attending to the needs of program planners and administrators than traditional approaches. A student affairs administrator comments on their applicability in terms of key…

Proposes a theoretical approach to mediated communication in organizations suggesting that man-machine interface in mediated human communication is more effectively dealt with by using a comprehensive theoretical approach rather than separate communication devices that are tested as they appear in the market. (MH)

The issue of improved employee participation is used to focus a discussion about the fundamental differences between, and the synthesis of, the theory and practice of organizational change. It is asserted that a given degree and/or form of participation is a function of the context in which it is set. (Author/MLF)