Well-designed performance appraisals should provide employees with feedback concerning their performance, serve as a basis for modifying behavior toward more effective work habits, and provide managers with data which they can use to judge future job assignments and compensation. Poorly-designed ones, used as short-term control systems, can create…

This report provides data on 1993-94 student outcomes, public relations, and changes in teaching, curricula, and learning at the Community College of Denver (CCD). Following a summary of CCD's success in meeting its accountability goals, section I reviews 1993-94 changes in teaching, curricula, and learning and section II notes plans to…

Factors affecting companies' readiness to implement workplace training were identified through a survey completed by 50 selected partner companies of the 44 National Workplace Literacy grantees during 1995-1996. Selection of the business partners to whom the survey was administered was left to the grantees' discretion. A 25-item questionnaire…

This study examined 10 institutions of higher education with widely different characteristics to determine whether, in the process of implementing quality improvements, they had become "learning organizations." Data were gathered through questionnaires and interviews with more than 20 individuals at nine of the campuses, and were then…

This report documents the recommendations for the restructuring of the Montana University System. The report first defines the organization and governance of the system noting that control is vested solely in the Board of Regents which establishes system-wide policies and appoints the Commissioner of Higher Education. Two doctoral-level…

This document consists of four papers presented at a symposium on core directions in human resource development (HRD) moderated by Verna Willis at the 1996 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development. "Reengineering the Organizational HRD Function: Two Case Studies" (Neal Chalofsky) reports an action research study in which…

This report provides a comprehensive review of quality principles in higher education and proposes that, when used holistically and systematically, the quality principles, also known as total quality management and continuous quality improvement, can create a culture for academic excellence. After an introduction, the first section explains the…

A qualitative study examined the uses to which 14 adult learners put their acquired knowledge from a graduate-level course in organizational behavior both in and outside classroom settings. The course goal was to empower learners to use organizational theory to improve the performance of vocational education personnel. The 14 learners, who ranged…

In an effort to overcome organizational resistance to change, Victor Valley College, in Victorville, California, has utilized a seven-part strategy to enable leaders to empower others and effect change. Step 1 requires the development of a visionary plan, so that changes have a meaningful context. Step 2 calls for an assessment of the campus…

This 1994 environmental scanning report from Vancouver Community College (VCC) reviews the expected effects of the separation of VCC into a new Vancouver Community College and Langara College (LC). The report examines the projected service area student-intake capacity; student characteristics; population growth trends; other postsecondary…

Ten personal accounts by successful leaders of colleges and universities in the United Kingdom describe how these individuals are reshaping their roles to respond to and shape the rapid and profound changes in higher education today. The opening and closing papers are by the editor and review current changes in education, and the importance of…

School-based management (SBM), the decentralization of decision-making authority to the school site, comes in many variations. However, all forms of SBM require a rethinking of how and where budgeting, curriculum, and personnel decisions are made. This bulletin provides an overview of what SBM is and how it is implemented by summarizing some of…

This paper demonstrates that production life-cycle models provide a conceptual framework to analyze systematically the interrelationships between industrial and technological change and human resources. Section II presents the life-cycle model, focusing on its implications for the types and level of employment and skill requirements in an area.…

This book, containing seven chapters and an epilogue, describes how continuing education--as a structure and a function--can become a unique tool for reorienting major universities toward confronting new societal challenges. "The Coming Wave" (Lerner) discusses relevant organizational theory to explain the special role of continuing education in…

This document contains four papers from a symposium on adult learning issues and human resource development (HRD). "Creating a Systemic Framework for the Transfer of Learning from an Action Learning Experience" (Suzanne D. Butterfield, Kitty Gold, Verna J. Willis) discusses a study of the organizational elements that affect learning and…