Discusses how human performance technology can help new Internet companies. Highlights include major business goals; using a systems approach to look for gaps in the organization itself, personnel, behavior, performance, feedback, communication, and internal inefficiencies; compensation structures; recruiting; training; rewarding performance; and…

Reviews approaches to quality management in the private sector from an evolutionary perspective. Focuses on two critical dimensions: product versus system, and objective versus intersubjective orientation. Experiences within the private sector can be relevant for the public sector, and the complexity of evaluation has implications for the…

The tremendous impact of technological change on human workers, coupled with declining resources in many college and university information technology programs, can create an emotionally and physically harmful environment for employees. They can also present an important opportunity for positively changing cognitive behavior and increasing…

Analysis of the first cycle of academic program review at the College of St. Catherine (Minnesota) discusses recommendations resulting from reviews, insights about faculty and committee perceptions, and new directions for the second cycle. It is noted that the second cycle will focus more on program activities and output than on traditional input…

Reviews 32 books on the following topics: human resources and organizational development; guidance, assessment, and counseling; job search, networking, resumes, letters, and applications; careers in specific fields; transitions and retirement; and finding balance. (SK)

Proposes a variety of epistemological lenses for viewing the school change process for school administrators' use. Applies these lenses in an actual case study depicting school change, illustrating how administrators can shift focus, position, and mode of inquiry from their usual rational viewpoint. Analyzes implications of using such lenses for…

Focuses on utilizing organizational theory in understanding the progress of constructing a new departmental identity in a former library and information science school that was merged with an education school. Findings indicate that members of the former library and information science school faced pressure both to become more like education and…

Using the Delphi technique, this paper continues to develop a set of attributes that Association of Research Libraries directors of today and the near future will need to possess. The questions remaining are: How does the list of attributes change in other organizational settings? and Where can each attribute best be acquired? (Author/AEF)

States that comprehensive, systematic plans to assess student learning can be both the rudder guiding and the sail driving change in staff, program, and organizational development. Explores the nature of assessment and how it can and does serve such roles, driving change in the college or adapting to emerging community needs. Contains 27…

Proposes that the nature of institutional research has expanded as colleges and universities adapt to new challenges and conditions and that institutional researchers need to become knowledge industry analysts. Reviews the history of institutional research and identifies 21st century challenges, such as changing patterns of diversity and academic…

Examines whether the established and traditional norms and standards of public librarianship structure the way challenges such as market orientation and privatization are met and coped with, or whether these standards are losing their structuring power. Compares three metropolitan library systems representing three different levels of…

Using the literature and experiences of theorists and practitioners from several interrelated areas (knowledge work, organization learning/development, sociotechnical systems design, and quality improvement), this article proposes a new instructional supervision paradigm called Knowledge Work Supervision aimed at improving school systems'…

Examines the role of training for improving the performance of people in ways that both they and their organizations value, focusing on what the true worth of training is and can be. Proposes a model for calculating return-on-investment (ROI) in training. Presents a case study of its application within an operational context at a bank. (Contains…

Human performance technologists add value by making systematically important connections. After illustrating the connections made in various professions and organizations, this article discusses the importance, purpose, history and process of making connections. (AEF)

This paper presents a case study of departmental reorganization. Using journals kept by five faculty members, the study traces the difficulties of establishing an organizational identity for and faculty identification with the new unit. The analysis suggests that reorganizations may not produce anticipated advantages. Many of the new department's…