Case study of a manufacturing firm that implemented total quality management (TQM) found that the initiative may have failed because the company was undergoing rapid, radical structural change. Other problems included short-term focus, communication problems, and employee concerns about job security. TQM may be more compatible with continuous…

Kansas City YouthNet is taking on a leadership role in promoting community youth development (CYD). YouthNet's efforts to shift the measurement and evaluation focus from delivery of staff services to individual youth achievement is expected to lead to additional funds, a new CYD infrastructure, and improved lives of youth. (Author/JOW)

The 2-year process by which the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Organizational Learning transformed into the self-governed Society for Organizational Learning illustrates new ways of conceiving organizations, the capabilities required for change, and critical elements of the process: diverse representation, grounding in business…

A learning organization is viable when the learning climate successfully changes managers' mindsets. A case study of a financial services enterprise illustrates ways to keep mind sets from hardening and shows how changing learning activities and tools can change habits of thinking and learning. (Contains 30 references.) (SK)

Using data from two integrated steel-making sites, variation in the process and outcomes of workplace restructuring was studied. Four union capabilities were critical to success in negotiating with management over workplace restructuring: ability to access information, educate members, communicate with management, and access decision making at…

Thoms and Greenberger report how organizational leaders (n=111) who participated in vision training were compared to 50 who received other management training. The first group's visioning ability increased; their future time perspective and positivism were correlated with their visioning ability. Meindl offers a critique of Thoms's and…

Suggests that continuous improvement tools used in the workplace can be applied to self-improvement. Explains the use of such techniques as one-piece flow, kanban, visual controls, and total productive maintenance. Points out misapplications of these tools and describes the use of fishbone diagrams to diagnose problems. (SK)

The literature on empowerment in organizations lacks discussion of problems in implementing it or of the conditions needed for success. It is often assumed to be a universal solution appropriate to all organizations. (SK)

Volunteers are affected by organizational change, though with a different focus and priority. There may be tension between volunteers and paid staff. Volunteers may pass through stages of resistance, confusion, integration and recommitment; they may have different change styles: resisters, adapters, or seekers. (SK)

This letter from the president of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) addresses the departure from the organization of Marilyn Smith, Executive Directory, and J.D. Andrews, Chief Operations Officer. The letter includes information on NAEYC's search for replacements, including an official call for applications and…

Suggests that modernism is ending and full-time employment can no longer be taken for granted. Posits the formation of a risk society for which modern education is no longer adequate. Lifelong learning and a learning society may be more viable. (SK)

Principles of self-management embodied in learning organizations are not accurately reflected in practices used to build learning organizations. There is an inherent contradiction in learning organization initiatives: the attempt to link individual development with organizational strategy tends to restrict the possibility of creating a learning…

Defines action learning (AL), the AL problem, the AL set, the set as a learning lab, and the drawbacks of AL. (SK)

Unlike traditional management development, use of conversations in coaching high-performance work teams addresses core processes of speaking and listening. Management of conversations aims to create learning that will lead to breakthroughs in team performance. (SK)

Links between organizational performance and high-performance work practices were studied using data from the National Employment Survey, measures of work practices comparable across organizations, and a longitudinal design incorporating data predating use of high-performance practices. Practices raise employee compensation without necessarily…