This article describes a classroom exercise that is designed to help students understand the basic tenets of population ecology (also known as organizational ecology). The macro-level, longitudinal approach to understanding organizations can be difficult for students to conceptualize as it involves systems thinking. This exercise makes the theory…

Purpose: Research, spanning half a century, points to the critical role of school administration and to the successful implementation of US government policies and programs. In part these findings reflect the times and a US educational governance system characterized by local control, a constitutionally-constrained federal government,…

This account describes the total reengineering of an organization with the attendant changes to the culture, the nature of the work, the rethinking of the organizational purpose, and the identification of a new customer base and new concepts of how the organization will reach it. The case is presented not as scientific research but as a case of…

This article discusses the changes in Russian higher education policies and the role of international organizations--the World Bank and OECD--in promoting education reforms in this country. General and specific recommendations offered by the World Bank and the OECD expert teams to improve Russian higher education are analysed to determine if any…

Describes three efforts to design research on innovation in organizations, each on a progressively more macrooriented tier (from the innovation project as the unit, to the organization, to the extraorganizational environment), along with the theoretical and empirical assumptions behind these efforts. (SR)

Discusses the process of organizational change for early childcare education centers, focusing on preparation and planning. Provides suggestions for examining the source of change; the way staff, children, and parents are affected; the center's philosophy; practical considerations; staff training and development; the timetable for implementation;…

In response to stresses, the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Hospital developed and expanded a system of medical care. A health maintenance organization was initiated and other hospitals were acquired or affiliated. The realignment of resources and patients shifted the focus to an ambulatory care setting. (Author/MLW)

The phenomenon of innovation within the university is examined, noting the possibility of innovation as a key to college vitality. A study was conducted using a group of institutions that demonstrated recent innovative spirit. Members of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), each has been recognized in an annual…

Johns Hopkins Hospital expanded its health care delivery capabilities and strengthened its position in the marketplace by acquisitions of and mergers with other hospitals and a health maintenance organization. The resulting conglomerate has achieved its goals of expanding patient care, broadening the patient base, and enlarging the asset base and…

H. S. Bhola's CLER (configurations, linkages, environments, resources) Model was used to plan major changes in a large metropolitan police department. Changes involved staff development, occupational socialization, performance evaluation, and result-oriented management. The model provided a satisfactory theoretical framework for analyzing…

The College of Education at Northern Arizona University was organized along traditional lines with a dean, department chairs for curriculum and instruction, educational administration, etc. In the past decade the College had begun to isolate itself from other colleges and departments within the University. Also, programs of teacher preparation had…

This book examines issues related to the entrepreneurial transformation of universities using a study of five European universities which have been working to become more enterprising and entrepreneurial for eight or more years. The five institutions were: the University of Warwick (England); the University of Twente (the Netherlands); the…

The last quarter-century bore witness to a sea change in academic involvement with commerce. Widespread university-based efforts to identify, manage, and market intellectual property (IP) has accompanied broad shifts in the relationship between academic and proprietary approaches to the dissemination and use of science and engineering research.…

In this autoethnographic, institutional narrative, we describe the evolution of a Studio program at an open-access, regional campus of a state university. The Studio, first conceptualized by Grego and Thompson, is a one-credit writing workshop taken by students concurrently enrolled in a composition course. Developing this program necessitated…

This paper describes the Tri-Partite Theory of institutional change, which proposes that organizations in general and educational institutions in particular pass through three phases, each dominated by a specific personality type: person-orientation (loyalty to a charismatic leader as the basis of motivation); plan-orientation (functions…