The abstract and complex nature of decision-making processes and structure in colleges and universities is discussed from the perspective of organizational behavior theory developed in the industrial sector. After an introductory discussion of the history of organizational problems in higher education, the two main sections of the book are…

This guide is intended to be a first-time, general introduction to employee involvement for trade unionists--local leaders, stewards, and rank-and-file members. It makes no attempt to be comprehensive, but instead raises the major issues concerning employee involvement framed in trade union terms. Part I looks at the kinds of employee involvement…

This five-part paper provides an overview of the use of quality circles as a participative management technique in community colleges. Section I offers an introduction to the technique, reviewing the history of quality circles from their development in Japan in the early 1960s to their introduction in American higher education in the early 1980s.…

This paper reviews literature on trainee-oriented training programs, which assign to individual employees predominant responsibility for diagnosing organizational problems requiring changes in employees' behaviors. A Self-Change, Adaption, and Modification (SCAM) Model is developed. The literature support for the model is written in similar…

The process of long-range planning, political considerations, and approaches to the publication of such plans, are examined, based on the experience at Western Carolina University, North Carolina, a public regional institution conferring bachelor's and master's degrees. A key element for a successful strategic planning effort is the involvement of…

By using a collegial, "power-with" supervisory model that balances both institutional and individual needs, a manager can realize greater success in selecting, motivating, and retaining clerical staffers. Candor, accessibility, recognition, and two-way communication are the hallmarks of this participatory management model, with the goal of…

A northern Illinois school district (School District 300), forced by budget cuts to curtail its teaching staff, used incentives and the decisionmaking methods of William Ouchi's Theory Z to reduce layoffs. The superintendent and the teachers' union leadership established a Transfer Council of six administrators and nine teachers to plan staff…

To implement School Based Management (SBM) in Charleston County, South Carolina, the school district was reorganized to include a management team to make shared decisions on all phases of district activities. Local schools were required to develop short and long range plans that encouraged needs assessment, goal identification, strategy…

To illustrate decision making as negotiation, this report utilizes P. H. Gulliver's theories concerning negotiation and two case studies of decision making by cooperative labor-management Quality of Work Life (QWL) committees. Negotiation as joint decision-making is discussed and two models that are central to Gulliver's theories of processual…

Quality circles may be regarded as a form of organizational intervention strategy to enhance productivity and product quality through employee participation. Operationally, small groups of individual employees voluntarily meet regularly to (1) identify problems relating to productivity and product quality, (2) discuss them, (3) identify and…

In February 1982, a symposium was conducted at Santa Monica College (SMC) to inform the college community about the tumultuous changes which had occurred at the college from 1971 to 1982, and to gain broad-based participation in determining the direction of the college. The symposium also attempted to delineate broad philosophical principles that…

Hearings on proposed legislation to amend the National Labor Relations Act are presented. H.R. 3291 would protect the right of faculty at private educational institutions to engage in collective bargaining, while H.R. 5107 is intended to make meaningful the right of performing artists to engage in collective bargaining. H.R. 3291 stipulates that…

The derivation of the concept of participative management from a variety of complementary managerial and motivational theories, and its acceptance and use as a managerial technique in library administration are reviewed in detail. The major contributions to the development of the concept of participative management, including Maslow's hierarchy of…

In recent years, Japanese management techniques have been proclaimed by many as the salvation of American business. It would be dangerous, however, to apply these techniques to American business situations without critically examining them. Whereas Americans regard responsible individuality as a virtue and view lack of autonomy as a constraint,…

This study examined the organizational structures for professional staff participation in decision making at selected university libraries with membership in the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries, and determined the perceived degree, quality, and effectiveness of staff participation. Twenty-two library directors and 192 professional…