Showing papers on "Organizational culture published in 1980"

Measuring Organizational Strategies: Some Theoretical and Methodological Problems

Abstract: In this article we address the major theoretical and methodological problems encountered in attempts to arrive at valid and reliable measures of organizational strategy. Our discussion is based on a series of empirical studies of the strategic behaviors of nearly 200 organizations in ten industries. In these studies, four different approaches for measuring strategy have been employed. We describe each approach and discuss its advantages and disadvantages.

Humor: A Double-Edged Tool for Today’s Managers?

Abstract: Many have acknowledged the favorable, even therapeutic, effects of humor. However, few have attempted to relate humor to the functions of management and leadership. Research on this topic could possibly convert an undeveloped resource into a tool that could enhance our ability to get things done.

Strategic Awareness Within Top Management Teams.

Abstract: "Strategic awareness" is viewed in two complementary ways: the extent to which an executive's perception of the organization's strategy aligns a) with the organization's "realized" strategy, as externally measured, and b) with the chief executive's perception. Strategic awareness is positively related to hierarchical level in all three industries studied. Strategic awareness is greater in organizations that have recently changed their strategies than in those that have not.

Decision-Maker Choice as a Determinant of Organizational Structure

Abstract: In this paper we review conceptual-theoretical issues raised by the neglect of decision-maker choice in structure-contingency models. We suggest an expansion of the structure-contingency framework to include the analysis of decision-maker(s) choice in explaining and predicting organization structure. We propose that an organization's structure is the result of an interaction of the decision maker's cognitive and motivational orientations, transformation strategies, and the organization's context, such as size, technology, environment, current structure, and membership. Finally, we discuss the implications of this framework.

Minimum Competency Testing Historically Considered

Abstract: After a generation of rather quiet consolidation, educational testing has again appeared as an agent of school reform.' The first wave of enthusiasm for testing, 1890-1930, introduced standardized educational measurement and was part of the Progressive effort to reform the organization of public schooling. The watchword of that movement was "efficiency."2 The business culture that fostered this goal was committed to centralizing school administration, controlling school costs, and setting standards by which to compare school performance within and across districts. The school survey movement, nurtured by the same concerns, and committed to measurement practices as a sound business procedure, promoted standardized testing as one of the ways to keep school systems efficient in their administration and accountable to local taxpayer boards. By 1925 it appeared to C. H. Judd, a pioneer in educational research, that World War I had been the watershed and that since that time "tests and measures have gone quietly on their way as conquerors should."3 Testing, however, has not "gone quietly on its way," but has, since the early 1960's, become the arms supplier for a new generation of school reformers. The new concerns are "equity" in the allocation of resources and "competency" as a goal of instruction. The new movement has battened on the intervening institutionalization of testing practice in the schools and the rapid growth in authority of the states over education. It has been fed by concern over declining standards in the schools and larger claims by test

The Identification and Measurement of the Dimensions of Organizational Climate.

Abstract: A comprehensive review of the organizational climate literature resulted in the identification of eight dimensions of organizational climate. Five item operational definitions of the dimensions wer...

A Model for the Systemic Evaluation of Human Resource Development Programs

Abstract: We propose a model for the evaluation of human resource development programs. The model attempts to account for the systemic interaction of complex organizations and comprehensive, multifaceted programs designed to improve organizational functioning.

The Impact of Goal Setting on Survey Returns

Abstract: The article presents a study which explained the impact of organizational deadlines on employee behavior in an industrial setting. The author identifies two hypotheses derived from goal setting the...

European Government-Controlled Enterprises: An Organizational Political View

Abstract: This article complements a previous article on government-controlled enterprises. It examines the struggles, bargains, compromises and foul-ups between those influential players who determine these companies' decisions and actions. The strategy of such firms is seen as a political resultant: to understand corporate behavior one must explain key individuals' motivations, their stakes and stands and one must analyze their relative power and the pulling and hauling that occurs between them.

A Comparative Study of Managerial Support, Trust, Openness & Decision-making and Job Enrichment.

Abstract: This study explores the differences in organizational climate perceptions by managers and employers of two divisions of a large multinational corporation, located in the U.S. and Europe respectivel...