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The purpose of this paper is to surface the misdirection of certain accepted organization development and executive compensation practices.

Against a backdrop of academic leadership studies, this paper engages the authors’ hands-on expertise drawn from their joint 100 plus years of organization building experience.

The pragmatic consideration of leaders’ performance and potential boils down to assessing their attitude, skills, knowledge and impact.

This paper exposes the inadvertent effect of some common customs and policies on organizations.

Mass customizing is more than an intriguing oxymoron. It's one of the most provocative new ideas in marketing and could instigate changes in the way companies organize and plan.

The core function in the information economy is shifting into distribution and delivery.

The topic of whistleblowing is achieving prominence as a question of social policy. Some influential voices are suggesting that far from whistleblowing — informing on organisations —, being socially undesirable, it may in certain circumstances be an activity deserving high praise. Inevitably it entails huge risks to the activist, and these risks need to be personally and carefully considered. John Banham, Director General of the Confederation of British Industry, wrote in support of the Social Audit report on the subject (Winfield 1990), and a committee established by the Speaker of the House of Commons has suggested the possibility of honouring whistleblowers in the British Honours system for their good corporate citizenship. There have also been landmark reports in America, Australia and Canada (Leahy 1978, Electoral and Administrative Review Commission 1990, Ontario Law Reform Commission 1986).

This paper examines how a beginning teacher in Virginia and a beginning teacher in Florida make sense of the high-stakes tests in their state. By examining beginning teachers in two states where the tests are so very different, we gain important insight into whether there are similarities and differences across states and how the nature of the test affects the teaching and learning of history. We first offer insight into the context of accountability in Virginia and Florida and then discuss what ambitious teaching and learning look like in these states as informed by the literature. Then, we turn to our research methods, findings, and implications for the field of social studies.

Identifies and discusses nine issues the author believes will dominate management development programmes in the immediate future: learning (including “maintenance learning”, “shock learning” and “anticipatory learning”); the power of teams; time as a competitive weapon; dramatic leadership; globalization and transnationalization; flexibility and resilience; customer responsiveness, service or quality; technology and information systems; and systems thinking. Concludes by pointing out that while these themes should not be included in management development programmes simply because they are popular, few become popular without meeting an important need.

In this post‐industrial period of human development, traditional organisational models and managerial styles are gradually being replaced. They are inadequate and unproductive with the new knowledge workers. Therefore, a major transition is underway in social systems from “disappearing bureaucracies” to “emerging ad‐hocracies”. In these turbulent times, leaders facilitate the transcendence from past to futuristic operations by promoting matrix or team management approaches. Whether the strategy is called a project, task force, product or business systems team or ad‐hoc planning committee, work is organised around a “temporary” group that involves both permanent (functional) and impermanent lines of authority. Such endeavours at organisational alteration and design are bridges from the way we have been doing work to the way we will be conducting human enterprise in the decades ahead.

Traditional return on investment analysis techniques like discounted cash flow (DCF) and net present value (NPV) fall short of providing adequate decision support in today’s turbulent environment. New techniques, grouped under the concept called “business value analysis” (BVA), show promise. These techniques include intellectual capital, real options valuation, business model dynamics, and synthetic markets. They extend DCF to include intangibles and other factors common to the digital economy. These techniques are just now emerging from research, and they are undergoing further development, refinement, and testing on the way to becoming widespread in practice. It’s unlikely any of these techniques will be a “silver bullet” that makes investments a sure thing, but they can improve business performance and the chances of success.

What are “Strategic Alliances”? Are they different from joint ventures? Professor Edward B. Roberts of M.I.T. defines them as direct co‐investments by two or more companies pooling complementary resources to achieve common goals in an arrangement that is less than a full merger or acquisition. These co‐investors are motivated by a desire to share risks and resources, gain a window on technology, obtain synergies (marketing, technological, or operational), and/or gain credibility. However, strategic alliances are not easily maintained—they require substantial commitment and mutual trust, Professor Roberts told the Business Week conference audience. Unfortunately, co‐investors are often caught in a tug‐of‐war of mismatched organizational cultures and management styles as well as a differing sense of urgency. Over time, objectives may diverge, interest may subside, or the unit's loss of autonomy may become a problem.