A compiled set of opinion editorials by Edward E. Lawler III and Warren Bennis is presented.
Research and Insights Archive
Research and Insights from the Center for Effective Organizations
Available Content
Transformations from Control to Involvement
Edward E. Lawler III identifies conditions which causes organizations to change their management approach from a control oriented to an involvement orientated one.
A Case of Union Management Cooperation: A Contextual Presentation
This paper by Susan A. Mohrman presents a framework for conceptualizing the dynamics of union-management cooperative efforts.
The Whole System is Broke and is in Desperate Need of Fixing: Notes on the Second Industrial Revolution
Ian Mitroff and Susan A. Mohrman argue that earlier conditions which made for the overwhelming success of the U.S. and Western democracies have abruptly ceased to exist.
Self-Designing Organizations: Towards Implementing Quality-of-Work-Life Innovations
This chapter by Tom Cummings and Susan A. Mohrman develops a strategy for implementing innovations requiring fundamental organizational change.
New Manufacturing Technology and Work Design
Thomas G. Cummings and Melvin Blumberg argue that perhaps most important, new technologies can have a profound impact on work design–how tasks are grouped into jobs and work groups.
Organization Development and Labor Law: Implications for Practice/Malpractice
This article by Charles Maxey and Thomas Cummings suggests that organization development (OD) interventions can inadvertently violate federal labor law.
Unions and the New Management
Edward E. Lawler III and Susan A. Mohrman consider the reasons for the decline of the union movement. It is concluded that unless unions change in important ways they will continue to decline.
Assessing Innovative Organizational Design: The Case for A Feedback/Adaptation Model
Organizational change projects entail dynamic complex processes through which organizations and their members learn new ways to function. This paper by T. Cummings and Susan A. Mohrman assesses the appropriateness of traditional evaluation models for the assessment of these projects.
The Design of Employee Participation Groups: Guidelines Based on Empirical Research
This paper by Susan A. Mohrman and G. Ledford, Jr. explores the importance of various design features in employee participation programs.
Parallel Participation Structures: The Case of Quality Circles
This paper by Susan A. Mohrman and Edward E. Lawler III examines the typical life cycle of one kind of parallel organization, the Quality Circle. It makes the point that such structures tend to be unstable precisely because they are parallel.
Doing Research: The Case of Organizational Design
T. Cummings, Susan A. Mohrman, A. Mohrman, Jr., and G. Ledford, Jr. present a framework for understanding
a research approach with organizations that are designing and redesigning themselves to adapt to rapid and fundamental societal changes.