The following paper by Allan H. Church, and Gary C. McMahan reports the results of a recent survey project that investigated the contemporary practice of Organization Development among America’s Fastest Growing Firms (as identified by Fortune, October 5th, 1992).
Working Papers
Research and Insights from the Center for Effective Organizations
Available Content
Total Quality Management Practices and Outcomes in the Largest U.S. Firms
A survey of the 1000 largest companies in U.S. led by S. Mohrman, R. Tenkasi, E. Lawler III, and G. Ledford, Jr. shows that TQM practices fall into two main categories: core practices and production oriented practices.
Aligning Teacher Compensation with Systemic School Reform: Skill-Based Pay and Group-Based Performance Rewards
A. Mohrman, Jr., S. Mohrman, and A. R. Odden explain that teacher compensation structures have remained relatively constant for the past many decades.
Systems are Not Solutions: Issues in Creating Information Systems that Account for the Human Organization
Edward E. Lawler III, Philip H. Mirvis
1981 (republished 1994)
A Predictive Model of Self-Managing Work Team Effectiveness
This paper by Susan Cohen, Gerry Ledford, Jr., and Gretchen Spreitzer tests a theoretically-driven model of self-managing work team effectiveness.
Organizing Knowledge Work Systems
This paper by S. Mohrman, A. Mohrman, Jr., and S. Cohen examines the design of organizations for knowledge work. It draws on the general literature underpinning organization theory and design, and more applied work on design for knowledge work.
Large-Scale Organizational Change As Learning: Creating Team-Based Organizations
Susan Mohrman and Allan Mohrman, Jr. explain that the transition to a team-based organization is a large-scale organizational change. It is both pervasive and deep.
Team Cognitive Ability as a Predictor of Team Performance
This study by Patrick M. Wright, Gary C. McMahan, and Dennis Smart examined the relationship between team cognitive ability (average Scholastic Aptitude Test score) and team performance (a subjective coach’s evaluation and an objective measure using Sagarin’s Power Rankings) among NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball teams during the 1991-92 season.
The Impact of Individual Differences on the Socialization of Workers to a Technological Intervention
This study by K. Michele Kacmar, Patrick M. Wright, and Gary C. McMahan examined the role of ability, motivation, and their interactions in the effectiveness of the use of training as a socialization tool.
Towards an Understanding of the Factors which Enable and Obstruct Learning in New Product Development: An Action Research Study
Ronald E. Purser, William A. Pasmore, and Ramkrishnan V. Tenkasi explain that organizational learning in new product development involves the development of a knowledge base that can inform technical problem solving and decision making.
Avoiding the Corporate Dinosaur Syndrome
The characteristics that are associated with large corporations becoming dinosaurs are identified. A number of practices are suggested in this paper by E. Lawler III and J. Galbraith that can prevent an organization from becoming dominated by these dysfunctional characteristics.
The Effects of Inquiry Paradigms on Inquirers: A Study of the Impact of Different Inquiry Methods and Topics on Two Groups of Consulting Teams
Ramkrishnan V. Tenkasi, Tojo J. Thachankary, Frank J. Barrett, and Michael R. Manning investigated the impact of two different guiding schemas about organizations and topics of inquiry, on two groups of consulting teams.