National Academies Press: OpenBook

Enhancing Organizational Performance (1997)

Chapter: Appendix B: Committee Activites

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Activites." National Research Council. 1997. Enhancing Organizational Performance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5128.
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B Committee Activities

In order to cover the topics of our charge, the committee undertook a number of activities—including site visits to relevant field settings and briefings by experts—in addition to full committee meetings, evaluation of reports provided by research and operational centers, and reviews of available research literature. The committee met four times during 1994-1995 at the National Research Council facilities in Washington, D.C., and Irvine, California. These meetings included presentations by the following Army experts to acquaint us with both specific Army interest in particular topics and Army experience and practice:

Dr. Michael Drillings, Army Research Institute

Dr. Edgar M. Johnson, Army Research Institute

Lt. General Theodore G. Stroup, Jr., Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, U.S. Army

Colonel Michael Shaler (retired), Steamboat Leadership Institute

Dr. Zita Simutos, Army Research Institute

Dr. Alma Steinberg, Army Research Institute

Dr. Steven Zaccaro, George Mason University

Most of the rest of the committee's work was carried out by subcommittees on specific topics. Our subcommittee organization tracks directly to the chapter organization of this report, and members wrote the drafts of chapters.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Activites." National Research Council. 1997. Enhancing Organizational Performance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5128.
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Organizational Design

George P. Huber, Robert L. Kahn, and Harold Van Cott constituted this subcommittee. It convened a roundtable discussion with organizational consultants held at the National Research Council on August 31, 1994. In addition to the subcommittee, participants included Larry Bailey from Coopers & Lybrand, Richard Burton from Duke University, Joyce Doria from Booz, Allen & Hamilton, and Ira Goldstein from Arthur Anderson. It also held a conference call meeting on October 10, 1994, with Robert Keller from Fort Leavenworth on issues of organizational design in the Army.

Techniques For Changing Organizations

Kim S. Cameron and George P. Huber constituted this subcommittee. In addition to reviews of evaluation studies on popular techniques, the members participated in the consultants' roundtable at the National Research Council referred to above.

Organizational Culture

Janice M. Beyer, Kim S. Cameron, John M. Wattendorf, and Jerome E. Singer constituted this subcommittee. Mary E. Zellmer of the University of Wisconsin prepared a paper reviewing the practitioner literature on organizational cultures. The subcommittee also participated in a conference call discussion on socialization issues coordinated by E.F. Baskin and conducted with the training staff at Anderson Consulting in St. Charles Illinois.

Leadership

Gary Yukl, David L. DeVries, Myrna H. Williamson, and John Wattendorf constituted this subcommittee. It was briefed by Lt. General (ret.) Thomas Carney on July 28, 1994, at the National Research Council on issues of leadership in the Army. It was briefed on how Army leaders at the lieutenant and captain ranks are trained at the Center for Army Leadership (hosted by Sue Metlan), Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on September 29-30, 1994. The subcommittee was also briefed on training issues by Bart Michelson at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF) in Washington, D.C., on October 25, 1994. This briefing was followed by an interview by Jerome Singer with Dean John Johns at ICAF. A visit to the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, on October 28, 1994, hosted by Herbert Barber and attended by Daniel Druckman, Jerome E. Singer, and Harold Van Cott, also provided information on leadership training at the colonel rank. Members were also briefed on the research being conducted by the

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Activites." National Research Council. 1997. Enhancing Organizational Performance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5128.
×

staff at the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina, on March 21-23, 1995. The subcommittee was joined by Jerome Singer, Harold Van Cott, and Daniel Druckman at this site visit.

Interorganizational Relations

W. Warner Burke and Nicole W. Biggart constituted this subcommittee. William E. Siegal of Columbia University assisted in the preparation of the draft chapter on interorganizational relations. Subcommittee members attended the annual meeting of the Association of Researchers in Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action at Berkeley Marina, California, on October 21-22, 1994, and held a conference call discussion about joint service and multilateral operations with Colonel Joseph Tyo of the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. In addition, Jerome Singer and Daniel Druckman were briefed on interorganizational coordination issues by Michael Austin at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on December 22, 1995. This meeting was the basis for a conference call discussion between the subcommittee and Michael Austin's staff at FEMA on March 24, 1995.

Conflict Management

Paul F. Diehl, Daniel Druckman, and James A. Wall constituted this subcommittee. It was briefed on international peacekeeping issues on a visit to the International Peace Academy hosted by Lt. Colonel Stephen Moffat and at the United Nations arranged by Juergen Dedring and Chris Coleman on August 29, 1994. Briefings on peacekeeping missions were also arranged for the subcommittee by Lt. Colonel Murray Swan and Major David Last at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on October 12, 1994. In addition, the subcommittee held conference call discussions on December 21, 1994, with Jim Thomas of Cooper Management, Inc., of McLean, Virginia, on negotiation training and on January 23, 1995, with Professor Morton Deutsch of Columbia University on approaches to conflict management training.

Military Organization Characteristics

Jerome E. Singer and Myrna H. Williamson constituted this subcommittee. It received valuable information in interviews with Robert J.T. Joy, Craig H. Llewellyn, and Michael Drillings.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Activites." National Research Council. 1997. Enhancing Organizational Performance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5128.
×
Page 266
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Activites." National Research Council. 1997. Enhancing Organizational Performance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5128.
×
Page 267
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Activites." National Research Council. 1997. Enhancing Organizational Performance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5128.
×
Page 268
Next: Appendix C: Biographical Sketches »
Enhancing Organizational Performance Get This Book
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Total quality management (TQM), reengineering, the workplace of the twenty-first century—the 1990s have brought a sense of urgency to organizations to change or face stagnation and decline, according to Enhancing Organizational Performance. Organizations are adopting popular management techniques, some scientific, some faddish, often without introducing them properly or adequately measuring the outcome.

Enhancing Organizational Performance reviews the most popular current approaches to organizational change—total quality management, reengineering, and downsizing—in terms of how they affect organizations and people, how performance improvements can be measured, and what questions remain to be answered by researchers.

The committee explores how theory, doctrine, accepted wisdom, and personal experience have all served as sources for organization design. Alternative organization structures such as teams, specialist networks, associations, and virtual organizations are examined.

Enhancing Organizational Performance looks at the influence of the organization's norms, values, and beliefs—its culture—on people and their performance, identifying cultural "levers" available to organization leaders. And what is leadership? The committee sorts through a wealth of research to identify behaviors and skills related to leadership effectiveness. The volume examines techniques for developing these skills and suggests new competencies that will become required with globalization and other trends.

Mergers, networks, alliances, coalitions—organizations are increasingly turning to new intra- and inter-organizational structures. Enhancing Organizational Performance discusses how organizations cooperate to maximize outcomes.

The committee explores the changing missions of the U.S. Army as a case study that has relevance to any organization. Noting that a musical greeting card contains more computing power than existed in the entire world before 1950, the committee addresses the impact of new technologies on performance.

With examples, insights, and practical criteria, Enhancing Organizational Performance clarifies the nature of organizations and the prospects for performance improvement.

This book will be important to corporate leaders, executives, and managers; faculty and students in organizational performance and the social sciences; business journalists; researchers; and interested individuals.

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