Warren R. Nielsen

Importance‐Satisfaction Analysis: A Diagnostic Tool for Organizational Change

Develops and presents Importance-Satisfaction Analysis as a simple and highly pragmatic organizational diagnostic tool for both managers and consultants. Specifically, the importance-performance framework presented in the marketing literature has been adapted for application in the management of human resource by changing the models external/strategic (the consumer and the product) orientation to an internal/operational (the employee and the job) focus. Uses data from a major national laboratory to illustrate step-by-step application of this methodology. Discusses practical advantages of the framework and implications for managers and consultants. Simplicity and ease of application, adaptability to various data collection techniques (questionnaires, interviews, group analysis, etc.), early identification of areas requiring action, priority-based resource allocation implications, and modest cost are a few of the virtues of this managerial/consulting tool.

Mentoring: Using Transactional Analysis to Help Organizational Members Use Their Energy in More Productive Ways

This article reviews various mentoring roles, organizational attitudes toward mentoring, different kinds of mentors, mentoring functions, stages of mentoring, and the benefits and risks of mentorin...

Perceptions of sexual harassment: a female office professional’s perspective

Argues that, as problems with sexual harassment in the workplace become more apparent, the development of a commonly accepted, behavioural‐based definition of the construct becomes crucial to our understanding of the phenomenon. Attempts to add to the development of this definition by assessing 840 female office professionals’ perceptions of the behaviours that create a hostile work environment and assessing differences in perceptions which might be related to demographics. Contrary to previous research, indicates that demographics do not explain differences in perceptions of female office professionals. Makes suggestions for future researchers and practitioners.

Ethics and Organizational Change

Probably at no other time in economic history, particularly in that of the United States, have organizations and their participants been under greater pressure to change, and change in ways in which all participants and variables are impacted upon. This pressure comes from a variety of sources, such as competition from domestic organizations and foreign entities, changing societal values, the speed of technological advances, increasing costs related to the generation of goods and services, new product concepts and designs, changing educational levels and values of the work force, increased governmental regulations, life expectancy of individuals, shrinking natural and financial resources, and an imbalance of trade between the United States and other nations. Most organizations within the United States are facing at least one, if not all of the above-mentioned conditions. Along with the pressure for change come critical questions regarding the ethics of change which must be acknowledged and confronted by those involved in the change process.

Can Organization Development Use Transactional Analysis

The authors describe a consulting experience using organization development and transactional analysis. Their discoveries included the effectiveness of transactional analysis (TA) as an interventio...

Individual influence in organizational change

Most serious organizational change efforts of the last two decades have focused on change within groups or the socio‐technical system. Hard data on change efforts are both limited and present a mixed picture of the effectiveness of these efforts, particularly over an extended period of time. Presents ideas, notions and concepts about the role of the individual within organizations which may help to explain some of the failures and increase the probability of successful change. Like individuals, organizations consist of body (participants′ common goals, beliefs of background), and spirit (individuals′ ideas, assumption and thought processes). The artificial system of an organization (spirit) is man‐made and owes its continued existence to the ideas, assumptions and thought processes in the minds of the individual within the organization. Consistent with this notion, develops the concept that for real long‐term organizational change to occur, the systems existing within the minds of individuals must be alte...

COUNSELLING EMPLOYEE GUILT: A CORPORATE NECESSITY

In the 1960s and 1970s working women began to increase significantly and by the 1980s over half of America′s wives worked outside the home. This social revolution has placed a major burden on women and the associated conflicts have been researched, analysed and publicized, generally from the female viewpoint. However, few studies have also included the male viewpoint. Therefore compares how feelings of guilt, resulting from work‐family conflicts, differ or are similar between husbands and wives and can aid in the counselling of employees in the workplace who are troubled with guilt. The effective counselling of the human resource in today′s organization is a must. The effective utilization of individuals in organizations thus requires a better understanding of the effect of guilt on their personal perceptions, motivations, and behaviours.

Differing Intervention Styles: An Assessment

Organization training and development specialists have generally viewed themselves as somewhere along a segmented continuum. At one end were trainers in management development and at the other end were organization development practitioners. In some cases, these two development processes were integrated; however, more often than not, those involved found themselves in somewhat different camps, each operating in relative isolation. During the last decade, a relatively new dimension generally known as “organizational transformation” has been added to this continuum. The “organizational transformation” process represents a “new” phase of intervention styles because the underlying logic of the process compels the trainer or consultant to utilize very different paradigms regarding the global realities of organizations. There is an evolving development continuum incorporating highly compatible and indeed potentially synergistic MD‐OD‐TRANS processes. Provides a preliminary framework for understanding the differ...