William G. Dyer

Modern theory and method in group training

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A Laboratory-Consultation Model for Organization Change

Behavioral change agents engaged in management and organization development efforts recognize as crucial, solutions to the recurring problems of entry and transfer. The major feature of the project reported here and still under way is the attempt to optimize both entry methods and transfer activities by a single developmental approach which includes the unique feature of using laboratory training to build a consulting relationship between internal consultants and their operating managers in an industrial organization. The essential elements of the total design included: (a) laboratory training as an initiating vehicle, (b) the use of internal Trainer-Consultants, (c) the use of data collection and feedback, and (d) a single management and organizational conceptual framework. A single framework was used to overlay prelaboratory, laboratory, and postlaboratory activity. Data about each of the 25 participating managers were collected from peers and subordinates prior to the laboratory. The laboratory allowed each manager to receive data from other participants, to receive data from back-home work peers and subordinates, to establish a working consulting relationship with internal consultants, and, with them, to begin to formulate a plan of action for back-home application. Initial results from back-home application within the organization indicate that these design features have reduced the entry and transfer problems experienced in utilizing laboratory earnings in organization development. However, certain problems still exist in transfer of learning, namely: uneven skill on the part of the managers to implement laboratory learnings, some lack of skill on the part of the Trainer-Consultants to intervene effectively, and the existence of certain organization conditions that do not support change.

Congruence and Control

While congruency as a way of behaving has received wide acceptance, many criticize it as (a) giving way to license, (b) not allowing for change, and (c) not really being practical. If we recognize that congruence is not the only value we hold, perhaps we can respond to a range of feelings stemming from a more complex value system. Simple, impulsive behaviors may not represent the range of feelings induced by a complex set of values; to be truly congruent one must be aware of both his values and the range of his feelings. Neither does congruence mean the maintaining of ones behavioral status quo. Congruence would require that a person who has behaviors he does not like should declare these to others and engage in a process of change. Being congruent may not only represent a value but requires skill in performance, and this skill can perhaps be learned. Since certain social systems may not initially support congruent behaviors, it may mean introducing change into the system before congruence is recognized as a practical way of living with others.

Implications of the Helping Relationship between Learning Disabled Students and their Teachers

Asking for and providing help is a critical issue in the relationship between the learning disabled student and the learning disabilities teacher. The usual concerns of demonstrating academic growth often overshadow some of the subtle, yet very real, effects of the relationship between the LD student and the LD teacher. Dyer discusses some highly significant factors that the LD teacher should be aware of when help is provided to the LD student. It is suggested that LD teachers have a responsibility to monitor their involvement with the LD student so as to develop a relationship that facilitates, rather than impedes, the students overall growth and development.

Management Profiling: as Others See You

There are three forms of the forty-three-item instrument: Feedback from Superior, Feedback from Peer or Colleague, and Feedback from Subordinate. The &dquo;target&dquo; manager is described as he or she is and how the feedback source thinks he or she should be. The &dquo;objective&dquo; items measure Likert’s four systems of management; the authors have added a fifth, System 0, or &dquo;Passive Management.&dquo; Each section of each form ends with an open-ended item that calls for the respondent to specify needed improvements that the manager might make.

Some Perspectives on Team Building A Reply To Glassman and Lundberg

Team building as an intervention is a much more comprehensive action than presented in this article. It involves a range of diagnostic activities before the process begins.