bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Innovative Management Leadership
Authors: Harris Philip R. , Harris Dorothy L.
Published: February 2008

The rapid emergence of the microelectronics revolution has led to an upsurge of new business enterprises in the information technology field. The entrepreneurial skills required to turn a take‐off venture into a successful business enterprise are substantially different from those required to manage established business organisations; entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship and the management of innovation are inextricably linked and will be a dominant feature of commercial life over the next decade. Identifying, understanding and applying such skills require the immediate attention of managers of any enterprise.
A New Approach to Situational Leadership
Authors: Nicholls J.R.
Published: February 2008

It has been shown that the Hersey and Blanchard situational leadership model suffers from fundamental flaws since it violates three logical principles — consistency, continuity and conformity. If the model is corrected to avoid this violation, allowing smooth progression of leader as parent (using LT/LR leadership style) to the leader as developer (using an HT/HR leadership style) the leader will maintain balanced emphasis on task and relationship as long as the ability and willingness of the group are developing symmetrically. The model performs all the functions of the original while avoiding its flaws.
The Work/ Leisure Relationship: Toward a Useful Typology
Authors: Banner David K. , Himelfarb Alex
Published: February 2008

By reorienting the study of work and leisure to a more sensitised approach, wherein “common‐sense” understandings of actors may be the grounding for scientific understanding, it may be possible to discover how these actors construct, modify and change their meanings regarding work and leisure. The categories which fall between work and leisure may be crucial and examination of these may determine conditions under which work has spillover, compensatory relationship, or no relationship to leisure.
An Approach to the Evaluation of Management Training Exercises
Authors: Evans W.A. , Sculli D.
Published: February 2008

Many lower‐level management jobs do not allow managerial talent to manifest itself. Management training exercises are required to identify and develop this talent. These exercises are invariably handicapped by participants providing what they think is the required response rather than their true impression. Ghiseili's Self Description Inventory offers an effective method of identifying and assessing the strength of those personal qualities, traits and abilities which lead to effective management. To explore its application in evaluating a management training exercise, two business games were used as the management training exercise using a total of 158 participants, mainly practising managers. The Self Description Inventory is successful in describing the effects of a management training exercise. A close study of the Ghiselli questionnaire itself may help with the development of management training materials.
Towards Effective Practice where Management Development is a Recent Concern
Authors: Gray Harry , Snell Robin
Published: February 2008

A theoretical framework is proposed based on the events within a study group, “Management Development in Areas where the Concern is Recent”. Using a phenomenological perspective a theoretical framework from the process of development of the group is derived. The group found it difficult to agree a definition of “area of recent concern” as it applies to types of actual or potential client system where management development is a relatively new concept or practice. Cautionary restraint is provided to anyone about to embark on management development in new areas who has not considered that fundamentally new issues and problems may be encountered.
Strategic Mentality
Authors: TenDam Hans W.
Published: February 2008

Strategic mentality is the individual ability of managers to think, decide and act strategically. This requires the ability to see an integral whole. This ability is less common than organisational and societal needs require. Strategic mentality profiles (cognitive and emotional) are presented and related to existing manager typologies. Circumstances that hamper strategic mentality are discussed and practical suggestions made on how to cope with such circumstances.
Beyond Organisation Development
Authors: TenDam H.W.
Published: February 2008

Organisational development is a well‐known and important methodology used by experts in group dynamics and organisational behaviour for improving groups and organisations. It is a process‐oriented approach of change and is believed to be more effective and valuable than the classic expert approach because it teaches people to improve their situations themselves, which emancipates and stimulates learning. Some organisation consultants seek a mix between the analytical and process approaches whereas others add “harder” aspects of human relations. The inherent limitations of organisation development are considered and alternative paradigms to improve social structures explored.
Enhancing Human Involvement in Organisations — A Paradigm for Participation
Authors: Rashford Nicholas S. , Coghlan David
Published: February 2008

Leadership and management gain success from understanding that organisational participation comes through the commitment and involvement of individuals working with one another. The question facing managers is how to encourage and develop organisational participation. The key to unlocking participation is the types of individual behaviour necessary for an effective organisation. These behaviours are classified into four operating modes, referred to as levels — each sequential and interlocking. They are Level I — the individual, Level II — face‐to‐face teams, Level III — the group or divisional level, and Level IV — the organisational policy and strategy level. Each of these is divided into tasks for its members.
Loyalty: Cross‐organisational Comparisons and Patterns
Authors: Werther William B.
Published: February 2008

Organisational commitment research has developed some well‐established paradigms that may be enriched by seeking experimental interventions directed at increasing employee commitment. The three major categories of commitment variables are described. Implications suggested through interviews of organisational members at different levels are discussed and a need for increased experimental intervention and measurement is identified.
An Interactionist Perspective on Organisational Adaptation
Authors: Bedeian Arthur G.
Published: February 2008

Existing theory is extended to develop a more comprehensive typology of organisational adaptation, from an interactionist perspective. Social learning theory is drawn on to present a reciprocal model stressing the continuous, multi‐directional interaction between strategic choice, environment and an organisation's behaviour.
Corporate Culture — Why Managers Should be Interested
Authors: Gorman Liam
Published: February 2008

The significance of corporate culture for the practising manager is highlighted, with emphasis on the hidden nature of culture and the importance of growing awareness of it so that its hidden forces can be managed. Having defined corporate culture, the types that may exist and the question of best fit between culture, company and environments is explored.
Productivity Improvement through Quality Control Circles: A Comparative Approach
Authors: Vaziri M.T.
Published: February 2008

Japan's adoption (and adaption) of QC circles 10 years earlier than most of the rest of the world, and the role this has played in Japan's advancement as an industrialised nation, is examined. The growth of circles in Japan is charted, and a consideration is given of the implementation of QC circles in other Far Eastern countries, South America, Europe and the US. Training at various levels, to overcome the shortage of qualified people, is discussed. A comparison is made between QC circles and other more conventional motivational plans, and five main issues are analysed; a comparison is also made between Japanese and Western industry and their respective worker attitudes. The necessity for QC circles to become established in the US, and considered a fundamental human resource enhancement, rather than a foolish fad, is stated.
Allied Irish Bank in Britain: Organisational and Business Development through Action Learning
Authors: Seekings David , Wilson Brian
Published: February 2008

The International Management Centre from Buckingham has been working with Allied Irish Banks in Britain for the past three years in a unique business development programme. David Seekings talks to Brian Wilson, General Manager of AIB, about how it went.
DEPICTING THE ORGANISATIONAL STRATEGY OF AN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION FROM AN OVERALL PERSPECTIVE
Authors: Kroll Mark
Published: February 2008

Over the past few years public interest in value for money from educational institutions has obliged administrative and teaching staff in such organisations to plan, organise and control more effectively, and in some cases to upgrade quality. Improved performance in an educational establishment, by the use of strategy formulation and implementation, is possible and is demonstrated by reference to Southeastern Louisiana University which has recently undergone such an experience.
TRANSFORMING ORGANISATIONAL VALUES AND CULTURE EFFECTIVELY
Authors: Edwards John D. , Kleiner Brian H.
Published: February 2008

Many researchers have been investigating the subject of corporate culture, which has become a buzz word of the 1980s. All results have not been in agreement but a variety of changes to accommodate a change in corporate culture have been observed. Usually the change is effected in order to increase company profitability, and the strategy chosen depends on the existing culture, the company's stage of development (growth, mid‐life, maturity) and the kind of change required. American examples are cited.
ORGANISATION DEVELOPMENT AND COMPARATIVE MANAGEMENT: ACTION RESEARCH AS AN INTERPRETIVE FRAMEWORK
Authors: Shani A.B. (Rami) , Tom Basuray M.
Published: February 2008

Action Research (AR) is presented as an interpretive conceptual framework through which an understanding of management systems can be achieved. The proposed interpretive framework is briefly described and examined as a comparative management framework. The merit inherent in AR as an interpretive comparative management framework is illustrated through an initial comparative analysis of US and Japanese management practices.
ENTREPRENEURS AND ORGANISATIONAL GROWTH: SOURCE OF THE PROBLEM AND STRATEGIES FOR HELPING
Authors: Novelli Luke , Tullar William L.
Published: February 2008

The difficulties entrepreneurs encounter as their organisations move from the rapid growth to the maturity stage are attributed to a personality/ organisation misfit. Personality characteristics that are an asset in the earlier stages become a liability in the later organisational life‐cycle stages. Several interventions are suggested for use with entrepreneurs who face this situation. The use of reframing strategies that involve unconscious information processing are advocated, as an intervention of last resort, when an entrepreneur wants to stay at the head of the organisation but the misfit is causing problems. This article although purposely speculative and hopefully, provocative, is designed to expand our thinking about the problems entrepreneurs face and to open up possibilities for potential solutions.
META LEADERSHIP IN ORGANISATIONS: APPLYING BURNS' POLITICAL CONCEPT IN TRANSFORMING LEADERSHIP
Authors: Nicholls John
Published: February 2008

A distinction was drawn by Burns, the political scientist, between transforming and transactional leadership. The notion of transforming leadership struck a chord with behavioural scientists, but discrepancies and internal inconsistencies in their application of the concept arose. A way of clarifying the situation is to view transforming leadership as the application of meta leadership “visioning” to the macro‐leadership role of pathfinding and culture building. This idea is explored, taking a close look at transforming leadership as propounded by Burns.
MINTZBERG REVISITED: A STUDY OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
Authors: Beggs Joyce M. , Doolittle Dorothy C.
Published: February 2008

Chief executive officers — the primary strategic decision makers who are ultimately held accountable for organisational success — are investigated. Through use of questionnaires, both demographic information and perceptions of the importance of work roles and of work activities were gathered and analysed. When possible, comparisons were made to Mintzberg's classic study of CEOs.
The politics of corporate model building
Authors: Naylor Thomas H.
Published: February 2008

A recent survey by Social Systems, Inc., indicates that since 1970 over 1000 corporations in the United States and Canada have begun developing and using corporate simulation models. However, the percentage of corporations that have experience with corporate models remains relatively small. Why aren't more corporations using these models today? Why are the corporate model users restricted to the larger corporations? Are the primary constraints impeding the use of these models technical problems, computer hardware problems, software problems, or political problems?
New concepts for strategic planning
Authors: Ringbakk Kjell‐Arne
Published: February 2008

Corporate planning is in trouble. My research on corporate planning practices in North American corporations shows that:
Suddenly last winter: A scenario for the 1980s
Authors: Kastens Merritt L.
Published: February 2008

It is said that the prospect of being hanged does wonders to sharpen the mind. Some people — apparently including the FAO — can still address the food “problem” in the simplistic terms of producing more food from available land and distributing it with some kind of equity. However, the Arab oil embargo and subsequent fuel price increases have forced many of us to realize that the world has come to the end of an era. The new economics are energy economics. The new measure of productivity is energy productivity.
Astrology: A tool for planning
Authors: Kaye Doris
Published: February 2008

Would it surprise you to know that one of the chief functions of serious astrology is to enable an individual to develop better plans? Astrology utilizes accumulated data, research, empirical knowledge and the strategy of proper timing—all of which results in a most useful tool for planners.
Human Resource Management in the corporate planning process
Authors: Reynolds Calvin
Published: February 2008

This is the first article in the new Human Resources Management Department of Planning Review. The article has three primary objectives: 1) To highlight and emphasize the importance of human resources management in the planning process. 2) To encourage our readers to submit articles in‐corporating their own concepts and experience. Particularly interesting are case studies that demonstrate the interaction of strategic business and human resources planning. 3) To illustrate with a real ‐ if somewhat disguised ‐ case study of one major firm that could profitably have given more thought to the human resources implications of a fundamentally sound plan of reorganization.
Do corporate executives plan for social responsibility?
Authors: Lipson Harry A.
Published: February 2008

The corporate planning process in large U.S. industrial firms must take a wide range of demands and pressures into account. Many different groups have an interest in the performance of the organization, and each exerts its own pressure, however subtle. Management responds to these pressures according to its own set of priorities.
Forecasting for planning
Authors: Chambers John C. , Mullick Satinder K.
Published: February 2008

Identifying Turning Points. In our first article in this series we described the new environment in which business must operate and its effects on forecasting and decision‐making. We considered how greater emphasis will be placed on the immediate future and the frequent changes that are taking place. In this article we want to indicate how changes in trends can be identified quickly or forecasted, how the forecasts can be translated into specific actions, and how the measurement of current trends, the change in demand, and accurate short‐term forecasting are essential to good long‐term forecasting.
Forecasting for planning: Qualitative techniques
Authors: Chambers John C. , Mullick Satinder K.
Published: February 2008

In our first two articles, we described the new environment in which we are living, its impact on forecasting and decision‐making, and the importance of being able to identify turning points in a dynamic environment. Because the influence of new factors on system dynamics may preclude the use of quantitative methods for establishing historical relationships, the need for qualitative techniques has increased due to deviations from historical trends and relations, changes in consumer attitudes and preferences, energy and ecology considerations, emphasis on the individual's ability to shape community and social strategies, and other such factors.
Linear programming
Authors: Culhan R.H.
Published: February 2008

Planning is preparing for the future. Management science helps planners visualize the future by: Comparing probable outcomes of alternative strategies, Finding a good solution from thousands (or millions) of possibilities, Testing the potential impacts of uncertain factors, Predicting the performance of systems of people and machines.
Examination of a strategy failure
Authors: Salveson Melvin E.
Published: February 2008

During the 1960s and 70s a large number of corporations focused on rapid growth and diversification. Within a few years, almost all of them experienced severe growing pains when they attempted to manage their diversified stable of companies. Many have found that such pains can wrack and sometimes even destroy an organization that otherwise seemed to be quite strong. The following case history of Teledyne/ Packard Bell outlines some of the problems and results in one instance of diversified growth. It also examines the process of planning and achieving growth and suggests strategies for avoiding the kind of failure that the Teledyne subsidiary, Packard Bell, experienced.
Profit planning through acquisition
Authors: Kumar Parmanand
Published: February 2008

Corporations are frequently seeking different methods to increase their earnings per share and diversified acquisition has become a major means for profitability and growth. This article will explore how a corporation can increase its growth and profits through acquisitions and mergers in today's complex business environment.
The food problems of the world
Authors: Fribourg Michel
Published: February 2008

Almost 30 years ago, I was honorably discharged from the United States Army in a small town “des environs de Paris,” where I had been stationed, by pure coincidence, during the last year of the war. I sailed back to the United States on a “Victory Ship” to take over the general management of our family business.
Managing corporate strategy to cope with change
Authors: Gabriel Peter P.
Published: February 2008

It is hard to find a reasonably informed person today who is not aware that the rate of change all around us has become not only inconvenient, uncomfortable, disconcerting or confusing, but outright dangerous with respect to the future of whole countries, socio‐economic systems, and certainly some private corporations—if not private enterprise as such.
Changing life ways and corporate planning
Authors: Mitchell Arnold
Published: February 2008

The driving force in our society is no longer technology, economic growth, production, income, invention, and the like. Instead the driving force seems to lie in the inner realm of people's values. This article examines the effect of changing values on corporate planning.
Technology assessment: A new imperative in corporate planning
Authors: Humphries George E.
Published: February 2008

There is an evolutionary progression in corporate planning for new technology which goes: technology forecast, technology feasibility study, economic feasibility study, market feasibility study, technology assessment. A translation of this continuum reads: What is possible? Is it likely? Is it affordable? Will it sell? Will it hurt anything?
Simulation: When all else fails
Authors: Smith Robert D. , Morris James G.
Published: February 2008

Traditionally, corporate planning was, and sometimes still is, a curious blend of aspiration, perspiration, and inspiration. In this age of Future Shock these virtues are admirable but not sufficient. Nor do simple trend projections deal effectively with external conditions related to consumer behavior, federal reserve policies, energy uncertainties, stock market fluctuations, and technical innovations such as computer networks and time‐sharing. Fortunately, a relatively new tool, made possible through electronic computers, improves the planner's capability to cope with accelerated change and the increasing risks associated with planning for such change.
Pay satisfaction
Authors: Jack Shapiro H.
Published: February 2008

Pay satisfaction is of vital concern to the individual employee, the individual employer, and, in turn, the entire economic structure. Although much research has been performed in the field of job satisfaction, very little research has been conducted in the field of pay satisfaction. The work that has been done indicates that, as we would expect, pay dissatisfaction leads to poor job performance, strikes, grievances, high turnover rates, job dissatisfaction, and mental disorders.
Planner at the Helm
Authors: Allio Robert J. , Randall Robert
Published: February 2008

With this interview of W.R. Goodwin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Johns‐Manville, Planning Review initiates a series of articles designed to elicit the opinion of top management on the effectiveness of planning and the proper direction for the state of the art. In simple terms the question is, “How are planning and the planning process viewed from the CEO's office?” Dr. Goodwin was chosen to be the first CEO interviewed because he is one of those rare chief executives who was promoted to top management after a stint as chief planner. Obviously, he is well acquainted with the methodology of planning, the various ways it can be utilized by a corporation, and its potentials. Other executives interviewed in the series will be selected on the basis of their professional experience with planning before their promotions. In this first interview, the interviewers — Robert J. Allio, President of NASCP, and Robert Randall, contributing editor to Planning Review — attempted to make the session informal and more a conversation than an interrogation. For this reason, specific and detailed questions about the Johns‐Manville planning cycle and organizational structure were omitted. Instead, the time spent with Dr. Goodwin gave Planning Review an invaluable chance to learn about his attitude toward planning. Planning Review would like to take this occasion to thank Dr. Goodwin for being so generous with his time. To condense the hour and a half of insight he so cheerfully gave the interviews, the editors have blue‐penciled extensively. In addition, much of the responsibility for the interview's organization rests with the editors. Interestingly, although the interviewers provided Dr. Goodwin with a list of questions in advance, these never became a central part of the discussion. Chief executives tend to answer questions they raise themselves.
Accounting for uncertainty in the capital budget
Authors: Hoyle Robert S. , Dawkins George S.
Published: February 2008

Capital budgeting (CB) is a resource allocation problem encountered by top management faced with deciding which capital projects should be selected for implementation. The conception and details of these projects normally originate in lower echelons of the company, but it remains for top management to select which set of projects best contributes to the overall objectives of the firm.
Pinning the blame for strategy failures on the CEO
Authors: Salveson Melvin E.
Published: February 2008

Company presidents frequently have short memories, if we judge by their annual report messages. All too often a project touted in the Message from the President one year as an exciting new venture is “forgotten” by the next annual report. Every corporate success has a proud father, but failures are doomed to bastardy. Some annual reports attempt to draw attention away from failures by highlighting a category called Profits from Continuing Operations. Thus a president can discreetly abandon the venture that failed by categorizing it in the annual report as a Discontinued Operation — a seemingly unimportant item. Such public relations devices may salve the chief executive officer's conscience, but they make fair assessment of his performance difficult. Discontinued operations are also a product of the CEO, and are an end result of his strategy. As failures, they deserve careful examination by directors, stockholders, employees, and press. And for the CEO, analysis of past mistakes is his best way to prevent future strategy failures.
National planning for goals, not plans
Authors: Sawyer George C.
Published: February 2008

It is easy to generate enthusiasm these days for consideration of national planning and national plans. In an era of increasing complexity and interdependence of the different elements in our society, it seems clear that something new should be tried.
Briefing line executives about strategic planning
Authors: Thaler Sylvia
Published: February 2008

How does a corporate planner respond when line executives show an interest in information concerning strategic planning? It is not necessary to employ a team of creative writers to “reinvent the wheel”; a judicious selection of recently published articles is an excellent way to familiarize executives with the problems, commitment, and terminology associated with planning.
Planning for electricity to avoid a shock
Authors: Swanson Dwight H.
Published: February 2008

Two findings of a recent study help clarify the challenge the electric industry is facing. First, our economic growth over the next twenty‐five years is likely to be constrained more by shortages of capital than by shortages of energy and raw materials. Second, electrical energy consumption will increase at an average rate of 5 percent to 6 percent per year ‐ even under policies assumed for a moderate growth scenario. Electric energy will grow as a result of the shift from oil and gas to coal and nuclear fuels.
Beachcombing for a definition of affluence at the Ebb Tide of expectation
Authors: Leontiades Milton
Published: February 2008

During the 1960s the phrase “affluent society” seemed an appropriate sobriquet to describe the national mood. It reflected expectations of crossing the threshold into a new era of mass, as opposed to class, affluence.
Will flirting with no‐growth lead to breach of promises?
Authors: Fowles Jib
Published: February 2008

“A mad hatter's tea party” is the way one reporter describe the October 1975 Limits to Growth Conference. In his view something thoroughly silly was going on at that meeting in Houston. But, as in Alice in Wonderland, whatever nonsense there may have been on the surface, profound matters were the true subject of the conference. Some day that reporter may wake up and wonder how he failed to see the significance of the debate over growth. By that time we could be firmly in the clutches of no‐growth policies.
The state of the art of planning models
Authors: Naylor Thomas H.
Published: February 2008

On October 9–10, 1975, representatives from approximately 75 companies in the United States, Canada, and Mexico attended a symposium in New Orleans entitled “The Future of Corporate Planning Models.” The symposium, sponsored by the Corporate Modeling Users Group of Social Systems, Inc., featured 13 presentations on the application of corporate planning models.
The planner minding the store
Authors: Randall Robert M. , Allio Robert J.
Published: February 2008

By asking Donald V. Seibert, Chairman of the Board of JCPenney, a number of variations on the basic question, “How do you plan?” this magazine continues its series of interviews with top management. These articles are informal and designed to reveal a chief executive officer's attitudes, his style, his inventory of problems and concerns, perhaps even his prejudices and preferences. The particular executives selected for these conversations (W. R. Goodwin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Johns‐Manville, and a former planning consultant, was first) have had substantial experience in planning. Mr. Seibert, for instance, was a line executive who suffered through the experience of being nominated company planner without the benefit of academic training. For this interview Mr. Seibert sat still for a two‐hour lunch in one of his company's private dining rooms in the Manhattan headquarters. Speaking cautiously, with the restraint of a corporate spokesman who is well aware of the pitfalls that encircle the corporate state, Mr. Seibert outlined his view of Penney's present, its years ahead, and its place in the decades to come. Eventually, when talk turned to marketing strategy — parting the customer from his dollar in exchange for the quality merchandise for which Penney's is famous — his voice became more fervent. A planner because he lives in an era in which planning is prudent capitalistic strategy, Mr. Seibert is obviously a retailer at heart. Under his leadership Penney's has achieved the following: • Resumed earnings growth, partly by controlling expenses and increasing productivity. • Increased both sales and net income. • Survived a challenging economic period which saw the bankruptcy of one major retailer. • Successfully maintained its image as a reliable merchandiser in a time when consumerism has held other firms up to the light and found tarnish. • Held on through eight unprofitable years until the catalogue operation which he once commanded began to make a significant contribution to profit.
Planning the picking order for the company totem pole
Authors: Lee Fred E.
Published: February 2008

“People are our most valuable asset” is a common expression used by most chief executives. Yet how much is really spent keeping track of this “most valuable asset”? What kind of resources are allocated to determining the company's management needs, and to developing manpower plans that match the company's growth? What controls are in effect that will trigger action when there is a variance from the plan? To what extent should the board of directors be involved? Does the chief executive officer allocate as much time, effort, and resources to the company's human resources development as he or she does to sales, finance, or production?
A telltale blowing in the trade winds
Authors: de Grandpré Albert J.
Published: February 2008

The role of the planner in our modern society reminds me of the reply given by a would‐be speaker to a request to address a group of scientists. If the time allotted to my remarks, he said, is two hours, I can be ready tomorrow. It it is one hour, give me a month. If you want a short, crisp presentation, I'll need six months.
Persuading groups to buy ideas
Authors: Yorks Lyle
Published: February 2008

Most executives find it necessary to make a number of persuasive presentations during their business careers. Planners must convince management committees to adopt new approaches or procedures; subordinates must convince their superiors that the organization should set out on a new course of action; home office managers must convince a group of field managers to pay more attention to service levels or a new product — the list of examples is endless. Such presentations are regular occurrences in all organizations.
New rules for the confidence game
Authors: Langsam David E.
Published: February 2008

“There's a hole in the ship of free enterprise and I see torpedoes ahead,” graphically explained one CEO to the authors of this work. His concern about the future course of business‐government relations is widely shared by many Fortune 500 CEOs.
The galloping Cyberneticist
Authors: Allio Robert J.
Published: February 2008

Planning Review intercepted Stafford Beer after his recent luncheon address to the Montreal chapters of NASCP and PEI to extract his current views on planning and the organization. Beer has long been concerned with the rate of change which technological achievement represents, and comments: “It is to the rate rather than to the changes themselves that we have to adapt.” In the interview that follows, he defines planning as the process of adjusting to a change in the environment. From his long inquiry into the task of organization and control in a fast‐changing environment, he concludes that the line/staff distinction is now dysfunctional. Planners and other staff personnel are making many decisions because they have the information and the decision has to be made quickly. Dr. Beer argues that these people should be given the responsibility to match the power they in fact enjoy. That power derives from information, which should not be confused with the accumulation of data. Data becomes information only at the point where it effects changes in the individual or company receiving it. Beer has long been a key figure in the fields of cybernetics, operations research, and management science. He's been a full‐time senior manager in four British companies, one a large publishing house and another United Steel, where he founded and directed for 13 years what became the largest civil operations research group. He has acted as consultant to international organizations such as the UN and the OECD and to a number of governments, including those of the United States, Britain, France, and Chile, in the sciences of management and effective organization (“the science of effective organization” is his preferred definition of cybernetics). Beer is Visiting Professor of Cybernetics at Manchester University, England, as well as Adjunct Professor of Statistics and Operations Research at the University of Pennsylvania. A conference speaker, broadcaster, and writer, Dr. Beer has published more than 150 papers and articles. Probably his best known books are Cybernetics and Management (1959), Brain of the Firm (1972), and Platform for Change (1975). In his spare time, Stafford Beer paints and writes poetry in his country home in Wales.
Winning strategies
Authors: Salveson Melvin E.
Published: February 2008

Strategy is how to win. Strategy is the course of action, the use of resources, the timing, the structure that tends to lead to success in any competitive situation. Winning in business is important, as important as life or death. Death in business is losing customers, losing market position, losing profits and return on equity, skipped dividends, even bankruptcy.
Convincing management to think future
Authors: Mendell Jay S.
Published: February 2008

There is almost unanimous agreement among futurists that without strong support from the top of the organization, a futures group cannot survive. But it is difficult to enlist top management's support for futurism: tunnel vision and shortsightedness (the antitheses of futurist thinking), carefully managed and nurtured, have, in the past, been forces propelling executives to the top.
Miracles for feeding multitudes
Authors: Calvert Geoffrey N.
Published: February 2008

The coming world struggle for food will be closely interwoven with inflation, with naked political power, with oil, with horrifying, excruciating choices for America, with basic challenges for science, with changing weather systems, and with desperately needed capital formation. Its outcome is not clear, yet the future economic and political power of North America, and, in the longer run, the survival of mankind, are tied up in it. At its root is population growth.
Priorities and performance don't always jibe
Authors: Evarts Donald P.
Published: February 2008

Does an industry's financial performance reflect its top management's expressed business priorities? A recent study of manufacturing companies in the Process‐Control Instrumentation Industry showed a significant difference between performance and stated priorities.
Diagramming GE's planning for What's Watt
Authors: Allen Michael G.
Published: February 2008

In this article, a practicing planner looks back instead of forward. This five‐year “postcast” of General Electric's strategic planning process from 1971 to 1976 focuses on the results of strategic leadership and corporate resource allocation in a large diversified enterprise.
The conserver cociety
Authors: Valaskakis K. , Smith J.G. , Sindell P.S. , Martin I.
Published: February 2008

In November 1974, GAMMA, an interuniversity futures studies group at the Université de Montréal and McGill, on the basis of an unsolicited proposal received a contract from the Canadian Department of Supply and Services, acting on behalf of fourteen federal government departments and agencies, “to provide a perspective on the implications for Canada and for Federal Government policies and programs of a future period of controlled, socially oriented growth generally described as the ‘Conserver Society.’
Numerical tests for the business environment
Authors: Smith James B.
Published: February 2008

The planner who is asked to justify an economic forecast — for example, an average annual inflation rate of 6.5% during the next five years — can respond with detailed quantitative information produced by a sophisticated econometric model based on forecasting trends. He or she will also be able to support that forecast with a comparable one prepared by any of several well‐known econometric forecasting services. To a manager who is not an expert in the mysteries of econometrics, the planner's approach will appear to be rational, objective, unbiased. For both manager and planner, there is “security in numbers.”
A new place at the table
Authors: Knoepfel Rudolf
Published: February 2008

More than anything else, the first pictures of our world as a beautiful blue‐green and white globe hanging in the eternal black space of the universe, which the astronauts brought back from the first moon mission, have hammered home to everybody the fact that this is really, for better or worse, one world. In the words of Barbara Ward, a “spaceship earth.” People have begun to realize that we live in a period of history which represents, as John R. Platt has put it, a “great world transformation.” We are no longer living in a slowly evolving, steady‐state world, but in a new kind of world where we are witnessing constantly and at an increasing rate quantum‐jump events, or what Kenneth Boulding has called a systems‐break. These shifts in global, social, economic, and technological balance are of the greatest importance to all planners. In our now hopelessly intertwined world economy, these quantum‐jump events not only influence the large multinational giant corporations, as so many still naively believe, but small, local businesses as well.
The new politics of regulation
Authors: Landry Richard S.
Published: February 2008

In the 1920s the role of the federal government in the United States could be neatly and briefly identified as the functions highlighted in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations: national defense, public works, public education, and the administration of justice. But with the Great Depression of the 1930s, government assumed new roles, expressed in the “alphabet agencies” and their related programs and regulatory activities, many of which are still with us in high degree. Further enlargement of government's role came in the post‐World War II '40s and '50s, which ushered in the Keynesian high employment policies that reached full blossom in the turbulent '60s. So far in the '70s federal regulatory activity has increased markedly, with over 20 new agencies created.
Balancing international risk and profit
Authors: Haner F.T.
Published: February 2008

Transnational corporations (TNCs) are recognizing the necessity of stratifying countries according to level of risk exposure so that they may optimize planning for:
Society's five‐sided attack on management
Authors: Amara Roy
Published: February 2008

As changes occur in the society in which management functions, changes must occur in the nature of management. To discern how these changes may come about, we need to become familiar with five emergent and interrelated features of U.S. society.
Focus on future business — North or South?
Authors: van Dam Andre
Published: February 2008

The world press courteously chronicled the petering out of the Conference on International Economic Cooperation in June of 1977 and turned its attention to more violent headlines.
A new route to the bottom line
Authors: Ranji S.
Published: February 2008

Planners and managers may be prisoners of their companies' accounting systems and not even know it. This is particularly true in companies that can make a variety of products by alternative processes, facilities, or machines. In these companies, top management periodically has to make strategic choices as to which products should be emphasized and how limited raw materials and production capacities should be allocated to those products in the medium to long term. These decisions are most commonly based on convential accounting figures—product costs and profits—which are developed with much effort and in great detail in most companies. This article points out the fallacies of total reliance on accounting profits for product mix selection.
Six stops in the planning game
Authors: Henry Harold W.
Published: February 2008

Attitudes about long‐range planning systems have changed since this author's 1967 book on the subject, Long‐Range Planning Practices In 45 Industrial Companies (Prentice‐Hall).
The crisis of unmanageability: Adapt to change or perish
Authors: Henderson Hazel
Published: February 2008

Today we are experiencing in the increasingly turbulent corporate environment, nothing less than a challenge to the Divine Right of Management. We see this phenomenon not only in the external challenges to large (bureaucratized) corporations and other institutions by consumers, environmentalists, civil rights and women's organizations, and those demanding greater corporate accountability, but also from within these institutions themselves.
The positive consciousness process
Authors: Mendell Jay S. , Lynn Tanner W.
Published: February 2008

Many corporate and public affairs planners and chief executive officers have found productive ways of planning which involve new ways of looking at themselves, their businesses, and the world. But they find it difficult to explain these personal consciousness shifts. The words simply aren't available to explain to others matters which are intensely personal and subjective. This limited lexicon often leads these executives to imagine they are deviant, and they become personally and organizationally frustrated.
Too much planning is “Half‐Brained”
Authors: Bologna Jack
Published: February 2008

The editorial on metarational planning in the September, 1977 issue of Planning Review brought back some fond memories of a brainstorm session we held with our staff in 1974. The issue which divided us and brought on the session was a disagreement over the nature and the art or science of planning. Being a corporate planning consulting organization, we felt we had to confront the issue directly or admit to our clients that while we could not define the nature of our own business, we expected them to be able to do so.
Making R & D management work
Authors: Leontiades Milton
Published: February 2008

Is your company wondering how to manage the R&D function? If so, Dr. Steele's book is worth reading. It is written by an expert (Ph.D. from MIT with 20 years experience) in non‐technical language. This is in keeping with the book's implied message that R&D is too important to be left to technicians. Prior to World War II, R&D was tertiary enough to ignore, or leave to the scientists to manage, which amounted to much the same thing. Now that R&D represents about 2.3% of GNP, or over $30 billion, companies are challenged to translate R&D expenditures into commercial sales.
The coming crunch over corporate governance
Authors: Lewin Arie Y. , Wiles James G.
Published: February 2008

The issue of corporate governance — the legal/political issue most likely to affect major corporations in the near future — arises from what large portions of society and many key members of the policy community perceive to be the illegitimacy of corporate management in a democratic, pluralistic society. Concern focuses largely on how corporate decisions are made by management and particularly by corporate boards of directors.
The making of a successful venture analysis model
Authors: Barker W.V. , Sadowsky H.C. , Wainwright R.T.
Published: February 2008

The development of a new agricultural chemical product begins with the screening of a large number of compounds (perhaps several thousand) through several stages, each progressively more detailed and specific. Eventually, the field is narrowed down to one compound that comes up for a “go” or “no‐go” decision.
Predicting the costs of litigation
Authors: Bennett Victor Marc
Published: February 2008

Because of their strategic nature and the large amounts of money at stake, decisions to merge with, acquire, or take over other companies and decisions to invest in major new product development are usually accompanied by thorough analyses of expected business consequences. Expected revenues and costs are closely examined, and the effects of critical business variables beyond the company's control (e.g., inflation, industry wage trends, competitors' pricing strategies) are explored. Discounted cash flow and “what if” analyses are commonly used to produce a quantitative understanding of the likely financial outcomes of the strategic options, as well as the chances of falling short of, or surpassing, the expected results.
Multi‐Level planning: An evolutionary view
Authors: Jantsch Erich
Published: February 2008

We are living in a multi‐level reality that is reflected within ourselves. On the one side, we are part of families, clans and tribes; of communities, nations, humanity; of ecosystems, professions and peer groups, institutions, civilizations and cultures. On the other side, we incorporate within ourselves the steps taken by evolution on its way toward higher complexity, from subatomic particles, atoms and molecules through nucleus‐free prokaryotic cells, now forming the organelles within the more eukaryotic cells, to cell tissue, organs and the entire organism, and further to the various steps of mentation introduced by the evolving brain.
The compleat corporate planner
Authors: Huggins David E.C.
Published: February 2008

The Corporate Planner has come of age. More and more business organizations are recognizing the significant contribution that a planning specialist can offer. Today, more organizations employ such specialists than ever before, and the trend is escalating.
Taking the chance out of choice
Authors: Jack Shapiro H.
Published: February 2008

The question most frequently posed by organizational planners and company executives is, “How, when, where, and in what direction should our firm proceed to reach its desired goals and objectives?” The decision‐making mechanisms available to planners for selecting and ranking alternative projects are often overlooked and need constant review. To demonstrate these mechanisms we will examine three projects being considered by National Tobacco Company, a fictitious firm. The figures used to illustrate each of the evaluation mechanisms are for clarification purposes only.
GPO—planning the unplannable
Authors: Boyle John J.
Published: February 2008

Within the Federal Government, there is a manufacturing operation, the Government Printing Office (GPO), that operates without subsidy or direct appropriation from Congress and that must recover its total costs—including labor, materials, overhead, amortization of machinery, and operation of its buildings—just as any large corporation must do if it intends to remain in business.