bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Changes During and Following Laboratory Training: A Clinical-Experimental Study
Authors: Miles Matthew B. 
Published: March 2006

The difficulties in studying any treatment process are legion: vagueness in outcomes; imprecisely described processes; absent or noncomparable control groups; measures which sensitize the subjects; small numbers of (usually self-selected) subjects; and failure to specify a clear theoretical basis for predictions made. This study demonstrates some solutions to these problems. A population of 34 elementary school principals was studied intensively before, during, and after a two-week training laboratory, as were two carefully selected control groups. The underlying theory attempted to specify the contributions of personality variables, organizational press, and involvement in training processes during the laboratory to the explanation of obtained on-the-job change. In general, valid experimental-control differences were found. Changes as a result of the training seem primarily associated with active, "unfrozen" participation at the laboratory, and with reception of feedback. Personality factors, such as ego strength, flexibility, and need affiliation, do not affect learner change directly, though they do condition participation during the laboratory. Finally, organizational factors, such as security, autonomy, power, and problem-solving adequacy, serve to mediate the use of laboratory-caused learnings to some degree. These generalizations were supported by correlational analysis and by case studies of individual learners.
Acceptance and Quality of Solutions as Related to Leaders' Attitudes toward Disagreement in Group Problem Solving
Authors: Maier Norman R. F. , Hoffman L. Richard 
Published: March 2006

An experiment was designed to test the hypotheses that (1) disagreement in a discussion can lead either to hard feelings or to innovation depending upon the attitude of the discussion leader; and (2) acceptance will depend upon the leader's perception of disagreement as well as upon the decision reached. The test situation utilized a role-playing format in which a foreman attempted to induce three subordinates to accept a change in work methods. Measures of the negative vs. positive effects of disagreement were obtained by the frequency with which the discussion leader reported having problem employees vs. idea men in his group. The results showed that when the foreman most often reported having problem employees, solutions were least likely to be innovative and acceptance was relatively low. When the foreman perceived his subordinates as idea men, innovative solutions increased and satisfaction with the solution was greatest for all concerned, despite the fact that all persons involved had to change their initial positions. Although previous research has indicated that satisfaction is a function of influence over the decision, regardless of its quality, this experiment supplies evidence that the quality of the solution can introduce a further source of satisfaction. This occurs when a solution is one that resolves differences and integrates differing viewpoints to form a new and better product.
Group Composition Models for Laboratory Design
Authors: Harrison Roger 
Published: March 2006

The purpose of this paper is to develop a prescriptive model for the composition of groups to maximize the interpersonal exploration and learning of their members. Research, experience, and theory from several areas of inquiry are drawn upon to this end. A learning model is proposed in which interpersonal exploration and growth of the individual take place through (1) commitment to and expression of his preferred ways of perceiving and relating to others; (2) confrontation with perceptions and behaviors of others which stimulate; (3) exploration of meaningful alternatives to this individual's preferred style. Personal style and learning are considered in the light of research and experience. These suggest that the growth of persons who are relatively passive or inaccessible to their own emotions may be inhibited by the incompatibility between their personal styles and the learning model. The effects of group climate on the opportunity to follow the learning model are examined for persons of differing personal styles. It is proposed that the optimum group climate for learning provides both group support for one's current orientation and behavioral styles as well as confrontation with meaningful alternatives to one's preferred ways of operating. Group composition effects on member behavior and emotional climate are reviewed for evidence that it is feasible to manipulate the interpersonal environment by appropriate selection of group members. A model, the "multiplier effect," is proposed to account for the apparent ease with which group climate may be controlled in this way. An application of the theory and research to the control of group climate for the facilitation of learning is described, and the design implications of converging lines of theory, experience, and research are discussed.
Social Change in Industry: From Insight to Implementation
Authors: Winn Alexander 
Published: March 2006

One industrial organization's attempt to influence its social system through determined use of developmental programs is described. Referring to some ideas of the impending change of bureaucracy as we have known it in the past, the article points to the administrator's responsibility of not leaving the organizational and personnel development to chance in this era when both individual and organizational survival depend on the ability to adapt. It describes a tentative model selected by the organization to induce the utilization of knowledge and effect a social change through extensive use of laboratory methods. The results of this attempt are described. They vary with emotional involvement: from the greatest impact on man's primary family life to a slower rate of progress in the affectively neutral organizational environment. The perplexing question still remaining with the administrator is how fast and how far this process can go.
Individualism and the Formation of Values
Authors: Kimball Solon T. 
Published: March 2006

The assumption by educators, theologians, jurists, or others that right behavior can be achieved by the implantation of values in the individual fails to take account of the dynamics of value formation and change and of their relation to the social environment. Failure to include the social reality as the source of values may be attributed largely to the deeply imbedded focus upon the individual in Western civilization. This focus is found in those explanations which attribute individual behavior to instinct, to drive, to some innate force such as the libido, or to a spiritual connection with some antecedent supernatural power. Recourse to these sources as explanatory of individual development in any of its aspects is unsatisfactory. Instead, we need to examine the supraindividual cultural mechanisms embodied in the individual's categories of understanding and canons of discrimination. From cultural norms the individual learns how to evaluate and to develop values about himself and the world. Values are acquired through participation with others in groups, and in their manifestation express the qualities of an individual which we call character.
The Clinical-Experimental Approach to Assessing Organizational Change Efforts
Authors: Benedict Barbara A. , Calder Paula Holzman , Callahan Daniel M. , Hornstein Harvey A. , Miles Matthew B. 
Published: March 2006

Attempts to gain valid knowledge about the effects of organizational improvement efforts are fraught with difficulties. This article proposes the "clinical-experimental" method as a solution; it involves the separation of researcher and change-agent roles, the construction and testing of general and specific clinical hypotheses, thoroughgoing experimental design, and careful documentation of change-agent assumptions, plans, strategies, and effects. Organization improvement is regarded as the induction of increased "organization health"; a case study of such an effort in a large school system-which did not evoke the short-run changes hoped for-is presented to illustrate the clinical-experimental method.
Concepts of Change and Innovation in 1966
Authors: Lake Dale G. 
Published: March 2006

The Editorial Board of this Journal have decided that our readers would welcome an annual review of the development of theories, research, and applications focused on social change. This paper offers the first of what we now envision as a continuing series of summaries of progress during each year. The material reviewed here was published, for the most part, during 1966. A summary of the 1967 publications may be expected a year from now. -The Editor
Interpersonal Relationships: U.S.A. 2000
Authors: Rogers Carl R. 
Published: March 2006

Man's greatest problem, at this point in our swiftly changing technological progress, concerns our ability to assimilate change. With the population doubling during the next generation, can we humanize crowded living? The intensive group experience, perhaps the most significant social invention of this century, may help. The magnetism of the new openness and intimacy may prove more powerful than the trend toward treating man as a role or as a mere mechanism. By the year 2000 we shall probably change from the present pattern of action required to prevent conception to one in which infertility is standard and positive action is required to conceive. Parents may increasingly become not the authorities directing youth, but changing persons living in ever-changing interactions with their children. Institutionalized religion is likely to fade out, but the mysteries of life will acquire fresh challenge. Educators seem to show greater resistance to change than do any other institutional group. A revolution in our schools is long overdue. It is ironic that alert industry now does more than do schools to free up communication among persons. But the most tragic trend is the increasing breakdown of communication between the privileged and the ghetto.
Individual Change in a Management Development Program
Authors: Valiquet Michael I. 
Published: March 2006

Research into laboratory processes and outcomes has suffered from a lack of precise methods and continuity of effort essential to the construction of empirically grounded theoretical models of learning and behavior change. Data are presented here from a study of perceived behavior changes in employees of a large industrial concern one year after their participation in training. Participants are seen by co-workers as increasing significantly more than controls in effective initiation and assertiveness, in capacity for collaboration and operational skill in interpersonal relations, and in diagnostic awareness of self and the ability to fulfill perceived needs. Further systematic inquiry into the determinants of laboratory education is needed to complete the spectrum of alternative designs and outcomes.
Interpersonal Confrontation and Basic Third Party Functions: A Case Study
Authors: Walton Richard E. 
Published: March 2006

This study centers on a conflict between directors of two interdependent groups in a government agency and interventions by a third party consultant who helped them confront their intergroup and interpersonal differences. The third party (a) enhanced the parties' willingness to confront each other, because they perceived him as possessing skills which could prevent the process from deteriorating; (b) synchronized the parties' readiness and efforts to confront, because of the signal value of his presence and his limited availability to them; (c) increased their candidness in expressing views about the issues and reactions to each other, because each party associated the consultant with a prior experience in which openness had been normative. In addition, the third party (d) increased their feelings of social-emotional support and (e) helped clarify and diagnose the issues. A significant aspect of this episode is that because of the nature of the third party's professional identity and the clients' prior experience with persons in the profession, his presence by itself tended to provide emotional support and reinvoke some of the behavioral norms which were instrumental to the conflict confrontation and resolution process. The confrontation helped the parties clarify the intergroup issues and partly resolve their interpersonal issues. In turn, the improved rapport between the directors enabled them subsequently to handle the intergroup issues more effectively.
The Dynamics of Role Leaving: A Role Theoretical Approach to the Leaving of Religious Organizations
Authors: Jehenson Roger Bruno 
Published: March 2006

A Sister, member of a religious Congregation, and a priest, member of a religious Order, are led to admit that their mutual friendship has deepened to mutual love. This awareness engenders for both of them a conflict between their organizational roles and their need to bring this love to its normal issue. After a long period of selfanalysis and reflection, they decide to marry. The recognition of this most personal experience is delayed by the subjects' efforts to take refuge in their religious roles. Moreover, their decision to marry does not put an end to their difficulties. They find in their religious institutes, as well as in themselves, a strong resistance to the leaving of their organizational roles. The concept of "organizational attraction" is presented as a synthetic concept relating the objective attractiveness of the organization to the personality of its members. Three types of organizational attraction are distinguished-coercive, referent, and expert. The emphasis on coercive attraction on the part of the organization results in the parting members' reevaluation of their ties with it.
An Action-Research Approach to Organizational Change
Authors: Jenks R. Stephen 
Published: March 2006

This paper is concerned with the development, testing, and application of a research instrument designed for use in organizational settings as an integral part of organization change and development efforts. The instrument fits in the category of Leavitt's (1965) so-called "people approach" because it is based on bringing about organizational change by changing the interpersonal relations of the organization's members. Most helpful in bringing about change in interpersonal relationships are systematic data about the relationships. The organizational Q-sort instrument examined here was designed and developed to provide such systematic data for face-to-face workgroups. The development of a Q-sort instrument, which gathers and organizes data concerning perceptions of behavior and feelings regarding a particular problem facing a workgroup, is described in detail. The application of the instrument in an organizational field setting is examined and evaluated in terms of (a) the usefulness of the instrument, (b) the extent to which it is a meaningful part of an organizational change and development project, and (c) the results obtained. The results are given both quantitatively (by means of statistical analysis) and qualitatively (by means of content examination in three categories: characteristic items, uncharacteristic items, and discrepant items). The impact of the results in the organizational setting is examined. Further developmental possibilities of the instrument are mentioned.
When Planning for Others
Authors: Bass Bernard M. 
Published: March 2006

The systems analysts presented a mathematically optimum plan to the management, but the plan is still not operational. The plans for production call for 720 units per day, but the foreman reports averaging only 580 units daily. The finance committee agreed to seek advice on investment strategy, but would not follow it when it was given. The staff proposals were summarily rejected by line management as lacking in practicality. These failures of plans to be accepted or operated effectively could have been due to a variety of reasons other than the lack of quality in the plans themselves. The systems analysts may have felt that management lacked sufficient mastery of mathematics to appreciate fully the elegance of the optimum plan, and peremptorily asked management to accept the mathematics on the analysts' authority as experts. The foreman may have regarded it as an usurpation of a management prerogative to accept suggestions for changes in plans from his workers. The investment advisers may have failed to consider adequately the fears, hopes, and expectations of those they were advising; or the staff may have found itself in a competitive struggle with line management, who in turn saw their security threatened by staff's proposals. In the text that follows, a close look will be taken at these and other reasons for the failure of plans to be carried out, and how the likelihood of such failures might be reduced when planning for others.
Team Building—One Approach to Organizational Development
Authors: Crockett William J. 
Published: March 2006

The following article is a description of the first team-building meeting (between boss and subordinates) ever held in the Department of State and perhaps in any organization of the federal government throughout the United States. The article describes the serious doubts that were in the mind of the leader at the start of the meeting, how the premeeting interviews were conducted, and how the interview data were handled. The inhibitions felt by boss and subordinates upon leveling in front of one another are revealed, and the methods used by the consultants in enabling the group to confront the data and work them through are fully described. As the author shares his own fears and experiences, one can see how a team is created by the individual members in working through the data which they themselves have had available all the time. After a description of the back-home results of these efforts there is the conclusion that it is indeed a worthwhile experience for a workgroup.
Evaluating Sensitivity Training for Teen-Agers
Authors: Himber Charlotte 
Published: March 2006

At a meeting of some 43 trained staff leaders of the teenagers' sensitivity training program for the YMCA, psychologist lack Gibb, who was consultant for the program, commented: "There's no book that says all the things that kids feel have happened, or describes how tremendously life has changed." Throughout the Young Men's Christian Associations in the United States, more than 7,000 teen-agers have participated in sensitivity training experiences, ranging from three-day weekends to:o-day laboratories. Some form of evaluation is usually built in as part of the program design. One formal study evaluating the "Self-Perceived Gains" of teen-agers was made in 1968 (643 were sent questionnaires, of whom 420 responded). A follow-up to the same subjects six months later largely corroborated the first overwhelmingly positive findings. Many other interactional programs using sensitivity training with teen-agers have been introduced, and the results are sufficiently positive in the YMCA to warrant wider exploration with this type of program for young people.
Research on Human Relations Training: Design and Interpretation
Authors: Harrison Roger 
Published: March 2006

The measurement of processes of learning and the evaluation of the outcomes of the teaching-learning process have always posed major problems in research design. This is especially true where the desired outcomes are broadly defined as changes in interpersonal behavior: a complex of knowledge, values, perceptions, and behavioral skills. One purpose of this paper is to provide investigators with a review of the methodological problems involved in planning and conducting such studies. Unlike much research in the behavioral sciences which is primarily intelligible and of interest only to other researchers, research on human relations training is frequently written for and read by administrators and practitioners who may base action decisions on the findings. Their need is for guidelines which will aid them in evaluating the soundness of research reports and their applicability to practical decisions on the planning and conduct of training. This paper is equally addressed, then, to the creators and consumers of research on human relations training. The examples and references in this paper will be drawn from the literature on "sensitivity training," or human relations training, by laboratory methods. These problems, however, are general to research on human relations training, not specific to sensitivity training as a special method. The discussion should be of utility to those who conduct or interpret research on any of the various techniques of human relations education.
A Behavioral Science Design for the Development of Society
Authors: Blake Robert R. , Mouton Jane Srygley 
Published: March 2006

Students for a Democratic Society, the heads of Brandeis, Berkeley, and Boston Universities, and President Nixon, Prime Minister Heath, Chancellor Brandt, and Premier Kosygin all share one important concern. They want to provide for a better life in society. Each must find ways to cause change from what is to something better. Systematic investigations, field experiments, and clinical research in the behavioral sciences have contributed much to advance the science and technology of personal and institutional change. Yet there is evidence to suggest that society's leaders are slow in utilizing this knowledge. Why are leaders tardy in putting this to work? Were they to do so, what possibilities for constructive gains looking toward society's improvement are open? How might a start be made?
Experimental Evaluation of Sensitivity Training
Authors: Bare Carole E. , Mitchell Rie R. 
Published: March 2006

This study was undertaken to: (1) determine whether significant behavioral changes occur as a result of sensitivity training, and (2) compare the effectiveness of three sensitivity training group time patterns: spaced (an average of 30 hours spaced over a period of approximately lo weeks), massed (an average of 24 hours in one continuous training session), and a combination (a weekend, with 10 hours spent in training, followed by five two-hour sessions once a week and terminating with another weekend). Behavioral changes were measured by individually constructed rating scales. The criterion scores included self, trainer, and group member ratings, as well as an independent assessment by outsiders who knew the individual well. Experimental subjects showed more rated behavioral change (p < .oi) than did control group subjects at the conclusion of training and after a three-month follow-up period. The data also indicate at the short post that the combination pattern of time was more effective than the spaced pattern, but no inter-pattern differences were significant at the three-month follow-up.