Can Boards of Directors Think Strategically? Some Issues in Developing Direction‐givers' Thinking to a Mega Level

ABSTRACT The author argues that current corporate government legislation and practice is weighted too much in the direction of “board compliance.” It is, therefore, in danger of reducing the risks taken by boards of directors. In the long term this could slow significantly the growth of capitalism. He proposes a rebalancing of the fundamental board dilemma—how to strike a dynamic balance between driving the enterprise forward and keeping it under prudent control—in favor of “board performance” and raising the competence of “Mega‐thinking” on the board. This requires integrated board developmental activities so that their directorial accountabilities and liabilities are differentiated from the executive's, and that the requirement for rigorous strategic thinking has total commitment. Often fear and irritation by newly‐promoted executives has to be overcome here. The author introduces the “Learning Board” model and its associated annual rhythm for a board's year. Three approaches to developing strategic thinking are discussed including the Thinking Intentions Profile, and an updated version of the PPESTT analysis.     

Great Expectations but Politics as Usual: The Rise and Fall of a State-Level Evaluation Initiative

Using frameworks from the policy implementation literature and a qualitative methodology, this study examines the political rise and fall of the Louisiana Teacher Evaluation Program (LATEP). As the centerpiece of reform efforts, LATEP highlights the political difficulties amd complexities associated with attempts to implement a standardized evaluation program at the state level. Study data suggest that the political problems encountered by LATEP arose from two distinct, yet related sources: from competing program theories, that is, disagreements among stakeholders regarding the purposes and substance of the evaluation program; and from competing implementation theories, disagreements and confusion among stakeholders as to how the program should be implemented. The failure of LATEP underscores the potential pitfalls associated with attempts to implement an excessively prescribed evaluation program on such a large scale.     

The important contribution of market research to human performance technology

This article describes how market research can assist organizations to use the factors that Gilbert identified in his behavior engineering model. With information from market research, you can create processes and tools for communicating expectations, giving feedback, rewarding good or improved performance, and selecting employees who possess the capabilities and motivation required to perform as external and internal customers expect.     

The special features of sport: A critical revisit

In the world of contemporary sport it is commonly claimed that at its elite end at least, sport's management is complex because the product it delivers to participants and fans is so idiosyncratic. This claim is accompanied by the view that while professional sport is in large part just another form of business, it has a range of special features that demand a customised set of practices to ensure its effective operation. This article aims to re-examine this view in the light of sport's commercial and socio-cultural developments over the last decade. It initially proposes that while both business and sport are concerned with widening market share, building profits, and strengthening brands, the presumption that sport has a monopoly over the delivery of intense emotional experiences, tribal belonging, and strong interpersonal relationships, is difficult to defend. The article concludes that while sport's economic and social progress has created an industry that is built around complex bureaucracies that turn over many thousands of millions of dollars every year, it has also created a more diverse and heterogeneous system of structures and experiences that are difficult to conflate to a handful of neat special features.     

Education for the Environment: a critique

This paper acknowledges that, in many contexts, the term ‘education for the environment’ has generated powerful images which have resonated with educators seeking empowerment for themselves and their students. We also acknowledge that it has enabled inquiry into socio‐political dimensions of environmental issues. However, we propose that this term has become a slogan and, as such, its use has been insufficiently problematised. We identify anomalies and inconsistencies associated with the use of ‘education for the environment.’ Further, we argue that the term is conceptually and linguistically flawed and that we may not need, or want, the structures that it imposes. In challenging, rather than casually accepting, this terminology, we seek to regenerate a fundamental dimension of the discourse within environmental education.     

An analysis of difference score reliabilities on three measures with a sample of low-achieving youngsters

A common practice in the field of learning disabilities is analysis of ability-achievement discrepancies. The reliability of discrepancy scores is an important statistic in such decision making. In this study, selected ability and achievement devices were administered to a sample of low achievers (N = 99), and the reliability of various difference scores was analyzed. In all cases, the reliabilities of difference scores were moderately high. Reliabilities of differences for devices normed on the same population and differences for devices normed on different populations were comparable. These results are discussed in light of current psychometric practices.