WAILAND, CHRISTINE B.; PHD

                         SAYBROOK INSTITUTE, 1992

                         BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, MANAGEMENT (0454); PSYCHOLOGY, INDUSTRIAL (0624);
                         SOCIOLOGY, INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS (0629)
 

                         New means for managing employees in a turbulent environment are explored in this study. Faced with a
                         new work ethic, a changing nature in work issues, and innovations that in turn create new problems,
                         companies often opt for short-term solutions of only the problem symptoms. Organizational learning,
                         based on systems thinking, was explored as the alternative route to be followed for adjusting
                         management practices to match the diversity of new situations and the complexity of work relationships.
                         An organizational design inquiry was made that was framed in the concepts and methods of a systems
                         view of the world. This design inquiry followed the journey the employees of a work unit took as they
                         moved toward self-organization. The map of the route (the methodology), its milestones (stages of
                         design), and the signs posted for direction (the models created by this group) are described. The design
                         research yielded insights into the application of evolutionary concepts to social systems, into new work
                         relationships that are based on knowledge distribution, and into the new role of the manager as facilitator
                         of the conditions in which employees teach each other. Small work units appear to be the most promising
                         for promoting the reintegration of thinking and acting in each worker which is a prerequisite for yielding
                         the level of employee contributions that is vital for the survival of an organization.

Social Systems Simulation Group P.O. Box 6904 San Diego, CA  92166-0904 Roland Werner, Principal Phone/FAX  (619) 660-1603