Individual cognitive effort and cognitive transition during organization development

How do personal mind-sets change during an organization development intervention and how are these transitions associated with the intervention characteristics? In a qualitative theory-driven case study based in South Africa, the transitions of six individuals during an appreciative inquiry were scrutinized longitudinally for first-order and second-order changes. Five individuals showed first-order changes and two showed second-order changes. The engaging and emergent characteristic of the intervention explained the majority of these cognitive transitions. A third type of change in mind-set emerged in four of the cases: the development of an appreciative stance, which we classify as a form of cognitive effort rather than a cognitive transition. We conclude that interventions focusing on positivity may lead to participants developing an appreciative stance, but successful organization development might not occur without sufficient engagement in an emergent process. We provide some guidelines for practitioners for conducting an engaging emergent change process.http://jab.sagepub.comhj2018Business Managemen

Reframing the university as an emergent organization: implications for strategic management and leadership in higher education

For the most part, the organisational forms that are currently being adopted by higher education institutions are grounded in the traditional corporate models of organisation that take a rational approach to organisational design and change management. Underlying this account is an assumption of organisational autonomy and the capacity of designated leaders to direct change processes to better align their institutions with societal demands or goals. However, a case is now being made for the consideration of alternative organisational theories or models that offer a different perception on the sources and patterns of organisational change in higher education. These theories perceive organisations more as emergent entities in which change is continuous, often unpredictable and arising mainly from local interactions. The paper surveys the implications that acceptance of the alternative paradigm might have for strategising and change leadership in higher education institutions. It suggests that the accommodation of these alterative paradigms of institutional development in higher education may itself be an emergent process and considers how future research and policy formulation relating to strategic management and leadership might facilitate positive outcomes in that process

Effects of beam steering on the accuracy of long-path optical diagnostics of plumes

A preliminary simulation of the beam trajectory inside a synthetic turbulent plume was completed to investigate the potential range of beam deflections at a stand-off distance of 60 m corresponding to recent sky-LOSA field measurement conditions. Finely resolved temperature data extracted at a downstream plane of a simulated heated turbulent jet were used in the analysis and scaled by Reynolds number to simulate a generic turbulent flare plume. The results of the simulation showed that the distortion caused by beam steering should be within 0.25 mm (95% confidence interval) over a stand-off distance of 60 m. Compared with the typical projected spatial resolution in the plume of 8.4 mm for recent sky-LOSA measurements, this suggests the beam steering effects are likely negligible in typical sky-LOSA measurement applications. In addition, analysis of the fluctuations of illumination intensity showed that the beam steering results in fluctuation of less than 1%. Since these fluctuations are averaged during data processing, they should be negligible during sky-LOSA measurements