Distribution of Interstitial Cells and Differentiating Nematocytes in Nests in Hydra attenuata

We have used tissue maceration to quantitate interstitial cell nests in Hydra attenuata and thiolacetic acid-lead nitrate staining to quantitate differentiating nematocytes. Most I-cell nests have 2, 4, 8, or 16 cells. Differentiating nematocytes occur in nests of 4, 8, 16, and 32. All classes of I-cell nests and nests of dilferentiating nematocytes are abundant in the gastric region. In contrast, the hypostome, basal disk and the regions immediately adjacent to them have no nests of differentiating nematocytes, virtually no nests of 4, 8, or 16 I-cells and reduced numbers of 1 and 2 I-cell nesls. Since nests of 4 or more I-cells are found only where nematocyte differentiation takes place, these nest classes are probably nematocyte precursors. Since differentiation of nerves occurs in the hypostome and basal disk where only single or paired I-cells are found, these size classes include nerve precursors. The disproportionately large number of I-cell nests of 2 suggests that these include the autoreproductive stem cells responsible for maintaining the populations of I-cell derivatives in growing hydra

Inertia and Change in the Early Years: Employment Relations in Young, High Technology Firms

[Excerpt] This paper considers processes of organizational imprinting in a sample of 100 young, high technology companies. It examines the effects of a pair of initial conditions: the founders\u27 models of the employment relation and their business strategies. Our analyses indicate that these two features were well aligned when the firms were founded. However, the alignment has deteriorated over time, due to changes in the distribution of employment models. In particular, the \u27star\u27 model and \u27commitment\u27 model are less stable than the \u27engineering\u27 model and the \u27factory\u27 model. Despite their instability, these two blueprints for the employment relation have strong effects in shaping the early evolution of these firms. In particular, firms that embark with these models have significantly higher rates of replacing the founder chief executive with a non-founder as well as higher rates of completing an initial public stock offering. Some implications of these findings for future studies of imprinting and inertia in organizations are discussed

Engineering Bureaucracy: The Genesis of Formal Policies, Positions, and Structures in High-Technology Firms

[Excerpt] This article examines the impact of organizational founding conditions on several facets of bureaucratization—managerial intensity, the proliferation of specialized managerial and administrative roles, and formalization of employment relations. Analyzing information on a sample of technology start-ups in California\u27s Silicon Valley, we characterize the organizational models or blueprints espoused by founders in creating new enterprises. We find that those models and the social composition of the labor force at the time of founding had enduring effects on growth in managerial intensity (i.e., reliance on managerial and administrative specialists) over time. Our analyses thus provide compelling evidence of path dependence in the evolution of bureaucracy—even in a context in which firms face intense selection pressures—and underscore the importance of the logics of organizing that founders bring to new enterprises. We find less evidence that founding models exert persistent effects on the formalization of employment relations or on the proliferation of specialized senior management titles. Rather, consistent with neo-institutional perspectives on organizations, those superficial facets of bureaucracy appear to be shaped by the need to satisfy external gatekeepers (venture capitalists and the constituents of public corporations), as well as by exigencies of organizational scale, growth, and aging. We discuss some implications of these results for efforts to understand the varieties, determinants, and consequences of bureaucracy

Determinants of Managerial Intensity in the Early Years of Organizations

This paper examines how founding conditions shape subsequent organizational evolution— specifically, the proliferation of management and administrative jobs. Analyzing quantitative and qualitative information on a sample of young technology start-ups in California’s Silicon Valley, we examine the enduring imprint of two aspects of firms’ founding conditions: the employment blueprints espoused by founders in creating new enterprises; and the social capital that existed among key early members of the firm—their social composition and social relations. We find that the initial gender mix in start-ups and the blueprint espoused by the founder influence the extent of managerial intensity that develops over time. In particular, firms whose founders espoused a bureaucratic model from the outset subsequently grew more administratively intense than otherwise-similar companies, particularly companies whose founders had initially championed a “commitment” model. Also, firms with a higher representation of women within the first year subsequently were slower to bureaucratize than otherwise-similar firms with a predominance of males. Our analyses thus provide compelling evidence of path-dependence in the evolution of organizational structures and underscore the importance of the “logics of organizing” that founders bring to new enterprises. Implications of these results for organizational theory and research are discussed

Strengthening Academic Leadership Practices in a Regionally Dispersed Multi-Campus College in Canada: A Collective Approach to Leadership

Postsecondary institutions are expected to respond to constantly changing and varying interests and needs of businesses, communities and students. An increasing number of postsecondary institutions now offer multiple programs and services to respond to this new reality, expanding their activities outside of traditional education, through research, community partnerships or corporate training opportunities. As a result, many now have multiple campuses and departments to support this new reality. This Organizational Improvement Plan explores one regionally dispersed multi-campus college, College X, in the context of academic program delivery across campuses. It focuses on the challenges of alignment and coherence in program delivery across campuses and examines how leaders can improve academic leadership practices in order to address the challenges around alignment and coherence of program delivery across campuses and departments. The framework for leading the change process of the Organizational Improvement Plan is done using Cawsey, Deszca and Ingol’s (2016) Change Path Model. It is accompanied by Nadler and Tushman’s (1989) Organizational Congruence Model, which provides an examination of College X through the identification and assessment of the gaps and the organizational dynamics, which help determine the needs for change. This Organizational Improvement Plan contextualizes the challenges around alignment and coherence in program delivery across campuses. It proposes a change implementation plan that endeavours to integrate a leadership framework which embeds leadership practices that focus on a collective, cohesive and systems approach to leadership and address the challenges around alignment and coherence and to enhance academic leadership across campuses

A Comparison of Academic Outcomes in Courses Taught with Open Educational Resources and Publisher Content

The academic outcomes of retention, completion, persistence and final exam scores between courses taught with open educational resources (OER) and courses taught with publisher content (non-OER) were investigated in this mixed method sequential study. The perceptions and experiences of the instructors who taught the courses were also explored. The participants were 215 community college students enrolled in an online section of Introduction to Communication (CST 110), Western Civilization (HIS 111), Applied Calculus (MTH 270) or Introduction to Psychology (PSY 201). Four instructors volunteered to teach an OER section and a non-OER section within each discipline. Students were randomly divided into an OER section or non-OER section. Publishers donated the access codes for their digital content websites, thereby negating the cost for both sections. Students were compared between the OER and non-OER sections by fours measures: number of students left in the sections at the drop date, number of students who completed with a C or better, the number of students who finished the course, and the mean of the final exam scores. The four instructors were interviewed after the semester was over. The interview questions were based on the open education pedagogy COUP as the theoretical framework. The quantitative results indicated students in the OER sections retained and persisted at a significant higher rate. No significance was found in completion and the final exam scores between the OER and non-OER course sections. The interviews revealed the instructors preferred OER for quality, adaptability, student and teaching benefits. This research lends credibility to former studies indicating higher retention and persistence rates in courses taught with OER material. Community college practitioners should make the adoption of OER course materials part of a broader initiative for student success

Organizational redesign for the training and development department of Schreiber Foods, Inc.

Includes bibliographical references