To Transform a Culture: The Rise and Fall of the U.S. Army Organizational Effectiveness Program, 1970–1985

In the early 1970s, following a decade of social upheaval in the US and a traumatizing military defeat in Vietnam, a group of progressive army officers, armed with recent graduate degrees in the social and behavioral sciences, created a grass roots movement that soon led to the implementation of the largest organizational development program ever conducted. Wartime atrocities and chronic careerism in the Army officer corps, along with President Richard Nixon’s promise to create an All-Volunteer Force (AVF), opened up a window of opportunity for these progressives to promote transformational leadership theories grounded in humanistic psychology. In institutionalizing OD across the Army, these officers attempted to transform the leadership culture throughout the institution. However, various strategies employed to effect cultural change met with strong resistance from an officer corps that rejected the strong humanistic elements that characterized OD in the 1970s. Although institutionalization progressed with strong support from Army Chief of Staff (CSA) General Bernard Rogers, the program proved unsustainable once he vacated his position. By 1980, conservative views of leadership permeated the Army’s school system and its leadership doctrine. Concurrently, OD evolved in its theoretical application and shifted its emphasis from humanistic psychology to open systems. At that point, the Army OE Program was relegated to a far less priority and essentially became a process improvement mechanism. By 1985, a new CSA terminated the program. This is a history of the Army OE Program and the efforts of the progressive officers who implemented it. The electronic version of this Dissertation is at OhioLink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/et

To Transform a Culture: The Rise and Fall of the U.S. Army Organizational Effectiveness Program, 1970–1985

In the early 1970s, following a decade of social upheaval in the US and a traumatizing military defeat in Vietnam, a group of progressive army officers, armed with recent graduate degrees in the social and behavioral sciences, created a grass roots movement that soon led to the implementation of the largest organizational development program ever conducted. Wartime atrocities and chronic careerism in the Army officer corps, along with President Richard Nixon’s promise to create an All-Volunteer Force (AVF), opened up a window of opportunity for these progressives to promote transformational leadership theories grounded in humanistic psychology. In institutionalizing OD across the Army, these officers attempted to transform the leadership culture throughout the institution. However, various strategies employed to effect cultural change met with strong resistance from an officer corps that rejected the strong humanistic elements that characterized OD in the 1970s. Although institutionalization progressed with strong support from Army Chief of Staff (CSA) General Bernard Rogers, the program proved unsustainable once he vacated his position. By 1980, conservative views of leadership permeated the Army’s school system and its leadership doctrine. Concurrently, OD evolved in its theoretical application and shifted its emphasis from humanistic psychology to open systems. At that point, the Army OE Program was relegated to a far less priority and essentially became a process improvement mechanism. By 1985, a new CSA terminated the program. This is a history of the Army OE Program and the efforts of the progressive officers who implemented it. The electronic version of this Dissertation is at OhioLink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/et

Streamlining ICAT development through off-the shelf hypermedia systems

This project examined the efficacy of building intelligent computer assisted training using an off-the-shelf hypermedia package. In addition, we compared this package to an architecture that had been developed in a previous contract which was based in the C programming language. One person developed a tutor in LinkWay (an off-the-shelf hypermedia system) and another developed the same tutor using the ALM C-based architecture. Development times, ease of use, learner preferences, learner options, and learning effectiveness were compared. In all cases, the off-the-shelf package was shown to be superior to the C-based system

Australia’s proposed Banking Executive Accountability Regime:regulatory panopticon or fail-safe?

It is difficult to ignore the widespread concern over the corporate culture of Australia's banking industry. This growing concern has led to close scrutiny of banks and subsequently triggered the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to regulate what it deems as bad corporate culture

The Mid-IR Spectral Effects of Darkening Agents and Porosity on the Silicate Surface Features of Airless Bodies

We systematically measured the mid-IR spectra of different mixtures of three silicates (antigorite, lizardite, and pure silica) with varying effective porosities and amounts of darkening agent (iron oxide and carbon). These spectra have broad implications for interpretation of current and future mission data for airless bodies, as well as for testing the capabilities of new instruments. Serpentines, such as antigorite and lizardite, are common to airless surfaces, and their mid-IR spectra in the presence of darkening agents and different surface porosities would be typical for those measured by spacecraft. Silica has only been measured in the plumes of Enceladus and presents exciting possibilities for other Saturn-system surfaces due to long range transport of E-ring material. Results show that the addition of the IR-transparent salt, KBr, to simulate surface porosity affected silicate spectra in ways that were not predictable from linear mixing models. The strengthening of silicate bands with increasing pore space, even when only trace amounts of KBr were added, indicates that spectral features of porous surfaces are more detectable in the mid-IR. Combining iron oxide with the pure silicates seemed to flatten most of the silicate features, but strengthened the reststrahlen band of the silica. Incorporating carbon with the silicates weakened all silicate features, but the silica bands were more resistant to being diminished, indicating silica may be more detectable in the mid-IR than the serpentines. We show how incorporating darkening agents and porosity provides a more complete explanation of the mid-IR spectral features previously reported on worlds such as Iapetus

Rate of environmental change determines stress response specificity

Cells use general stress response pathways to activate diverse target genes in response to a variety of stresses. However, general stress responses coexist with more specific pathways that are activated by individual stresses, provoking the fundamental question of whether and how cells control the generality or specificity of their response to a particular stress. Here we address this issue using quantitative time-lapse microscopy of the Bacillus subtilis environmental stress response, mediated by σ^B. We analyzed σ^B activation in response to stresses such as salt and ethanol imposed at varying rates of increase. Dynamically, σ^B responded to these stresses with a single adaptive activity pulse, whose amplitude depended on the rate at which the stress increased. This rate-responsive behavior can be understood from mathematical modeling of a key negative feedback loop in the underlying regulatory circuit. Using RNAseq we analyzed the effects of both rapid and gradual increases of ethanol and salt stress across the genome. Because of the rate responsiveness of σ^B activation, salt and ethanol regulons overlap under rapid, but not gradual, increases in stress. Thus, the cell responds specifically to individual stresses that appear gradually, while using σ^B to broaden the cellular response under more rapidly deteriorating conditions. Such dynamic control of specificity could be a critical function of other general stress response pathways

Re-expression of IGF-II is important for beta cell regeneration in adult mice

Background The key factors which support re-expansion of beta cell numbers after injury are largely unknown. Insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) plays a critical role in supporting cell division and differentiation during ontogeny but its role in the adult is not known. In this study we investigated the effect of IGF-II on beta cell regeneration. Methodology/Principal Findings We employed an in vivo model of ‘switchable’ c-Myc-induced beta cell ablation, pIns-c-MycERTAM, in which 90% of beta cells are lost following 11 days of c-Myc (Myc) activation in vivo. Importantly, such ablation is normally followed by beta cell regeneration once Myc is deactivated, enabling functional studies of beta cell regeneration in vivo. IGF-II was shown to be re-expressed in the adult pancreas of pIns-c-MycERTAM/IGF-II+/+ (MIG) mice, following beta cell injury. As expected in the presence of IGF-II beta cell mass and numbers recover rapidly after ablation. In contrast, in pIns-c-MycERTAM/IGF-II+/− (MIGKO) mice, which express no IGF-II, recovery of beta cell mass and numbers were delayed and impaired. Despite failure of beta cell number increase, MIGKO mice recovered from hyperglycaemia, although this was delayed. Conclusions/Significance Our results demonstrate that beta cell regeneration in adult mice depends on re-expression of IGF-II, and supports the utility of using such ablation-recovery models for identifying other potential factors critical for underpinning successful beta cell regeneration in vivo. The potential therapeutic benefits of manipulating the IGF-II signaling systems merit further exploration