Actualizing Organizational Core Values: Putting Theory into Practice

The literature on organizational culture and leading by shared values suggests a prescriptive model for use by leaders in actualizing stated organizational core values. Utilizing a qualitative case study approach, this study sought to examine the efficacy of this theoretical model in representing actual efforts by practitioners to embed diversity as a new organizational core value. Leadership actions to embed and actualize diversity as an institutional core value at two private universities were examined and compared. Findings suggest the theoretical model inadequately addresses the critical role of contextual assessment and under represents the dynamic cyclical nature of value embedding and actualization processes, particularly with respect organizations with high stakeholder turnover such as institutions of higher education

Real-time Affective Indices of Potential CRM Breakdown: Qualitative Testing of an Operational Hypothesis

This viewgraph presentation begins by showing several cases where poor crew resource management (CRM) resulted in aircraft accidents. The presenter reviews the emotional states that are present in a situation that frequently leads to an accident. The operational answer suggested is given as an acronym: PACE, which stand for Probe, Alert, Challenge, Emergency Action

Diverse Weighted Bipartite b-Matching

Bipartite matching, where agents on one side of a market are matched to agents or items on the other, is a classical problem in computer science and economics, with widespread application in healthcare, education, advertising, and general resource allocation. A practitioner's goal is typically to maximize a matching market's economic efficiency, possibly subject to some fairness requirements that promote equal access to resources. A natural balancing act exists between fairness and efficiency in matching markets, and has been the subject of much research. In this paper, we study a complementary goal---balancing diversity and efficiency---in a generalization of bipartite matching where agents on one side of the market can be matched to sets of agents on the other. Adapting a classical definition of the diversity of a set, we propose a quadratic programming-based approach to solving a supermodular minimization problem that balances diversity and total weight of the solution. We also provide a scalable greedy algorithm with theoretical performance bounds. We then define the price of diversity, a measure of the efficiency loss due to enforcing diversity, and give a worst-case theoretical bound. Finally, we demonstrate the efficacy of our methods on three real-world datasets, and show that the price of diversity is not bad in practice

Commentary: A Blueprint for Change in the Northwest Territories?

September 1992 marks the 25th anniversary of moving the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) from Ottawa to Yellowknife. In that time, the growth of the territorial governmental process has been phenomenal. In 1967, most GNWT employees travelled in one plane going to Yellowknife, and the government's budget was about $14 million. Today, there are almost 6000 GNWT employees and the budget is over$1.1 billion. Strength at Two Levels (the Beatty Report) is certainly one of the more interesting and contentious reports commissioned by the GNWT. On the one hand it advocates expanding the powers of local governments in the region - hence, strength at the territorial and local levels of government. At the same time, if implemented, recommendations of the report would undermine part of the GNWT's power base in Yellowknife. The question then is: Will the report become a blueprint for change, or will it be just another document for decentralization, unheeded by Yellowknife? The Beatty Report is about the high cost of government in the Northwest Territories (NWT). ... The Beatty Report is not the only design for change on the table in the North. Since November 1991, the governing of their own lands by the Inuit would certainly necessitate restructuring northern government. In the western Northwest Territories the Commission for Constitutional development issued its report in April 1992, "Working Toward a Common Future." It posed the possibility of a new constitutional process for the new territory, emphasizing the necessity of beginning authority relationships with people and communities. Its design would certainly restructure the governmental process in the NWT. Thus the dominant view circulating in the NWT seems to be that change is required in northern government. Twenty-five years of evolution have created a centralized, cumbersome and expensive territorial government centred in Yellowknife. Many individuals and groups outside Yellowknife want a greater say in the policy-making process. A number of ideas exist about how the present system should be changed. The Beatty Report is one of those ideas, but one upon which the GNWT is relying heavily. Pressures on members of the Legislative Assembly may force the government to incorporate a number of views in its plans for restructuring. But the question remains, will the GNWT actually embark on a process of change, where communities or regions actually have greater decision-making powers? This may be difficult for a government that has built up a great deal of inertia over 25 years

Commentary: The Drury Report and Political Development in the N.W.T.

The author's commentary on the Drury Report provides an interesting insight into the relationship of the people of the north and the federal government, as well as providing a useful critique on many aspects of the Report itself.&nbsp

The Challenge of Change

At their annual meeting on April 13, 2000, the Board of Directors of The Arctic Institute of North America bid farewell to Mike Robinson. ... The search for a new Executive Director has been successful. Karla Jessen Williamson has accepted the Directorship. She will begin her tenure on September 15, 2000. ... In a future issue of Arctic, Karla will tell us more about herself, her research, and her goals for the Arctic Institute of North America. ... In an era of significant social, economic, and political changes North of 60, she is well positioned to lead AINA in meeting research challenges not only in Canada's North, but in all circumpolar regions of the world