Quick Links to Categories
"America,
A
Proselytizing Society"
(2005). Spirit at
Work. 4, 14.
This brief essay points out that Americans
proselytize about all kinds of things, but some people don't believe
that proselytizing about faith/religion is acceptable. The link
is to the entire issue, so scroll down to p. 14.
"Can We Agree on
the
Force, and Call it God? Multi-disciplined Evidence and
Organizational Implications"
(2005). Academy of
Management. This paper offers evidence for the existence of God
using only scientific and humanist sources. Evidence is offered
from the fields of philosophy, physics, neuroscience, biology,
psychology, and management. Materialism is critiqued,
establishing that people who choose not to believe in God are doing so
because their worldview does not allow for non-materialist
explanations, even when the preponderance of evidence points in that
direction.
"Spirituality
in Organizations: An Empirical Review of Definitions and Other Embedded
Assumptions" with
Eileen Higgins and Deborah Wharff. Leadership Quarterly (2005). 16
(5), 625-653. This paper reviews the scholarly literature and
reports
results about the articles along ten dimensions, including
whether they define spirituality in the context of religion (or not),
whether
it is an individual or a collective phenomenon, and whether or not it
leads
to increased productivity.
"Reconciling
Complexity
Science in Organizations and Christian Spirituality" (2003) Emergence: A
Journal of Complexity Issues
in Organizations and Management. 5 (4), 124-140.
This
paper demonstrates how the recent work in complexity science in
organizations reinforces the claims and teachings of the Christian
scriptures.
"Modeling U.S. Manufacturing Competitiveness"
(2006) Dent, Eric B. & Hughes, Robert. Journal of Business and Public Administration. 3(1), 67-78. This article creates a model for understanding the characteristics of U.S. manufacturers that have successfully kept their businesses in the United States rather than moving to countries with lower-cost labor.
"Conceptualizing Ethnicity,
Justice, and Resistance during Organizational Change"
(2005) Glover, A. and Dent, E.B. Academy of
Management. This paper develops the theory of resistance to
change as it pertains to ethnicity and justice.
"The
Complexity Science OD Practitioner," Organization
Development
Journal (2003). 21(2), 84-88.Article provides a taxonomy of how
complexity science
is being applied to organizations. Shows examples of complexity science
OD interventions.
"Employees
Actually Embrace Change: The Chimera of Resistance,"
Journal
of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, (2002). 7(2),
56-73.
Article unmasks "resistance to change" and shows that it is not a
helpful
mental model. "Resistance to change" is challenged by deconstruction,
by
examples from the literature of the field, and by an empirical study.
"Challenging
Resistance to Change," Dent, Eric B. and Susan Galloway
Goldberg (1999). "Challenging 'resistance to change,'" Journal
of Applied Behavioral Science, 35 (1), 25-41. Article
challenges the widely-held mental model of "resistance
to change."
"The
Observation,
Inquiry, and Measurement Challenges Surfaced by Complexity Theory"
(2005) In K. Richardson (Ed.), Managing
the Complex: Philosophy, Theory
and Practice. 253-283. Greenwich, CT: Information Age
Publishers. The purpose of this chapter is (1) to gather in one place, the
measurement and inquiry challenges surfaced by complexity theory. (2)
to offer insights into how complexity theory can better inform both
organizational researchers and practitioners as they deal with these
measurement challenges.
“Worldview
Assumptions: Paradigm Shift in Progress?” (2004) Journal of
Behavioral and Applied Management. 5 (3), 280-306.
This paper is an empirical test of
the change
in worldview assumptions in articles written in ASQ, comparing 1957
with
1997. Some shift was found in perspectival observation and cooperation.
No
shift was apparent toward holism or mutual causation.
"The
The Interactional Model: An Alternative to the Direct Cause and Effect
Construct for Mutually Causal Organizational Phenomena" (2003), Foundations
of Science. 8(3), 295-314.Critiques the assumptions of
direct, linear causation and offers an alternative model for addressing
with interrelationships.
"Reconciling
Complexity
Science in Organizations and Christian Spirituality" (2003) Emergence: A
Journal of Complexity Issues
in Organizations and Management. 5 (4), 124-140.
This
paper demonstrates how the recent work in complexity science in
organizations reinforces the claims and teachings of the Christian
scriptures.
"Complex
Adaptive System in War, Bureaucratic Machine in Peace: The U. S. Air
Force Example" with Cameron Holt Emergence: The Journal of
Complexity in
Management and Organizations, (2001). 3 (3), 90-107. This
paper suggests that the Air Force has done a good job of seeing itself
as a CAS in war time, but reverts primarily to a bureaucratic mindset
during peace time.
"The
Complexity Science OD Practitioner," Organization
Development
Journal (2003). 21(2), 84-88.Article provides a taxonomy of how
complexity science
is being applied to organizations. Shows examples of complexity science
OD interventions.
"System
Science Traditions: Differing Philosophical Assumptions," Systems
Journal, 6 (1-2), 13-30, looks at several traditions of system
sciences (cybernetics, organizational learning, system dynamics, TQM,
general
systems theory, and systems analysis) and compares and contrasts the
philosophical assumptions which underpin them.
"Complexity
Science: A Worldview Shift" Emergence: The Journal of Complexity
in
Management and Organizations (1999). 1 (4), pps. 5-19.
Discusses the changes in thinking, or mental models, necessary to
function effectively in a world of chaos and complexity, a world of
permanent white water.
"The
History and Origins of Several Traditions of Systems Theory and
Cybernetics" Cybernetics and
Systems: An International
Journal. 30 (2), 79-103. This paper traces the history
of several strands of thought on systems thinking which developed in
relative
isolation from each other. Perhaps we are at a time now when these
works
can be synthesized.
"
Communicating
Science: The Difficulty Introduced by the Historical Politics of the
English
Language," Buck, John A., Dent, Eric B., and Umpleby, Stuart A.
(2000). Science Communication. 22 (1), 73-87.
This paper notes that Americans seem to have greater
difficulty grasping systems thinking than peoples of other cultures. We
suggest
that part of the reason is the English language itself which was formed
by
the three peoples of England centuries ago.
"The
Design, Development, and Evaluation of Measures to Survey Worldview in
Organizations,"
submitted to the Journal of Humanistic Education and Development. This
paper
discusses the process used to develop a survey instrument of individual
worldview. It includes, at the beginning, a brief summary of worldview
discourse.
“The
Individualized
Interaction Between Professor and Student in an Online Course"
Maryland Association
for Higher Education Journal. 25, 12-19. This study
explores an
aspect of online education rarely examined, the interactions
between professor and student that take place via email, outside the
virtual,
public classroom.
“Top
10 Reasons for Online Learning." In this paper I describe the
shift
in teaching philosophy necessary to teach effectively online, and the
tremendous
benefits the online environment offers.
"Developing
Scholarly Practitioners" In C. Wankel & R. DeFillippi
(Eds.), Rethinking management
education for the 21st century, 135-155. Greenwich, CT:
Information Age Publishers.. This chapter describes the current state
of management doctoral education and the
current environment of management and organizations. It then presents
the
Doctor of Management program at UMUC as a case study. The chapter
concludes by briefly reporting on other doctoral programs and
reflecting on future directions.
"The
Unique Governance Challenges of Graduate Contract Cohort Programs" Journal
of Management Education (2000) 24 (1), 55-72. This
paper,
as the title implies, discusses the major challenges of governing a
university
degree program when there is a new, major stakeholder involved - an
employer
sending dozens of students for the degree. This is the first work I
know
of on this subject.
"The Technical Leader"
(2008). This paper contends that CEOs and other senior leaders engage in significant "individual contributor" activity. This activity is counter to how the CEO position is described in textbooks and leadership models.
"Technology
Clients and Psychology: The Case of Smart Cards," OD Practioner.
(1999). 31 (1), pps. 20-26. Article discusses the
psychological, social, and cultural aspects of the
introduction of technology into life.
"The
Messy History of OB&D: How Three Strands Came to be seen as One
Rope" Management Decision, 40 (3), 266-280..
Discusses the early
experiences of GWU professors Peter Vaill, Jerry Harvey, and Erik
Winslow
with three different seminal fields of OB&D. Those represented by
Harvard,
NTL, and Herzberg, respectively. Named by the journal as
Outstanding Paper
in 2002
"Seinfeld,
Professor of Organizational Behavior: The Psychological Contract and
Systems Thinking, Journal of Management Education (2001) 25
(6),
648-659. Shows how the 'Seinfeld' TV sitcom is a great
illustration of two concepts often taught in organizational behavior -
the psychological contract and interdependence (systems thinking).
"Leadership
in Permanent White Water: Research Challenges". This paper in
progress addresses the difficulty in studying leadership if you assume
a white water environment. It also chronicles some of my work in
Bogota, Colombia. It appears in the proceedings of the Chesapeake
Bay Organization Development Network 2002 conference.
"Can
Conflict Be Healthy?" This paper describes the use of the
Thomas-Kilmann
Conflict Mode Instrument as it applies to Christian churches.
"A
Chaos Theory Analysis of A Government Service Agency 1993 Employee
Opinion
Survey Data." Proceedings of the 4th Annual Chaos Network
Conference
Final draft chapters from my book Management: Perspectives, Processes, and Productivity, University of Maryland Press, 1995.
- "Ethics in Organizations," Chapter 8 - Discusses "game" ethics and "personal" ethics, corporate social responsibility, and ethics checklists
- "Communication," Chapter 10 - Presents a different model of communications, discusses Covey's notion of empathic listening, discusses negotiation strategies and communication via email.
- "Managing Diversity,"
Chapter 11 - Presents my own views for the best way to frame the topic of diversity in organizations.
- "Emerging Management," Chapter 13 - Describes new ways of looking at and understanding management.
Last
Updated: October 04, 2007
Eric B. Dent eric.dent@uncp.edu