Eric B. Dent, Ph.D.

Professor of Human Systems in Organizations

1. Societal problem addressed by my work.

Leadership and management in organizational life seems stuck at a level which is far below optimal effectiveness. I believe a primary reason is that leaders hold mental models which do not allow them to achieve their objectives. For example, many believe that their job should consist of planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling. Others see their job as solving a steady stream of problems which come their way. Still others believe cause and effect are usually directly related.

2. My research program to address this societal problem.

Broadly put, I believe social scientists need to Aredo@ nearly all of organizational behavior research. Most of what exists makes assumptions that working leaders don=t experience. For example, the leadership model listed above assumes a fairly stable environment. Many research projects could contribute to such a broad research agenda. I have developed a survey of worldview which provides feedback to respondents about their worldview assumptions. I will conduct research which relates my instrument to others which measure dynamics such as leadership or spirituality. I will also perform cross-cultural studies using my instrument. Significant theoretical work remains to be done. I will more deeply fill out the notion of worldview and accompanying topics. I will also work on alternative models for constructs such as direct cause and effect and resistance to change. Another initiative will be to research how the worldview beliefs held by people relate to identified measures of performance.

3. My results to date (October 1998)

I have been the first to conceptualize what seems to be the most significant proxies for worldview. I have developed a measurement instrument based on these proxies and validated it with exploratory factor analysis. I have also identified important mental models which need to be either synthesized or replaced. One paper highlights the varying models held by different traditions of systems scientists. Another paper traces the development of the idea of Aresistance to change,@ how it came to be accepted as conventional wisdom and why it should be supplanted. A third paper explores the mental model of technology and how it typically ignores or discounts psychological, social, and cultural considerations.

4. If me efforts are wildly successful....

Organizational leaders would lead and manage in a very different way. They would be vastly more flexible in the perspectives they would bring to organizations. They would take a holistic perspective and a piecemeal perspective. They would think about local and distant, short-term and long-term, and intended and unintended consequences of what they enact. They would masterfully combine symbolic, political, people-centered, and task-centered ways of leading and being. Organizations would then be spirited, empowered, high-performing, creative, ethical, and passionate collections of people.