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Personnel specialists often bear the brunt of organisational change. Whether through the painful experiences of managing a redundancy, or as company representatives negotiating the introduction of new technology with trade unions, the shock waves of organisational change permeate most aspects of the personnel function sooner or later. Over recent years, much effort has been directed towards understanding the processes and problems of organisational change and of developing ways of more satisfactorily dealing with it. Much of these efforts have been drawn together into a body of techniques, ideas, case studies and more general wisdom which has acquired a distinctive identity.

This article considers various definitions of the concept of job enrichment, and considers the findings of job enrichment studies. Some shortcomings in the theory and its application are illustrated, and these shortcomings are summarised so that instead of remaining isolated and incomprehensible failures they point to areas of deficiency. Directions for future work are suggested, both for practitioners and researchers.

Changing organizations is not an easy business. At least, changing them in a way which is both intended and which entails a minimum of unnecessary conflict, disruption and general trauma has proved to be especially difficult. Attempts to understand the reasons for these difficulties and to develop ways of avoiding them have led to the emergence of a large (and growing) body of theory and techniques known as Organization Development. Like any new discipline or professional body however, the outward impression of a cohesive comprehensive and integrated set of ideas and practices masks the internal state of questioning and uncertainty, of caution and intuition, and sometimes of diverse, sometimes overlapping and sometimes competing explanations of events.

Values are the outcome of choice, as well as the underlying forces which influence those choices. How important are they in terms of the theory and practice of OD? Their importance over the past 30 years is demonstrated, and it is concluded that the identity of OD is dependent on the existence and application of the core values it advocates.

The human efforts to be prepared better for the future challenges of natural disasters go back ages. Natural disasters occur when a natural event, such as an earthquake, triggers the social vulnerability. These natural disasters kill thousands of people worldwide annually and cause economic losses in millions of dollars. Moreover, the global cost of natural disasters has increased substantially, and mega-disasters occur when the need for recovery truly becomes national or international. There are several trends in nature and society, which suggest that this pattern may continue, with mega-disasters occurring more frequently in the future. In the past 100 years, the number of disasters and the number of people affected by these disasters have exponentially up surged. Thus, there is no other way to improve preparedness in a meaningful or diverse future-oriented manner.

This paper focuses on how to design and customize a conceptual foresight model in “disaster risk management” in Iran, and offers an executive model to help decision-makers in disaster management, through which an appropriate practical framework for the implementation of foresight has been developed.

The model has presented a possible framework for implementing a foresight practice within the context of disaster management. This paper particularly addresses different elements of a customized model, developed through a substantial literature review and comparative study for defining the suitable model in the disaster management context. The final model is validated using two rounds of the Delphi method, with the participation of national disaster management experts, practitioners and scientists.

Although the whole model could be used all around the world, the main source of data validating the proposed model is limited to the expert’s opinions in a developing country (I. R. Iran.) and the geographical conditions of Iran are considered as a core of attention in response to natural disasters. Based on the indicators for choosing Delphi participants and experts, only 43 qualified experts are selected to validate the model. The main focus of this research is on natural disasters issues.

This study showed that while there has been a scattered global effort to recognize the increasing uncertainties in diverse disciplines, very little work in academic foresight has been undertaken to identify how it could be implemented. In particular, a series of factors in foresight processes is identified based on the comparative study and some additional elements are added to precisely identify the disaster management context and the most suitable model for national foresight implementation in disaster management.

The main value of this research paper is to clarify the exact relationship between the two interdisciplinary fields; the relationship between the key concepts of “futures studies” and “disaster management” has been thoroughly established. Also, a specific conceptual model for enriching the “pre-foresight” stage and selecting a proper “foresight approach” in “disaster management” is provided. This model has been validated through two rounds of the Delphi method. Finally, a cumulative framework of foresight patterns that includes the new model is presented to be applied in areas especially related to “natural disaster management”.

If the management of the civil service is to undergo a real (rather than cosmetic) improvement, action will be needed to generate a major cultural transformation in Whitehall. A sensible strategy would be to develop a distinctive organisation development model appropriate for public sector settings, using some existing contributions which could be integrated to form a groundwork: for example, the work of Miles, Tichy, and Beckhard.

The purpose of this paper is to describe an intervention aimed at supporting the formation of a distinctive new culture in a post‐merger context. The work is informed by social constructionist thinking, complexity theory and draws on a semiotic approach to the understanding of cultures.

The case describes an experiment in the use of social networking and web‐based technology in order to enable and support a sustained, organization‐wide conversation. In particular, it describes the combined use of two virtual platforms: a global 72‐hour, virtual conference that allowed for the participation of all 60,000 employees and a virtual forum (Culture Square) that invited ongoing discussion of the desired culture.

Social networking technologies represent powerful new ways of expanding the possibilities for participation. They can also serve as useful ways of containing the ambiguity and uncertainty associated with mergers. The use of metaphorical representations of legacy cultures can create a helpful platform for generative dialogue and cultural understanding. Legitimating the shadow conversation through the Culture Square accelerated the formation of the emergent culture and powerfully complemented the virtual conference.

The use of an emergent approach to the formation of a new culture calls for high tolerance of ambiguity on the part of organizational leadership. The use of online forums calls for careful facilitation early in the process. Large‐scale virtual conferences present a host of logistical challenges and call for a high level of project management capability as well as skilful local facilitation. Social networking technology enables the formation and effective functioning of virtual teams and participative creation of the new culture at reduced cost.

Several distinctive features of this approach make it a novel approach to post‐merger integration. The paper is of specific value to organisation development and HR professionals at a technical level and to organisation leaders considering strategies for the cultural integration of mergers.

At the Extraordinary General Meeting of the Institute of Circuit Technology held on Tuesday, 20th November 1979, a resolution was passed which allowed companies trading in the circuit technology industry to become affiliated to the Institute. To mark that historical decision the Council decided to organise a trade exhibition to be held concurrently with the Annual Symposium, Brunel 80.

The paper discusses a set of models which can assist in developing security profiles of objects and subjects operating within industrial or commercial organisations’ databases. In these databases the information objects are often related to each other, having a hierarchical or even a network structure. A set of objects may be allowed to calculate other objects of a database. Security clearance must incorporate such possibilities.

As organisational culture has become recognised as a significant phenomenon for understanding both managerial and organisational dynamics and development, two requirements have risen. On the one hand, we need a conceptual framework for comprehending culture and, on the other hand, we need methodologies for making culture visible. This article offers both – initially describing what is becoming a major conceptual framework for culture work, and then outlining a workshop methodology for making culture visible. An extended case illustrates both the framework and one form of culture‐surfacing methodology.