1. Is Mobility Enough for the Temporary Society? Some Observations Based Upon the Experience of the Federal Executive Institute.
- Author
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Saroff, Jerome R. and Mosher, Frederick C.
- Subjects
OCCUPATIONAL mobility ,ORGANIZATIONAL change ,INVENTIONS ,ADAPTABILITY (Personality) ,ASSOCIATIONS, institutions, etc. ,INTERNAL migration ,SOCIAL mobility - Abstract
The article focuses on mobility in temporary society. In the search for the temporary organization, capable of and eager to innovate and adapt, high rates of personnel mobility may work against organizational change. The article discusses a case analysis which is based upon a paper which the author initially prepared for a reunion of current and past faculty members of the Federal Executive Institute (FEI), held in Charlottesville, Virginia, in February 1973. The main theme of the paper on the relationship between personnel and leadership mobility on the one hand and innovation and adaptiveness on the other scented to me a significant challenge to some of the assumptions in the current and predictive literature about organizations, with implications far beyond that altogether unique institution known as the FEI. Several concepts current among public administrators and organizational theorists set the organizational mold for the FEI. Each of these concepts was selected to neutralize what was perceived as dysfunctional aspects of traditional bureaucratic organizations.
- Published
- 1974
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