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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare knowledge of business concepts acquired at the end of undergraduate studies of management in France and the USA. Design/methodology/approach – Mind maps were used to examine what knowledge students retained toward the end of their undergraduate studies in business and management. Data were collected from two groups of students, one in France and one in the USA and they analyzed on computer software. Findings – The results indicate that the learning process may be influenced not only by the structure and content of the program but also by the environment in which such content is assimilated. This study provides examples of how culture can influence the way we learn and represent core business knowledge. Research limitations/implications – The research was based on a number of undergraduate students and cannot therefore be generalized to other subjects or other levels of studies at the present time. Originality/value – The paper moves away from traditional manners of collecting data through questionnaires and surveys in order to study the impact of management education and what students learn at undergraduate level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The state-federal vocational rehabilitation system is tasked to demonstrate accountability for employment outcomes of persons with disabilities. State VR agencies have sought to evaluate existing practices, and in areas that existing practices leave room for improvement, create the conditions for innovation to occur. The purpose of this article is to identify promising organizational and cultural factors that appear to promote best practices in the public vocational rehabilitation program. A multi-stage study utilizing the Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) was conducted involving four high performing state VR agencies to discover emerging and promising organizational practices leading to improvements in employment outcomes of people with disabilities. The comprehensive examination revealed specific organizational practices, culture and structural elements that encourage and support the development of innovative, effective service delivery practices. Given the complexity of service provision and the increasing demand for successful outcomes, VR agencies must develop organizational cultures that facilitate transformational learning by employing evidence-based practices that lead to successful outcomes for agency consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the demise of companies such as Enron and WorldCom it is no surprise that a call for ethical leadership is in high demand. This paper elaborates on the need for establishing ethics within a structured hierarchical culture. First, we will elaborate on organizational culture. Next, the following paragraphs explore the relationship of ethics and its connection with an organization's shared vision. We examine the military, and specifically the United States Army, as an example of a successful, high performing organization because of its emphasis on ethics as a major part within its collaborative environment. We seek to demonstrate that once ethics is part of a shared vision, organizational culture will have accountability that will ensure ethical decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports data from a research and training project in one mid-western state in the United States to identify the organizations' capacity to learn and to change to meet current public health demands. The Dimensions of a Learning Organization (DLOQ) survey was used as a diagnostic tool in four local public health departments in order to identify the organizations' capacity to learn and to change to meet current public health demands. Comparisons between the results from this study and those from other studies of the learning organization indicate a number of differences with implications for creating a learning culture in a public health setting. Similar to previous research using the DLOQ, this study found that organizational variables were more strongly related to performance than were individual and team learning dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent work has sought to determine if Master of Business Administration classes can be structured to reflect principles of the learning organization. In this study conducted in the United States we explore if a university level class taught in an accelerated format can achieve outcomes associated with the learning organization - an organization that learns continuously and develops strategically aligned systems to transform itself as a result of continuously learning. Using the daily reflection papers of 133 students enrolled in the same course over a six year period we use content analysis techniques to identify common themes. Findings show the pedagogy which challenges traditional and well-established learning methods experienced by most learners, results in initial apprehension and resistance followed by gradual acceptance and final strong support. Recommendations are made for instructors adopting accelerated pedagogies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]