Stephenson, Samuel S.

This descriptive study investigates and highlights the effect of
Organization Development (OD) by determining its relationship to
organizational improvement. By reviewing through description and
application the main OD techniques, a background is painted against
which the total impact of this emerging entity in the behavioral
science can be evaluated. While prior exposure to training and
development activities would make the material more relevant, it
is not essential for a general understanding. Resources include
case study, examples collected from survey respondents, research of
current literature, personal operating experience and observation.

This was prepared as the thesis required for the Master of Business
Administration degree. Very little had been written on the management
of voluntary organizations. The American Red Cross currently uses a
system termed Objectives and Goals to establish priorities of service
and periodically measure accomplishments. The problem area was whether
the fundamental concepts of management by objectives as applied to the
system used by the organization accomplished the measurement and correction
of the performance of staff through a system of control. Secondary
research concentrated on common practice and theory of the function of
control and the system of management by objectives. Current manuals and
instructions on Objectives and Goals issued by the American Red Cross
were used for comparison. It was found that this system has the basic
format of management by objectives but, as practiced, does not appear to
function as a process of control.

This thesis was prepared as an introductory text in business systems
simulation using the General Purpose Simulation System/360 computer
programming language. The material requires no background in computer
programming or simulation. A knowledge of elementary probability and
statistics and a course in operations research would be prerequisites.
A number of examples illustrate an approach to simulation problems
and the use of the computer language.