By Helene Wiswall Perdue, OD Consultant, ModernThink As a function of our work in higher education, we see many strategic plans. Most of these plans contain some sort of organizational commitment, initiative, or objective related to creating and supporting a culture of innovation. At some institutions, this commitment manifests itself in the formation of an Read More »
Category Archives: Blog
The Pursuit of Happiness (in the Workplace)
“The purpose of life is not to be happy—but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you lived at all.” ― Leo Rosten, teacher, academic, writer, humorist It has been scientifically proven that happy workers make the best workers. Recognizing the grand impact of higher productivity, many workplaces have Read More »
Is There A Place For Open-Source Textbooks In Higher Education?
For decades, a leading complaint among college students has been the price of textbooks. If they purchase all of their required books brand new, the bill each full-time semester generally hovers somewhere around $500-600, or roughly $80 to $100 for each required book given a course load of four or five classes. Paired with continually Read More »
Impact of Bonuses on Employee Motivation
Conventional wisdom states that one of the best ways to motivate employees is by paying generous bonuses. The media constantly highlights the huge bonuses paid to CEOs and other top executives. Organizations spend millions of dollars every year on bonuses. But is there evidence that bonuses are actually the best way to motivate employees? Bonuses Read More »
The Evolving Role of the Lecture in Higher Education
The lecture has been a staple of pedagogy since the first formal higher-learning universities were established in Western Europe in the 11th century. Recent studies show that it is still very widely used, but sometimes due more to cost-effectiveness and familiarity than to a belief that it remains a highly effective method of instruction. Read More »
Why Are Work Teams So Important?
Businesses rely on work teams in a number of different ways. For some businesses, work teams are developed when certain groups of people share certain job roles or responsibilities. In other instances, employees may be joined together in a team to help enhance each other’s individual talents and areas of expertise. There are actually a Read More »
5 Tips For Having Difficult Conversations in The Workplace
There are certain conversations no one wants to have at work. A bad employee review, telling the client that a project has been delayed, or firing someone are all conversations that need to be had, but no one wants to reach into the fire if they don’t have to. If that task falls to you, Read More »
Reap What You Sow
Leadership and management styles matter. They can inspire the best in individual employees, shape overall job satisfaction, and establish the cultural foundations for organizations as a whole. Freedom, Pruning, and Growth Today’s ambitious college students have lofty goals. It needs to be the goal of each leader within academia to provide them with the tools Read More »
Updating Parental Leave Policies in Higher Education
Many parents consider parental leave to be a valuable time of bonding between the parents and a new addition to the family. Whether the addition comes through birth or adoption, whether the parent is the mother or the father, being able to take that vital time to bond, rest, and learn the new family dynamic Read More »
Transgender Access to Public Bathrooms: How Will It Impact Higher Education?
The question of transgender access to bathrooms has recently shaken the foundation of the way kindergarten through twelfth grade educators view their charges’ bathroom habits. Never before in history has it been so difficult to discern which bathroom an individual “should” use. Now, the federal government has stepped in to make its stance known: according Read More »