1998-99 management seminars to address workplace issues

Issues facing business persons in an increasingly competitive and rapidly changing workplace will be the focus of the New Directions in Management Seminar Series for 1998-99, presented by the Olin Eliot Society, which supports the John M. Olin School of Business.

First in the three-part series will be "Avoiding Management Failures in the Implementation and Use of Technology," led by Terri L. Griffith, Ph.D., associate professor of organizational behavior and technology management, at 9 a.m. Sept. 26 in Room 113 Simon Hall.

Griffith, who provides executive education and consulting services to national and international clientele, will direct the hands-on seminar designed to help participants:

• assess opportunities presented by technology;

• categorize technology based on its influence;

• assess the human and managerial factors associated with 90 percent of technology failures; and

• propose a new approach to the implementation of technology.

Griffith, who received a doctoral degree in organizational psychology and theory from Carnegie Mellon University Graduate School of Industrial Administration, teaches at the executive level in various areas of organizational behavior and human resources, including management of teams, organizational change and conflict management and negotiation.

The second seminar, to be held in early spring, will address global supply chain management and will be led by Panos Kouvelis, Ph.D., professor of operations and manufacturing management. The third seminar is to be determined.

Registration for each seminar, which includes breakfast at 8:30 a.m. and a concluding luncheon at noon, is open to the public. For cost and information, call 935-7398.