This study is a retrospective examination of elements that influenced one elementary school staff to initiate and implement a school-wide innovation in their reading program in 1990-91. This school served 315 preschool children through grade three in small town set in the rural countryside. Case study methodology was used to discover how the change was initiated; why the particular program elements were chosen; the role of the staff, the principal, and the parents played in initiating the innovation; and what lessons this school's experience may have for school reform. As the school community planned for the initiation of their new reading program, the "whole language" approach to reading was gaining momentum. The notion of "early intervention" was popularly used to describe a variety of methods educators were using to deal with evidence of reading failure in young children. Their stories describe the challenges this school staff felt as they attempted a year-long initiative to merge phonics and whole language into a holistic approach to reading for grades one through three. Findings were reported around seven central themes emerging from the data collection, including: 1) empowerment, 2) academic improvement, 3) shared vision/beliefs, 4) collaboration, 5) focus on children's needs, 6) site-based decision making, 7) participatory leadership. / Ed. D.

Nutzer bei der Entwicklung und Gestaltung neuer Produkte oder Dienstleistungen zu integrieren, wird seit einigen Jahren unter dem Begriff „Open Innovation“ diskutiert und ist für viele Unternehmen heutzutage selbstverständlich. Ob und wie diese offenen Innovationsprozesse in wissenschaftlichen Organisationen einsetzbar sind, ist bisher wenig erforscht. Dieser Beitrag erläutert am Fallbeispiel eines Lehrstuhls, wie Open Innovation im Rahmen einer strategischen Neuaufstellung eingesetzt werden kann. In vier Phasen erarbeiten die Mitarbeiter auf einer offenen Innovationsplattform die zukünftige Ausrichtung des Lehrstuhls.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the phases of change process of integrating a quality development model into an information technology company in Turkey. While the transformation phases were being examined by a qualitative study, the factors that affect the change process also were investigated. This study explores the process of traveling through the way to CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) level 3 certification by a company that gives information technologies service to banking sector. Since circulation of staff prevents us from obtaining what an exact number of workers, the company has about 450 employees. At the beginning, the company had no quality standards and most of the work processes were not documented, even documented processes were not consistent. After the commencement of the quality development project, work flows of processes were defined and documented. The company changed its organization according to the new process improvement model, called CMMI. In this case study, interviews performed with ten experts from inside of the company and three experts from outside of the company, observation diaries and assets of the company were data sources. Participant observation, questionnaire and document analysis were used as data gathering methods. Collected data were interpreted by descriptive analysis. As a result of the research, while resistance to change came out naturally, it is determined that transformation has four stages such as: &ldquo / motivation and adoption&rdquo / , &ldquo / adaptation&rdquo / , &ldquo / acceptance and implementation&rdquo / and finally &ldquo / use and improvement&rdquo / .