Conference
topics:
LANGDON
WINNER: THE POLITICS OF DESIGN
JANUARY 15 THROUGH FEBRUARY 28
Design has become a subject of major importance for executives
because it is increasingly recognized as having significant
political and organizational consequences. Dr. Winner, professor
of science and technology studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute, and a leading authority on the social and political
effects of technology , will show how the design of products
and systems invisibly, surprisingly and sometimes counterproductively
shapes contemporary life. Further, he will discuss what the
silent language of design and technology has to say about our
experiences of power, authority, freedom and democratic participation.
PETER
SCHWARTZ: THE ART OF THE LONG VIEW
MARCH 15 THROUGH APRIL 30
As president of the Global Business Network, and in his previous
positions as head of Business Environment Planning for Royal
Dutch Shell in London and director of the Strategic Environment
Center at SRI, Peter Schwartz has become one of the world's
most experienced and respected business planners. In this seminar
he will discuss the problems and advantages of looking ahead,
the uses of scenario-based planning and the development of better
ways of thinking about the future.
NICHOLAS
JOHNSON: THE MANAGEMENT OF HEALTH
MAY 15 THROUGH JUNE 30
U.S. health care costs are $600 billion, headed for $1 trillion,
and buying less than most industrialized countries get for the
money. Worldwide, tens of millions are dying needlessly. Losses
from employees' disease and accidents are in the billions of
dollars, not to mention the human misery of less than fully
actualized lives. Nicholas Johnson is a former FCC commissioner
and presidential advisor, now co-director of the Institute for
Health, Behavior and the Environment and a professor at the
University of Iowa College of Law. In this seminar, he will
explore how we can bring the wide range of management skills
and disciplines to this overwhelming challenge facing corporations,
government, communities, families and individuals.
DONALD
MICHAEL: LEADERSHIP IN A WORLD OF CHALLENGED AND CHANGING BOUNDARIES
JULY 20 THROUGH AUGUST 31
From the self to the planet, boundaries--psychological, ethical,
social, institutional-- are changing, blurring and disappearing,
engendering both deep anxiety and exhilaration. Dr. Michael,
emeritus professor of planning and public policy at the University
of Michigan, will explore the reactions to this situation, ranging
from fundamentalism to endless diversification, from fear and
anger to enthusiasm and social invention, and discuss the appropriate
leadership, governance and management responses.
WALTER
TRUETT ANDERSON: POSTMODERN MANAGEMENT
SEPTEMBER 15 THROUGH OCTOBER 31
Whatever may be the goods or services in which an organization
deals, the stock in trade of management is always information.
Postmodernist thought, which holds that reality is socially
created, offers new perspectives on the notion of information,
as well as other management issues such as personal identity
, leadership roles, corporate culture and public opinion. Continuing
the subject of his most recent book, Reality Isn't What It Used
To Be, noted author and political scientist Dr. Walter Truett
Anderson takes a look at management in a postmodern age.
KRISTIN
SHRADER-FRECHETTE: ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
NOVEMBER 15 THROUGH DECEMBER 31
There is a saying, among one of the Bantu tribes of Southwest
Africa, that a person should not shoot a bird resting on her
own head. In ignoring our interdependence with other inhabitants
of the planet, we have, in essence, shot many birds on our own
heads. Kristin Shrader-Frechette, distinguished professor at
the University of South Florida and author of seven books, including
her most recent, Risk and Rationality, will examine a number
of such difficult questions as: Is the environmental crisis
exaggerated? Do we need a new system of ethics to deal with
environmental problems? Do future generations, plants, or animals
have any moral rights? Are countries justified in coercively
limiting population? How do we reconcile economic progress and
environmental welfare? With pollutants causing an estimated
90% of all human cancers and species extinctions occurring at
more than 1,000 per year, these questions must be addressed
responsibly and soon.
Sample
Symposia from 1991:
WOMEN
IN LEADERSHIP
JANUARY 14-27
How do male and female executives differ in style and substance,
if at all? What would be different if the corporate ladder had
been built by "good old girls?" Do staff-CEO relationships
differ based on the gender of the CEO? These and other issues
will come under scrutiny as SMSS members of both genders, who
deal with this subject professionally. conduct this two-week
symposium.
FUTURE
OF THE COMPUTER
MARCH 1-15
The computer helps us to compose, calculate and communicate.
Our children use them as learning tools and our businesses use
them to project, analyze and manage. Supercomputers chum out
calculations at ever increasing speeds. What's left to do? What
direction will the creative mind point the computer next? Join
the leaders of computer manufacturing companies in this behind-the-scenes
look at the direction of computing in the '90s.
TRAINING
IN CORPORATE AMERICA
MAY 1-15
Billions of dollars are spent on corporate training every year,
but how well is this training managed and reinforced? Are training
programs geared towards career and personal enhancement or used
merely as perks or punishments? Relate your own experience and
learn other accomplishments and mistakes as SMSS training and
human relations specialists take a close look at the effectiveness
of training.
LATINIZATION
OF AMERICA
JULY 1-14
The incredible influx of immigrants from the south, legal and
otherwise, has made the Spanish language more common than English
in many parts of the United States. Although the U.S. has always
been proud of its reputation as a "melting pot," will
it be able to assimilate the Latin culture or will this culture
remain outside of what many regard as "real America ?"
What does this mean for our schools, workplaces, and government?
Will it affect you and your organization?
BUSINESS
AND THE ARTS
SEPTEMBER 1-14
What is the corporation's responsibility in supporting the arts,
and the arts' responsibility to the corporation? Is financial
support simply altruistic, or is the economic benefit mutual?
This two-week symposium will hear from artists and CEOs alike
with a dialogue on the direction of corporate and government
support of art around the world.
CALIFORNIA-
WINDOW TO THE WORLD
NOVEMBER 1-15
The state of California is one of the largest economic forces
in the world, as well as the home of innovators and risk-takers.
It is this region that gave us Silicon Valley as well as Hollywood,
and where environmentalists compete with developers for control
of its precious resources. The world watches California for
indications of what might happen at home. Join panelists from
California and abroad in a closer look at the phenomenon of
the Golden State.
