This December, we are launching a new platform for our unique digital collections.
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Watch the Films

Chamber Music Quartet

Paul Goodman interviews the Cuarteto Latinoamericano, an internationally recognized string quartet which was quartet-in-residence at Carnegie Mellon University from 1987 to 2008. In between practice sessions, the group talks about the meaning of effectiveness, factors leading to effectiveness, the relationship between practice and performance, and the dynamics of introducing a guest performer.
Running time: 
17 minutes

Chinese String Quartet

This video, a companion piece to the Chamber Music Quartet film, follows another string ensemble: the Huqin Quartet. This time the setting is in Singapore and the instrument are Chinese in origin. The musicians talk about effectiveness, practice, playing with a guest performer, and the influence of the Singapore context on their work.
Running time: 
20 minutes

Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT)

Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) are groups responsible for responding to Internet attacks. In this video, a cross-functional team based at CMU’s Software Engineering Institute prepares to send out an advisory to the world on a specific malware.
Running time: 
36 minutes

Crew: Rowing in an 8

Rowing is the ultimate team sport. Paul Goodman films Cornell University Women’s Crew as they train on Lake Cayuga, New York, before an important race. The video explores issues critical in understanding groups, such as factors leading to effectiveness and the relationship between practice and performance.
Running time: 
14 minutes

Doing Business in the U.S. and Mexico

This video portrays the challenge of doing business in the United States from the perspective of Frisa, a Mexican company owning plants in Mexico and the USA. Among the issues addressed are cultural differences, building trust, and the differences between Mexican and American factory workers.
Running time: 
19 minutes

Lobstermen

Paul Goodman follows George and Carl Johnson, a father-and-son team of lobstermen, as they set up and remove their traps off the coast of Maine. The video illustrates the problems of decision making under uncertainty and transferring tacit occupational knowledge.
Running time: 
16 minutes

Lobstermen II: Global Positioning System

In this follow-up from “Lobstermen”, the focus is on the recent purchase and implementation of a GPS (Global Positioning System). Thanks to this technology, George and Carl Johnson, the father-and-son team of lobstermen, can easily find and keep track of their traps. The GPS also provides them with a form of organizational memory permitting better knowledge transfer.
Running time: 
12 minutes

Managing Change I

This video is the first in a three-part series on managing complex organizational change. Professor Rousseau addresses how to prepare for organizational change (first phase) and the initial step in actual implementation (second phase).
Running time: 
14 minutes

Managing Change II

In this second video on organizational change, Professor Rousseau explores the problems of managing the transition from the old state to the new organizational environment.
Running time: 
14 minutes

Managing Change III

This video, part 3 of a lecture by Paul Goodman on managing change, explores the institutionalization of change, that is, how to embed change as a permanent part of the organization.
Running time: 
22 minutes

Managing in China

Chinese managers talk about the challenges in managing in China. Topics include the rapid social and economic changes underway in China, the different forms of organizations (state enterprises vs. multinationals), and advice to American managers in China.
Running time: 
44 minutes

Migrant Workers

Four portraits of migrant agricultural workers from El Salvadore, Haiti, Mexico, and the Virgin Islands capture the physical and psychological difficulties in their lives. The video raises questions about marginal workers and social responsibilities.
Running time: 
11 minutes

Nurse

Cheryl, a neonatal nurse at the Intensive Care Unit of Mercy Hospital, Pittsburgh, talks about the challenges and rewarding aspects of her work, and the changing role of nurses in hospitals towards more responsibility and authority.
Running time: 
13 minutes

Plant Closing

This video captures some of the issues associated with a major downsizing, from the viewpoint of workers at a Nabisco facility in Pittsburgh shut in 1999. Built around the notion of psychological contract, the video explores the process used to close down the facility and its impact on workers’ expectations.
Running time: 
16 minutes

Plant Opening

"Plant opening" captures the reopening by Atlantic Bakery of the Pittsburgh Nabisco plant closed in 1999. A key theme is the role of multiple constituencies (government, NGOs and the private sector) in reopening a plant and insuring some level of economic viability of a region.
Running time: 
27 minutes

Steelworker

Ted, a Pennsylvania steelworker working in a company in bankruptcy, talks about his work as a mechanic, the bad economic situation for steelworkers, his views on the unions and the company, and the future. The video was created to capture factory work, union and management issues, and depressed economic circumstances.
Running time: 
19 minutes

Stone Carver

Nicholas Fairplay, a stone carver, captures in an insightful way the meaning of restoration and artistic work. He is shown at work, restoring sculptures on CMU’s College of Fine Art Building. The video can be used in discussions of work attitudes, motivation and learning, occupational and career development.
Running time: 
15 minutes

Torah Restorer

In this companion video to the Stone Carver film, Rabbi Harry Pfeffer, a scribe restoring Torah scrolls, talks about the nature of his work and its meaning. He describes his motivation and education, the meaning of high performance, and how it is assessed.
Running time: 
15 minutes

University President

Richard Cyert, President of Carnegie Mellon University (1972 – 1990), was the driving force behind the creation of the Andrew system, the first extensive computer network in a university setting. In this video about organizational change, President Cyert talks about the initiation of change, building consensus, and CMU’s joint venture with IBM.
Running time: 
18 minutes

Waitress

Toni, a waitress at a Pittsburgh diner, describes her work, how she manages her customers, and what high performance means.
Running time: 
8 minutes