This paper discusses some of the assumptions guiding organisational psychology and proposes an alternative. It suggests that the theories and codes of practice of organisational psychology have displaced subjective experience and subordinated it to the idea of a rational organisation, understood as natural and given. Instead, we propose that the process of creative transformation of organisations should be brought to centre field. The discipline should provide support to participants in this process,promoting their abilities to be sensitive to local cultural and social conditions. Culture is considered here as a shared enactment process. The implications of this understanding for organisational psychology are explored. The aim is not only for organisational analysis but also for creative synthesis of possibilities for organisational change and transformation.

This paper describes SASOS, an interactive computer-based system supporting analysts in embedding knowledge about an organisation (as is, as might be) in decision making on change, where knowledge generation, elicitation and synthesis, decision making and implementation of changes all comprise processes distributed throughout the organisation involving participants with differing roles and responsibilities. SASOS can guide the investigation and model building process within practical, systems-based analyses of organisational situations, problems and change option implementation. It offers a knowledge representation schema unifying hypertext, entity-relationship modelling and Petri-net theory. It has the ability to present a desired view on this schema in a language (visual and textual) with which the user is familiar. It provides views which are always in accordance with the user's immediate needs in the model generation and problem solving process. SASOS can help organisational analysts in their work by (i) providing structured information about the organisation which can be created, updated, and reviewed by the analyst and organisational personnel alike; (ii) providing modelling facilities in using this structured information to present views of the organisational reality bringing together diverse aspects of what is known about the organisation which may be relevant in handling a particular problem or exploring the basis of a complaint about organisational functioning; (iii) providing simulation facilities for the analyst to try out various changes in the structure of this reality and discover their side-effects, thus enabling informed decisions to be taken concerning the implementation of these changes.

This paper examines the requirements for project risk action management techniques which can assist clients and project managers to assess and pre-empt potential sources of risk. These sources may be external or internal to the project and include those which may result from the manager's own actions. The aim is to encourage project managers to be sensitive to these potential sources of risk, to be able to anticipate their occurrence, to appreciate their potential impacts on the project objectives and to reduce their future impact through appropriate risk action management strategies. The paper examines project management goals and objectives and discusses risks which may arise to threaten the achievement of these objectives. The conventional risk analysis approach is reviewed in the context of the need to identify and assess such risks and their potential effects. The paper reviews the direct relationship, as presented in the conventional approaches to risk analysis, between ‘risk drivers' and risked consequences, and demonstrates that this represents a primarily passive approach to project risk management. It argues that, if the manager is able to anticipate risks, he should also be able to take appropriate pre-emptive actions before they occur. Thus, we show how risk action management techniques, within the context of project management, can support project managers in the formulation of project strategies, planning and the achievement of project objectives.

Two children with antral nodular hyperplasia and active chronic gastritis associated with Campylobacter pylori are reported. The organism was observed by scanning electron microscopy and cultured from antral biopsies obtained at endoscopy from each patient. Anti-C. pylori IgG was detected in high titre in both patients together with serum IgM in one patient. Treatment with ampicillin and a bismuth preparation resulted in total resolution of symptoms. Repeated endoscopy with antral biopsy and culture, as well as the absence of acute inflammatory changes, confirmed the eradication of the organism. Correlation of positive bacteriological cultures and serological tests with the clinical improvement related to therapy supports a causative role for C. pylori in antral lymphoid hyperplasia and antral gastritis in children.

This paper discusses issues involved in decisions to bear a child given the knowledge that the child may be subjected to a genetic risk. It argues that the problem of whether to take the risk or not is predicated on the way the prospective parents have conceptualised this risk and its effects. Five levels of abstraction are described at which this risk can be represented and the implications of conceptualising the problem at each of these levels are outlined. Recommendations are made about how to explore the way--or different ways--parents conceptualise the problems involved and how to go about helping them make the decision which they will be least likely to regret subsequently, whatever the actual outcome.