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Core groups stand as the tangible, but fluid repositories of knowledge, influence and power in organizations. Thus, the core group in any organization is the focal point of organizational learning throughout the organization, because people act to fulfill the perceived needs and priorities of some key group of people. An organization goes wherever its people perceive that the core group needs and wants to go. An organization becomes whatever its people perceive that the core group needs and wants it to become. Core Group Theory holds implications for how the complex of power, knowledge and influence interacts with organizational opportunities for genuine learning and creativity.This issue of JOCM asks whether the organizational change phenomenon called "organizational learning" could liberate organizational members from unnecessary constraints on human freedom, dignity and self-determination. Certainly, when Senge (1990, p. 8) writes about "clarifying the things that really matter to us," and "living our lives in the service of our highest aspirations,", it portends a kind of emancipation. Indeed, if employees at all levels in enough organizations could learn to use the organizational learning tools of personal mastery, working with mental models and systems thinking, then the net effect would not only benefit individual organizations, but also society.However, that hope, as with so many managerial reform movements, is countered by the vast difficulty of making headway. Over the years, I have come to realize that conditions for creating learning organizations exist within the context of the organization's power and governance structures. But these structures are not as immutable and rigid, or even as hierarchical, as they seem to be at first glance. Like everything else in organizations, the power structures are also products of the ways that people think and interact.The overarching thesis of this essay is that if we are going to act effectively in a society of organizations, we need a theory that helps us see these power structures clearly, as they are. Only then can we ask: Why does it operate this way? And what, if anything, could be different? Only then can we learn to use organizations, instead of feeling like we are being used by them.In the following pages I offer an explication of what I call Core Group Theory (CGT). Basically, I argue that core groups stand as the tangible, but fluid repositories of knowledge, influence and power in organizations. Thus,

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A regional multibeam bathymetric and imagery survey of the Canadian Scotian Margin was performed by C & C Technologies, Inc. The survey was spearheaded by the Geological Survey of Canada (Atlantic), which acted as a partner with an industry group consisting of Marathon Canada, Norsk Hydro Canada, PanCanadian, and Murphy Oil. The survey is providing one component for use in hazard assessment within the lease block area of the central Scotian Slope, and forming an integral part of regional research carried out by the Geological Survey of Canada Atlantic (GSCA) funded by PERD and industry partners. The multibeam imagery is being used to derive a regional assessment of the character of seabed morphology, erosion, and the distribution of slope instabilities throughout the Scotian Slope. Spatial resolution is higher than in 3-D seismic data, especially on the mid to upper Slope, and the 17,000 km2 survey area provides regional coverage. Many of the large features (canyons and slope instabilities) on the Scotian Slope extend for many kilometers, and therefore their interpretation requires regional information. In particular, the multibeam imagery allows precise targeting of seabed features for subsequent higher resolution surveys of small critical areas and seabed sampling. Side scan sonar, sub-bottom profiling, and ROV surveys can provide fine detail of critical features. Precisely located samples can be used to obtain measurements of sediment properties, age dating of sediments, and benthic biota. A 30-day sampling cruise was performed by GSCA on the CCGS "Hudson", which acquired high-resolution seismic profiles and piston and box cores in targeted features. The targeted data will be used to ground truth the multibeam imagery and to assess geologic conditions and hazards of the Scotian Slope. The bathymetry data are being evaluated with new technology developed by the University of New Brunswick, Canada, which interactively integrates them into one common graphical environment and allows for precise identification of geologic correlations. Introduction Many exploration and production companies are showing interest in the Scotian Slope off eastern Canada. More than 3,000,000 ha. have been leased since 1999 (Fig. 1). In spring of 2000, C&C Technologies acquired more than 16,500 km2 of multibeam bathymetry (Fig. 2) and backscatter data from the central part of the Scotian Slope using an EM300 system. The survey covered 15 lease blocks and extended from about 700 m to 3000 m water depth. In addition, a separate survey by Clearwater Fine Foods Inc. and the Geological Survey of Canada acquired multibeam bathymetry from 700 m to 150 m water depth on the upper slope using an EM1002 system. The purpose of the survey was to provide the GSC(A) and industry partners with regional information on surficial hazards, including sediment slides, surface faulting, and pockmarks, and on the distribution of near surface sediments that influence benthic habitat. Following the acquisition of the multibeam data, the Geological Survey of Canada, with supplementary funding from the industry partners, carried out two 15-day confirmation cruises.

Detailed geophysical surveys are required in deep water to avoid potential hazards and to provide for the construction and development of offshore oil leases. Unfortunately, data obtained with existing technology can be expensive and often data accuracy may be questionable. Towing cabled or tethered survey platforms, from a project perspective, can be time consuming and, as a result, costly. To address this problem, C & C Technologies, Inc. of Lafayette, Louisiana, USA has contracted with Kongsberg Simrad for the construction of a HUGIN 3000 deep-water autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). This survey platform will be integrated with a variety of sensors including high frequency multibeam swath bathymetry and imagery. Other survey sensors include chirp side scan sonar, chirp subbottom profiler, and magnetometer. Vehicle positioning will be provided by a SSBL (Super Short Base Line) system integrated with Doppler speed log, an inertial navigation system, and for surface operations, DGPS. AUV power will be delivered by aluminum oxygen fuel cells. This paper will address AUV operations, platform performance, sensor specifications and integration, project milestones, and system economics. Introduction As the technology applied to energy exploration and production advances to meet the deepwater challenges beyond the continental shelf, Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) will be increasingly employed. AUV technology has just reached a milestone with the first commercial purchase of an AUV for industrial use by C & C Technologies, Inc. of Lafayette, Louisiana. The deep-towed system, the conventional deepwater mapping tool, suffers from chronic waste and inefficiency. To rectify this problem, Kongsberg Simrad has developed the HUGIN 3000 in conjunction with C & C Technologies. The HUGIN 3000 has evolved from an AUV program amassing more than one hundred missions since 1995. This AUV will be integrated with an "acoustic tether" to monitor data acquisition and optimize system performance. Deep-Towed Systems The deep-towed system originated as a mapping tool to accommodate large-scale academic surveying projects comprising multiple traverses of lengthy, straight lines. It was later adapted to similar applications, such as pipeline routes, fiber-optic cable routes, and block hazard surveys. Provided by manufacturers such as Klein Associates, EdgeTech, EDO Corporation, Kongsberg Simrad, and Benthos/Datasonics, the deep-towed system is the true precursor to the survey AUV and remains the standard deepwater survey tool of today. Typical deep-tow instrumentation packages include the side scan sonar and subbottom profiler. Unfortunately, due to the massive amounts of tow cable required (10,000 meters is not uncommon), deep-towed costs are extremely high. Such cable lengths demand huge handling systems and result in a substantial drag when towed. Survey speeds are therefore limited to 2.0 to 2.5 knots and vessel turns often require 4 to 6 hours to accomplish, which devour a painful portion of a survey budget. Positioning of deep-towed systems embodies the age-old axiom: accuracy vs. cost. Ranked according to cost (with #1 as the highest), the three primary underwater acoustic positioning alternatives are:Long Base Line (LBL).Two-Vessel Ultra Short Base Line (USBL).Single-Vessel USBL (for less than 1,000 meters of water depth).

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