COMPUTERIZED SUPPORT FOR DECISION-MAKING IN HIGHER EDUCATION: CASE STUDIES OF FIVE PRIVATE COLLEGES (PLANNING, MICROCOMPUTER)
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to further the research on the effectiveness of computer information systems as used to support decision making in higher education. It attempted specifically to look at the effects of the introduction of an analytical tool into the complex, political decision processes that exist in colleges and universities. To do this research, case studies were conducted at five small, private, non-profit colleges. The major findings of this research were: (1) Computer technology was used effectively in supporting the different types of decision processes which existed at the five colleges studied. (2) The use of computer technology did not change the decision processes at the five colleges but was integrated into already existing decision environments. (3) Computer technology will play an expanded role in the future in supporting decision processes. These findings supported research which used broad survey methods conducted by Richard Mann (1974) and Robert E. Russell (1981). A secondary area of focus in this study was to examine decision making in higher education and to determine if it is becoming a more rational process as a result of external pressures such as declining enrollment and declining resources. Although it is accepted that decision making in higher education is essentially a political process, it was observed that the decision processes at all of the five colleges studied exhibited recently increased degrees of rationality, introduced as these institutions attempted to develop strategies for dealing with enrollment decline. A most important aspect of this research was to provide some practical benefits for administrators in higher education who are facing serious issues associated with declining enrollments. The detail provided in the case analyses was intentional to give administrators an inside look at other institutions which are facing similar problems. It is hoped that they can draw from the material on decision processes, on participation in decision making and on the development of computer technology and its uses in these processes.
Subject Area
Higher education
Recommended Citation
PICCIANO, ANTHONY GERADE, "COMPUTERIZED SUPPORT FOR DECISION-MAKING IN HIGHER EDUCATION: CASE STUDIES OF FIVE PRIVATE COLLEGES (PLANNING, MICROCOMPUTER)" (1986). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI8624501.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI8624501
