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DECISION TYPE, STRUCTURE, AND PROCESS EVALUATION: A CONTINGENCY MODEL
Author(s) -
PETERSON MARVIN W.
Publication year - 1947
Publication title -
higher education quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.976
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1468-2273
pISSN - 0951-5224
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2273.1947.tb02081.x
Subject(s) - typology , contingency , panacea (medicine) , contingency theory , process (computing) , corporate governance , management science , knowledge management , institution , decision analysis , computer science , higher education , process management , sociology , business , political science , economics , management , epistemology , social science , philosophy , medicine , alternative medicine , mathematical economics , pathology , anthropology , operating system , law
Governance proposals for higher education in the United States are often promulgated on the basis of some Utopian goal or on the assumption that a given proposal is the panacea for multifaceted problems or that it is equally applicable to diverse institutional settings. This paper, rather than promulgating a single proposal, takes a more analytic approach and develops a contingency model for identifying appropriate decision‐making structures. First, emergent conditions in American higher education's external environment, in the internal social environment of its colleges and universities, and in the development of higher education management systems are analyzed to establish some long‐range criteria for evaluating decision‐making effectiveness. Second, a typology of institutional decisions categorized as policy, managerial, and operating decisions is presented. An analysis of the nature and content of each major type of decision suggests divergent patterns of formal and informal decision‐making structures and patterns, and differing content and functions for the supporting management information technology which might be appropriate to each of the decision types or categories. Finally, the analysis relates the contingency notions of decision structure and type to the criteria for evaluating the decision‐making process and suggests how they are compatible or might be modified to be more compatible. The model is a general conceptual one which the author suggests can be used on either an institution‐wide basis or with particular subunits of a college or university.