Provides academic administrators and researchers with a critical review of available tools in management techniques; a structure for considering possible analytical projects to undertake; and the steps that should be taken by administrators to ensure proper organization, planning, and control of management science efforts. (Author/DEP)

This essay explores the methodology of a new discipline, system dynamics, as an approach to the analysis of decisions in education. (Author)

The models project the effect of personnel changes and increasing work loads into the future: they also provide a performance standard against which proposed systems can be compared. (Author/NH)

Discusses four approaches to assessing training effectiveness and efficiency: resource requirement models, life cycle models, benefits models, and productivity models. Examines different ways of addressing the cost/benefits issue which could be useful in a particular training situation. Each model is analyzed in detail. (CT)

Provides a descriptive 10-step format to be used for conveying some basic concepts of instructional technology to clients, and for focusing the consultant-client interaction, both during initial project definition and throughout project implementation. (Author/MER)

The application of nonequilibrium thermodynamics could lead to new ways of understanding social processes. (BB)

Describes a collection of systematic theory-based analyses of a system prototype that inherited its control mechanisms from preexisting systems. Demonstrates that collective use of system and user modeling techniques provides insight into a complex design problem, enabling the examination of design decisions for users and implementation. Discusses…

Disturbance-generated biomass results from endogenous and exogenous natural and cultural disturbances that affect the health and productivity of forest ecosystems. These disturbances can create large quantities of plant biomass on predictable cycles. A systems analysis model has been developed to quantify aspects of system capacities (harvest,…

In senior-level undergraduate research courses in Computer Information Systems (CIS), students are required to read and assimilate a large volume of current research literature. One course objective is to demonstrate to the student that there are patterns or models or paradigms of research. A new approach in identifying research paradigms is…

To address the question of why newspapers tend to become more and more fragmented internally and to propose a model of the interrelationships between the newspaper and its "operating environment," this paper draws on recent work by organizational theorists. Beginning by examining the central goal of newspapers, the first section suggests that the…

This study focuses on factors contributing to the low level of effectiveness of library and information services to the Spanish speaking community as reported in the literature. It analyzes, using an open system approach, models developed by public and academic libraries to serve the Spanish speaking population. Problems contributing to the…

A pilot project tested the feasibility of developing computer simulation models as aids to the operation and design of library systems. (Author/PF)

Educational change is a process occurring through time, a systemic and dynamic phenomenon in which every action leads to reactions in related areas of the system, and a multidimensional phenomenon requiring examination from the perspective of several disciplines. The success of an innovation depends on how the change process is managed, how the…

This publication brings together seven papers exemplifying the systems approach to educational decision making. The first discusses the need for inclusion of constituent values in educational decision making strategies to properly apply systems theory concepts. In the second, which addresses systems design for problem solving in schools,…