Explains the need for meaningful performance measures in libraries and the Total Quality Management (TQM) approach to data collection. Five tools representing different stages of a TQM inquiry are covered (i.e., the Shewhart Cycle, flowcharts, cause-and-effect diagrams, Pareto charts, and control charts), and benchmarking is addressed. (Contains…

This excerpt from "Managing the Facilities Portfolio: A Practical Approach to Institutional Renewal and Deferred Maintenance" offers higher education business officers a conceptual framework comprising four steps: (1) establish baseline; (2) estimate needs; (3) compare model alternatives; and (4) report to management. (DB)

Discusses student support systems in distance education based on experiences at the Open University (United Kingdom). Topics addressed include distance education versus traditional education; changes in the learning process; management theory; student support as a service industry; course production; resource allocation; and decision-making…

The purposes of large-scale assessment and classroom assessment are often seen as distinct: Large-scale assessments, including school district, state, and national assessments, are directed at the formative and summative assessments of educational programs, while classroom assessments are focused primarily on the educational status or progress of…

Five years ago, North Shore Community College (NSCC) encountered rising enrollments in the face of lagging state funding. The addition of two new campuses stretched NSCC thin as it attempted to provide administrative and academic services across five (more recently consolidated to four) locations. Its students increasingly struggled to balance the…

American Catholic higher education has faced and overcome challenges, both from American higher education and Vatican Church officials, in its long and rich history. Georgetown College's founding in 1789 was the first of several Catholic higher education institutions created in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The 20th century brought the…

The convergence of United States federal science and economic policy that began in earnest under the Reagan administration formed the First Stage in an emerging post-Cold War drive toward technological innovation. A frenzy of new state-based initiatives now forms the Second Stage, further promoting universities as decisive tools for economic…

New academic chairs and deans can assume their new challenges with less frustration if they understand the essential elements for developing a culture of proactive change. One key concept is transformational leadership, in which leaders employ idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration…

This book is a guide to the many roles of an academic dean who has jurisdiction over academic departments and programs that include faculty members, budget, and curricula in colleges and universities. The work advises on ways to recognize and solve the problems that confront academic deans. The topics treated include the following: the allocation…

Vision and vision building play a central role in the construction of a professional culture. Vision concerns the goals that an organization wants to achieve, and indicates a shared consensus about the value of daily activities and decisions in relation to some goals and the future of an organization. In this paper, the degree of goal consensus is…

Visionary leadership has emerged as a significant characteristic of high performing school administrators. Vision provides a sense of direction for the school and facilitates accomplishment. Administrators must move from authoritarian and managerial modes of operation to proactive leadership, and maintain a focus on the vision through turmoil and…

This paper argues that a major review of the theory of educational administration is required if it is to regain a credible role in academic and practical circles. The argument, which considers the case of regional directors in Victoria, Australia (a role similarly endangered on present assumptions and trends), has four major parts. First is a…

The first part of this publication delineates, in capsule form, the responsibilities of superintendents and other members of an administrative team. Thereafter, seven basic principles are presented that contribute to a sound, productive relationship between school boards and administrators: (1) a specific written description of administrators'…

This discussion of "dominant metaphors" characterizing the nation's history focuses specifically on the period of metaphor change surrounding the ascent of the National Football League. The terms AGON and PAIDIA, used by the ancient Greeks to describe two dimensions of sports activities, provide the framework for a discussion of the athletic…

This workshop, designed to use motivational theories in understanding work behaviors and to increase job satisfaction and performance, deals with cognitive theories in motivation, need theories, and the Equity Theory within the Expectancy Valence Model. Counseling technique areas of communication skills and rational thinking that facilitate the…