This paper assesses the impact of business practices on higher education institutional research activities. Institutions who have been implementing total quality management practices are gradually adopting a new method, process redesign, which focuses more on how to achieve improvements using less costly research methods and procedures. This study outlines how one institution worked toward a research compromise. Early on, the institutional research office, in conjunction with quality improvement teams, identified a number of problem areas. It was found that: (1) quality improvement teams sometimes lacked research training and understanding of the quality management process; (2) the defined research problem was sometimes too large to be managed in the time assigned; (3) survey instruments were sometimes too inclusive; (4) the personal dynamics within and between quality improvement and institutional research team members sometimes created barriers; and (5) often, too much data were gathered. These problems were addressed systematically as the institution shifted focus from quality management to process design. (CH)