Organization and Administration in Higher Education

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1. Satisficing: describes any situation in which people settle with a solution that is rationally just “good enough" to a problem. In a rational decision-making process, it is assumed that individuals seek the best result; however, it is often rational to seek to satisfice if the process of searching for better option involves risks, prolonged effort, or is costly. Individual and organizations, therefore, satisfice when they seek, or accept choices or judgments that are rationally 'good enough' for their purposes, but the same situation could still be optimized (Interaction-Design.org ,2004). The conventional wisdom is that, it is better to satisfice than to be seen as not taking a decision at all.

Higher educational institutions structurally functions like a factory, and many crisis situations (e.g. faculty appointments, infrastructural maintenance works, etc ) are solved through satisficing. For example, appointment of interim or acting officers to fill vacant administrative positions in academic departments (e.g. college dean, department chair, etc.) is a case of satisficing. Another area where satisficing is common is in athletics and sports. For instance, when athletics, football, or basketball coaches are fired for poor results, they are quickly replaced by one of the associates while a search for replacement begins. The temporary appointments are considered worthwhile in view of the administrative functions that the occupier performs. Such temporary appointments are palliative remedies to the laborious and costly search and selection process.

The current economic situation is assumed to exacerbate satisficing in postsecondary institutions. With dwindling resources, many public colleges and universities are rationalizing ...

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...example of deviant credit. Of course, her attempt to re-write the union contract was another example, but it was resisted because of the implications.

References

Heller, D. E. (2005). State oversight of academia. In R. G. Ehrenberg (Ed.), Governing academia (pp. 49-70). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press

Interaction-Design.org (2004). Satisficing. Retrieved 24 March 2012 from http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/satisficing.html

Mintzberg, H. (1979/2000). The professional bureaucracy. In M. C. Brown II (Ed.), Organization & governance in higher education (5th ed.) (pp. 50-70). Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing.

Unger, J-P., Macq, J., Bredo, F., & Boelaert, M. (2000). Through Mintzberg’s glasses: a fresh look at the organization of ministries of health. Bulletin of World Health Organization, 78(8), 1005-10

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