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Management Science Is Defined As The Basic Process or Function of Rational Context. Four Trends
Management Science Is Defined As The Basic Process or Function of Rational Context. Four Trends
Desmond L. Cook
September 1968
ED025002
WELFARE
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION &
OFFICE OF EDUCATION
POSITION OR POLICY.
Research, 1968
An Overview of Management Science in Educational
Desmond L. Cook
Introduction
the utilization
The task of presenting or discussing an overview of
discipline to that of another is fraught
of the knowledge developed in one
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it presents a compli-
advantage of permitting one to look at both areas,
area, that of
cation in the sense that the knowledge developed in one
non-educational context. Direct
management sciences, has been derived in a
context is not always pos-
transfer of such knowledge to the educational
educational research,
tions of management science to the field of
the future.
Definitions
focusing
Looking first at the definitional problem, let me start by
be used in this paper. It
upon how the concept Management Science will
the concept at an inter-
a
would seem somewhat presumptuous for me to define
Yet, there must be a common
national convention devoted to this topic,
return for future investments. In brief, educators are being asked more
recent paper by
cipative decision-making is reflected very well in a
nRamaih6nfelqp_etg (14)
Williamson in the August issue of
establishment
I see this revolt against the authoritarian
all the time
as powerful, new, and geoning momentum
.
their own
This means that people will, more and more on
that affect them
initiative, seek involvement in the deOqions
We have too long assumed that people want
4
and their work
others to do their
to be told what to do and that they want
increasing number of
in
Comparative research on the decision-making processes
crucial
public sector and the private sector is therefore of
administrative thinking
value in connection with the reform of
and the training of new managers for the public sector°
discussion of Management
It would seem to me, tnerefore, that any
1968 should focus upon the proced-
Science as it relates to education ,
to define the term. A few years ago, I thought I had a useful definition
quence of Jeaning.
)(esearch on the education process which involves many of the new utili-
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which management in the private sector uses in its work, In those cases
labeled as insti-
where such techniques are used, the relevant areas are
to our purpose today to talk about research on the total education context,
Trends
to educational
trends regarding the applicatIons of Management Science
tion storage and retrieval problem We examinad such sources as the Review
. 1
Information Center (ERIC)
or Educational ReseaYch, Educat;ona1 Res3urce
1
publications, is ues ot Manaatment S.cienLe, Edukation Odex, and even the
Moor
1
provided by
ERIC provides OT edulation d sefvTce similar to that
looks very
the Defense Documentation Center and its monthly publication
similar to the TAB Index presented by DDC
...
annual AERA programs tor the past two years, We did some checking on
the contracts awarded under the several titles of the Elementary and Secon-
the ERIC system, for example, uses the general term Administration to in-
this search, several documented references were noted that when put to-
It would appear that there are at least tour trends which have sig-
recognized that these four trends have perhaps been somewhat arbitrarily
separated from each other for discussion purposes whereas in reality they
probably have strong interrelationships with each other, The four trends
that I should like briefly to revlew are (a) an increase in research and
systems for operational decisions in the present and for long-range plan-
by
employment of such problem-solving approaches as those represented
research on educa-
and mathematical modeling of schools in the study and
this area
tional problems. One of the better summaries of applications in
sponsored by the
was the Symposium on Operations Analysis in Education
At first, it was
this symposium has had a significant response in 1968,
400 to 500
anticipated that this symposium might attract approximately
and
that such an attendance is indicative of perhaps both the interest in
ment of educational output or products Time does not permit here a full
being asked is what kind of output are we securing for the inputs and pro-
It is rather surprising
cesses employed in education at the present time?
such an idea but they have
to me that educators should show resistance to
Fears of a national
been very vocal about the proposal in many instances,
"demons" have been raised.
curriculum, increased federal control, and other
is a very relevant one
Yet from a management point of view, the question
point of view, to
allocate my resources, both from an input and process
Management Science for February, 1968 which summarizes some of the current
with this trend place an emphasis upon the economics of education. Crozier
actions lies in the ability of each area to develop measurements of cost and
effectiveness,
A major problem, therefore, associated with using many of the new tech-
effectiveness,
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Another example of this trend has been the operation during the past
formation.
center for colleges and universities (13). This project is to last five
agement information systems for their colleges and universities, One aim
grams so that better resource allocations can be made, Among the problems
to be investigated are the information needs for local, state, and federal
working systems (e,g. PERT, CPM) for the planning and control of various
in using these types of informition systems. When this work was started
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reports were used as the criterion. At the last count, over 50 published
counts as evidence.
of their behavior.
Educational _Elannya, Let us now turn to the third trend, that of edu-
participant to a UNESCO
It was the author's good fortune to be an invited
sponsored conference in London this past January which was devoted to ways
problem of
on the fact that it represents an international concern with the
planning in education.
other activ-
The importance of educational planning is reflected in several
ities. I would also cite the increasing development within state depart-
The US, Office of Education has made funds available under its several
programs for states to secure and train personnel who will have the needed
Department at the
would cite the establishment of an Educational Planning
Development Faculty at my
Ontario Institute for Education, the EduLational
Development Center at Florida
own institution, and the Educational Systems
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makers at all levels the relevant information and techniques needed for
In brief, the question of concern is what will the world be like in the
future and how can education begin to plan for this future?
reference to the increasing role being played by PPBS and its effect on
it would be safe to state that its inherent advantages were seen and adop-
tion followed. In others, the use of PPBS in some form by education was
standing that the states of Washington, California, New York, and Wisconsin
are utilizing program budgeting within all state departments thereby neces-
sitating its use by educatofs. Certainly the use of PPBS at the Federal
level has caused to some degree the several states to employ the technique.
of education (6).
that many educators are be-
To summarize this trend, it would seem
rather than react.
coming more aware than ever before of the need to act
To the extent that we can engage
A plan is an outline for future action.
recognition to the
in long-range educational planning, giving adequate
concepts in
discuss deals with an increase in the utilization of systems
endeavor as well
management since it pervades almost all fields of human
presented here centers aeound the meaning of such terms as "the systems
approach" and "systems analysis," when they are used Perhaps we can
straighten out our vocabulary in the next few years but at the present
your attention to two symposia on this topic. One appeared in the Journal
of Secondary Education for October 1967 and the other in the Nation's
Schools for the same month. More recently9 the publication of a small
practices (7),
Not only is the systems approach being talked about, some efforts
the work of Don Miller with Operation PEP, a statewide project to prepare
cation, I would call your attention to the work of Reisman and Taft (U),
be truly isoLited from each other. In fact, some writers have chosen to
It
discuss all four under a more general term such as Operations Analysis,
their emergence as separate
is my considered opinion that regardless of
definite trend toward
microtrends or one macrotrend9 there is, in 1968, a
Some Problems
howeve(,
The Increased utilization of these techniques and tools is,
not without certain problems, I wou'id like to take a few minutes to pre-
with
sent what I see as some of the probiems which will have to be dealt
of
Education has tunded during the past several years a wide varAety
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programs designed to fill this gap. Since the need for system analysists,
produce these types of individuals,, At the present time, the demand far
these techniques with less than open arms The reasons for this reception
are not always readily apparent. A common reaction that comes to me is that
such tools and techniques used by managers to make decisions are derived
problem has not been helped by the entry of many business concerns in
representatives become familiar with the education process and how educators
A third problem involves the fact that most of the approaches and
take the position that many of the variables of concern to them cannot be
quantified, If they can be quantified, they are often not quite willing
really trying to achieve.
to have that quantification represent what they are
For those of us who have worked in education, this is not a new experience,
with the education sub-
It will appear here, however, for those unfamiliar
the educational
will have to demonstrate that rather than dehumanizing
process it will in the long run make it more humane by allowing for more
allocation of our
continue as we have than to consider new approaches to
scarce resources..
techniques has,
The last problem is that the introduction of these new
himself but has come
by and large, not been by the professional educator
In a recent
from persons outside of the f eld of professional education.
least four of the speakers
program in which the author participated, at
while the others
could be considered as professional education persons
engineering, economics, and re-
came from political science, industrial
education, It
persons from non-education fields are entering the field of
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A Personal Note
with you the role and
I would like to take a few minutes to discuss
Management Center of the Educational
concern of the Educational Program
institution,
Development Faculty within the College of Education at my
is concerned with the de-
The Educational Development Faculty as a group
management,
velopment of education as a system and the associated planning,
variety of
focus of the Center has been expanded to a study of a wide
from the U.S Office of Education to conduct, during the past two years,
research personneL
a series of management training programs for educational
Conclusion
haps been some oversights which both my education and management colleagues
will call to my attentionfl I apologize now for such oversights and can
Don Meals, Heuristic Models for Systems Planning," Phi Delta Kappan,
January 1967, pp, 199-203,
9. H A. Simon, The New ,Sc.ience of Management Decision, Harper and Row, 1960
10L R-L, Sisson and M.F. Stankard, "On the Modeling of RelatAnsnips Between
Performance and Resource Management in an Urban School District "
Management Science Center, University of Pennsylvania, Mimeo,
13 U.S. Office of Education News Release HEW U68 July 30, 1968