Public policymaking institutions and their operations should be viewed as complex systems, to be analyzed and improved with the help of basic general systems theory ideas and concepts. Possibilities of and needs for changes in the policymaking system can be illustrated by eleven improvement proposals: explicit strategy decisions, explicit learning…

Describes systems management, the coordination of information flows among the functional areas of business as an aid in the decision-making process. (Author)

Educational management programs have planned outcomes that can be achieved through alternative routes. Methods-means selection is a systematic approach to choosing the most favorable route. "Methods" refer to the specific strategies and "means" refer to the actual resources and personnel used to carry out the chosen method. This systems analysis…

From the systems viewpoint, educational planning is the mechanism through which the educational system makes its goals specific and adapt its priorities, resources, and operational patterns to the changing environmental forces of its particular society. The systems-oriented administrator is a change agent and innovative strategist who delegates…

THIS PAPER INVESTIGATES VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR SOLVING EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS--(1) THE SYSTEMS CONCEPT, (2) THE RELIABILITY OF THE ASSUMPTIONS ON WHICH THE SYSTEMS APPROACH IS BASED, (3) THE LIMITATIONS INHERENT IN THE SYSTEMS APPROACH, (4) THE HUMAN ELEMENT AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SYSTEMS APPROACH, (5) THE WAYS THE…

When one engages in organizational diagnosis, it has been suggested that greater understanding of the organization can come through: (1) an identification of all the channels conveying material and information, and (2) a description of the means by which this communication influences the behavior of the organization. A networks/system approach is…

This paper explores the potential of systems analysis for the educational manager. It contains a review of systems concepts with comments on current and proper practice. An application model of systems analysis in an organizational context is provided to foster rational decisionmaking and increased skill in problem finding and solving. The…

This pamphlet presents a general description of the systems approach as applied to education, and gives verbal and mathematical model examples of its application in educational administration. The basic aims of the systems approach are to (1) identify major objectives of a program plan, (2) define programs that can effect the planned goals, (3)…

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the capabilities and limitations of systems analysis as applied to the development of a program evaluation plan. A brief review of selected concepts in evaluation theory (Lee J. Cronbach; Michael Scriven; Robert Stake; Daniel Stufflebeam), a description of general systems theory, the development of a…

The system approach to planning and managing educational change features the use of an adaptive framework and a strategy for planned system change. The approach focuses management attention upon (1) relevant future states of expectations or goals, (2) present and future state variables and contexts, (3) human organization factors, and (4)…

This bibliography deals with a wide variety of organizational dynamics and is related to the definition of organizational change developed by the Stanford Center's Organizational Change project. This definition, discussed in detail, focuses on deliberate change instituted to reformulate official policy. A topical outline of the bibliography is…

This book focuses on and utilizes the methodology and tools of systems analysis and operations research to demonstrate their use in planning for the future and meeting public demands for information on how tax money is being spent by educational administrators. The range of possible and relevant applications is demonstrated by a step-by-step…

A demand for more and better education has driven educators to seek the help of systems analysis in the process of decision making. Basic to the entire systems notion is the concept of a model, a simplified but controllable version of the real world. The systems approach, once the problem is defined, is to specify the subfunctions and…

Program budgeting is an effective tool in helping school administrators and faculty to draw up budgets which reflect their own needs and those of their clients. The "systems approach" can be used to draw up a program budget systematically. Part I outlines systems concepts and the systems approach as they can be applied to education. Also, the…