Resource Management for Colleges and Universities

Book excerpt: How comprehensive activity-based models can help university leaders and faculty reshape their institutions through better resource management. Resources in higher education steer colleges and universities both strategically and tactically. They drive incentives and accountability for faculty and staff while providing academics with the infrastructure they need in order to perform effectively. But while American colleges and universities remain the gold standard for worldwide higher education, Resource Management for Colleges and Universities argues that their decision-making cultures and business models are beset by serious flaws. In this audacious book, William F. Massy writes that resource allocation in colleges and universities needs to become more responsive to academic mission, marketplace realities, and the requirements of financial sustainability. Such improvement is needed, he asserts, because few institutions currently have the evidence, know-how, and cultural capacity to take advantage of modern information systems and models. Luckily, today's academic resourcing models enable academic leaders and faculty to close the gaps and do a significantly better job of controlling costs and improving academic performance. Massy describes three kinds of contemporary, comprehensive AR models: internal economic, external economic, and mission-market-margin. He explains how these models, if used correctly, support mission-critical academic decisions and reveals why they are game-changers for college and university management. Describing how real universities are using these models to understand their teaching and research revenues and costs and to predict changes needed in budget planning, Massy also provides numerous insights about how academic organizations function and how they can be induced to adopt needed changes. Building on Reengineering the University, Massy's earlier book, Resource Management for Colleges and Universities will provide readers with the wherewithal, and the motivation, to fundamentally transform their institutions.