A STUDY OF FACULTY PARTICIPATION IN DECISION-MAKING IN THE COMMUNITY-JUNIOR COLLEGES OF MARYLAND AS PERCEIVED BY FACULTY AND EXECUTIVE ADMINISTRATORS

This study focused on decision making in the community-junior colleges of Maryland, meaning the areas of agreement or disagreement between faculty and executive administrators. How did members of faculty and executive administration perceive faculty participation in each of six pre-selected categories: budgeting, general institutional policies, professional personnel policies, and student personnel policies? The importance and degree of faculty participation were explored in each category. The assumption behind the methodology was that organizational effectiveness could be facilitated through identification of areas of agreement and disagreement in regard to the participation of faculty members in decision making. The method employed six null hypotheses. The population consisted of 186 respondent full-time faculty members and executive administrators during 1979-80. Seventeen of the eighteen community-junior colleges in Maryland participated. Data measurements were according to The Joseph A. Malik Decision-Making Questionnaire. The null hypotheses were analyzed using the two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). ANOVA F values were calculated to determine the presence or lack of significant differences between existing and desired degrees of participation. To test the strength of the relationship between groups, based on the ranks assigned to decision-categories, and to determine the importance of faculty participation in decision making, the Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient (rho) was used. Analysis uncovered a basic cleavage. Faculty members indicated a desire for a high degree of decision-making participation in each of the six categories. Administrators were divided in their opinions. Finally, the data indicated that faculty members desired some formal basis for participation in decision making, such as committee structure. The author concluded that these expressions of opinion would grow as the junior colleges moved more fully into the mainstream of American higher education.