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A ROLE ANALYSIS STUDY OF THE BUSINESS MANAGER IN THE OPERATION OF TECHNICAL COMMUNITY COLLEGES IN NEBRASKA
Abstract
The Problem. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of the business manager in the operation of the technical community college. This investigation was designed to measure, through the perceptions of faculty, business managers, presidents, administrators, and board members in the Nebraska technical community college areas, (1) the expected role responsibility, (2) the perceived role performance, and (3) the extent to which the business manager influences the operations of the instructional and student services functions of the college. Procedure. A review of selected literature was conducted to gain background and supportive information to the development of the study. A semantic differential instrument was developed to measure the perceptions of the selected technical community college personnel regarding the present role and the future role of the business manager in the operation of the Nebraska technical community colleges. A preliminary questionnaire was pilot-tested and as a result, adjustments were made to the instrument. The resulting data were analyzed in accordance with the total population and each subgroup of the total population. Means, rank orders, standard deviations, "D" distance clusters, and one-way analysis of variance were used in analyzing the data. Findings and Conclusions. The perceptions of the respondents were measured according to the summed concept means, evaluative factor means, potency factor means, and activity factor means. Based on the summed concept mean ratings, the respondents indicated there should be a different ordering of priorities for the business manager role in the future than presently exists. Indications were that increased emphasis should be placed on the role functions, Financial and Physical Resources, Financial Accounts and Reports, Preparation of Budgets, Management Information Systems, Risk Management and Insurance, Federal Grant Supervision, Purchasing, Resources for Educational Goals, Instruction as Important Priority, Collective Bargaining Spokesman, Physical Plant and Construction, and Perspective in Planning, by the business managers of Nebraska technical community colleges. Based on the evaluative factor mean ratings which measure the extent to which positive or negative reinforcement has been associated with a stimulus, it was concluded that the respondents felt the business manager role functions should be more positive in the future. Based on the potency factor mean ratings which measure the amount of adjustment that must be made or the magnitude of response necessary to adjust to a stimulus, it was concluded that the role functions, Purchasing, Collective Bargaining Spokesman, Physical Plant and Construction, Auxiliary Enterprises and Services, Endowment Fund Administration, and Personnel Program Supervision, should be less powerful in the future. Based on the activity factor mean ratings which refer to the necessity or non-necessity for making movements to adjust to stimuli, it was concluded that the business manager role function, Instruction as Important Priority, should be less abrupt (more relaxed) in the future. The observable perception variances indicate there was more general agreement about what the role functions should be in the future than about what they are presently. This indicated areas of potential changes in the priority of allocations of time and emphasis by the business manager. It was concluded that the area president group the business manager group had a more favorable opinion of the business manager role than did the other seven groups. The groups with the lowest opinion of the business manager role were student services administrators and faculty.
Subject Area
Business education
Recommended Citation
KINNEY, DANNY DUANE, "A ROLE ANALYSIS STUDY OF THE BUSINESS MANAGER IN THE OPERATION OF TECHNICAL COMMUNITY COLLEGES IN NEBRASKA" (1980). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8111678.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8111678