Abstract
Many organizational functions, such as institutional research, assume that organizations make decisions rationally. The assumption is largely unjustified by empirical accounts of actual decision making. Higher education institutions are usually seen as political, collegial, or anarchic in their decision patterns. This study tests the participants' claim that the budget decision making process at Stanford University during the 1970s was rational. Although the study tends to support the claim, the results are neither conclusive nor comprehensive. The study provides (1) a rigorous and replicable procedure for testing the rational model, (2) evidence that rational decision making is feasible in higher education, and (3) grounds for refusing to assume pure rationality without abandoning hope of any rationality.
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Chaffee, E.E. The role of rationality in university budgeting. Res High Educ 19, 387–406 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01418442
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01418442