| Using open systems theory as a theoretical framework, this case study examines the costs and benefits of accreditation processes at a public research university. Contextual ingredients (inputs) included leadership philosophy and the analytical nature of the institution as factors potentially influencing the process (throughput) and outcomes in the context of the environment. As processes, Middle States Association, Accreditation Board for Engineering Technology, and American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business - International Association for Management Education self-studies and site visits are compared under both separate and joint conditions. Outcomes included costs and benefits. A comparison of the labor and non-labor resources as costs indicates that the joint effort involved fewer participants, less labor, and lower direct costs than had the separate processes ten years earlier. These reductions may be only partially due to the use of the joint effort, however, as the reduction may have resulted from two of the contextual ingredients (inputs). These confounding factors include leadership philosophy regarding accreditation and the enhanced analytical nature of the institution since the leadership at the time of the joint review process linked the review to the institution's strategic planning process. |
