Development of assessment criteria to determine the managerial effectiveness of community and technical college administrators

The purposes of this study were to develop a core set of criteria considered essential in assessing the managerial and leadership effectiveness of community and technical college administrative personnel, and to obtain opinions about the administration of a management audit program in a community or technical college environment. It was a major premise of this study that once developed, this core set of criteria could be combined with institution, unit, and position specific criteria to form a comprehensive community college management audit instrument.;The initial criteria utilized in this study were developed through an exhaustive review of the literature pertaining to management auditing and performance evaluation of college and university administrative personnel. This review of literature produced a list of 70 criteria statements organized under the seven recognized functions of management: planning, organizing, controlling, staffing, leading, communicating, and decision making.;Data were obtained from two rounds of Delphi questionnaires administered to a panel of 33 presidents selected nationally in a stratified, random sample of public community and technical colleges.;Major findings of the study included: (1) A need presently exists to assess the managerial effectiveness of administrative personnel. (2) The panel of college presidents reached consensus or stability on all 70 assessment criteria. (3) A management audit program should be used for administrator development purposes. (4) A management audit should be conducted by a team of individuals comprised of administrators, faculty, staff, and outside consultants. (5) College presidents, vice presidents, deans, and department/division chairpersons should be subject to regular assessment by a management audit.;The researcher concluded that: (1) many business management methods and applications could prove useful in improving community and technical college management practice; (2) many college administrators lack basic business management and leadership skills; (3) college administrators must become leaders who possess business management skills; and (4) a management audit program can be developed for community and technical colleges.