How Universities Think
The information ecology of the university is unique for
its extreme degree of decentralization. Decisions about people, programs,
and money must be made. And yet information is distributed among faculty
and administrators inside the university and political actors outside of
it; decision-making powers are dispersed within and without; and the people
who hold decision-relevant information do not always, or even most of the
time, coincide with the people who make decisions.
I ask, How does information flow from those who have it
to those who need it? How do information flows influence academic and
administrative decisions and political oversight? How does the information
environment shape the selection of academic and administrative personnel?
How can internal and external agents of change redesign the flow of
information to improve the performance of the university?
Susanne Lohmann
University of California in Los Angeles
Department of Political Science
lohmann@ucla.edu