Date of Award

8-1977

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Dr. William P. Viall

Second Advisor

Dr. Rodney W. Roth

Third Advisor

Dr. Tilman C. Cothran

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the administrators' perceptions of "current" (is) and ''future" (should be) goals for the Student Services Division at Western Michigan University. The five groups of administrators surveyed included: Group I which consisted of the President, Vice Presidents, and Associate and Assistant Vice Presidents; Group n which consisted of the Academic Deans and Associate and Assistant Academic Deans: Group m which consisted of the Chairpersons and Heads of Departments; Group IV which consisted of all the Unit Directors in the Student Services Division; and Group V which consisted of a select group of Unit Directors in the Academic Services Division.

The four research questions answered were: (1) are the 11current11 (is) goals of equal importance among the administrators? (Z) are the 11future 11 (should be) goals of equal importance among the administrators? (3) is there any agreement among the administrators regarding the relationship between the 11current11 and 11future11 goals? and (4) are the perceptions of administrators by groups different for the "current" (is) and 11future'' (should be) goals?

The 120 administrators were requested to respond to a 76 item questionnaire (SSGI) designed to measure the roles of student services at Western Michigan University. After an initial mailing and one follow-up, a total of 94 questionnaires, or 78 percent, were usable for analysis.

The answers to the research questions are as follows:

1. Each "current" goal statement, investigated independently, revealed that the five administrative groups generally perceived 66 11current11 (is) goals as being of equal importance.

2. Each "future11 goal statement, investigated independently, revealed that the five administrative groups generally perceived 67 11future11 (should be) goals as being of equal importance.

3. Each administrative group and combined groups agreed that the relationship between the "current11 (is) goals was the same as for the "future" (should be) goals.

4. The relative difference between the "current" (is) and "future" (should be) importance of the 76 goals varied by groups. ~The number of goal statements for which differences were found by the five administrative groups in descending order were as follows: 65 for the Chairpersons (Group m), 43 for the Academic Services Directors (Group V), 36 for the Student Services Direc~ tors (Group IV), 35 for the Academic Deans (Group II), and ZZ for the President-Vice Presidents (Group I).

Adjunct descriptive data were most helpful in interpreting the answers to the four research questions as trends were evident. Generally, more emphasis was suggested for the student personnel point of view; that is, development of the total student particularly with interfacing student services at Western Michigan University with the direct and indirect academic development of the student. Generally, less emphasis was suggested for those services and activities which were possibly too narrow in scope as well as clientele for whom these endeavors were directed. These included the following: religious, foreign students, sports medicine pro~ grams, off-campus housing, public relations, and parent associations.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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