Departments are the basic organizational units of academic institutions, and their power contributes to growing pressure for accountability. Their role in resource allocation determinations is examined. (Editor/LBH)

Effective management and sound education require the development of sophisticated departmental budget models and processes. Efficient methods of resource allocation compatible with institutional organization, goals, and needs have not yet been put into effect. (Editor/LBH)

Various budgeting patterns and strategies are currently in use, each with its own particular strengths and weaknesses. Neither cost-benefit analysis nor cost-effectiveness analysis offers any better solution to the allocation problem than do the unsupported contentions of departments or the historical unit costs. An operable model that performs…

Procedures permit grouping departments on variables that provide an equitable basis for departmental funding. The series of steps is outlined whereby the financial significance of various process and role variables can be determined. (Editor/LBH)

The instructional service component of academic departments is explored due to concern for the development of a budgetary plan that accounts both for the inherent differences in disciplines and the concomitant instructional methodologies affecting input and output properties and for operational differences among departments. (LBH)

Reasons for more intensive scrutiny of departmental operations and budgets are reviewed, along with the factors that have prevented such study. The means and procedures for such review are listed with comments and cautions about putting these procedures into operation. (LBH)

Ways that program review, budget history, and budget projections can be used to determine annual budgets for multi-college departments are discussed. A model for funding and crediting is proposed that is used to determine the proportion of the total departmental general-fund budget. (Editor/LBH)

Departments that serve several colleges and are financed by them pose particular budgeting and administrative problems. Alternatives to shared departments are reviewed, along with budgetary approaches, personnel problems and policies, coordination and communication needs, and graduate education role. (Editor/LBH)

Methods by which annual evaluation and review of departments at Michigan State has moved from a limited exercise to a valued administrative tool are described. A model is used that has as its basic unit the academic department and that is an operational system for departmental review and resource allocation in a complex university. (Editor/LBH)