Practice of Management Science—A Faculty Model for Policy Planning

This policy-oriented faculty planning model can be used to evaluate the effects of present and proposed policies on the long-term future of academic institutions and to select those policies that will shape the composition of the faculty to meet the institution's objectives. The approach is that of a fixed-time-interval simulation with a one-year time step which traces individuals forward in time according to a set of policy inputs. Implementation has been successful at institutions ranging from small schools to large state universities.

Three explorations are presented to illustrate the use of the model. First, benign, conservative, and draconian scenarios are examined and it is determined that the conservative policy maintains steady state. Second, sensitivity to variation of policy inputs is considered, with the following results: (1) Stringent promotion and tenure policies for senior appointees have marginal effects, but tenure rate for assistant professors is significant. (2) Early retirement provides short-term but not long-term advantages. (3) Resignation rates for senior faculty have more impact than many of the controllable policies.

The third exploration demonstrates that once a school falls behind the “availability pool” for a specific group, such as women, it requires a long-term effort, including hiring at considerably above quota, to catch up.