A System for Managing the Research Activities of Business School Faculty

Abstract

One responsibility of university/college faculty is to engage in research activity. Such activity typically manifests itself in contributions to scholarly journals or professional meetings. Administrators monitor this activity on a yearly basis because it is an important factor in decisions relating to promotion, tenure, and salary improvement For many academic institutions, it is important to encourage and monitor this activity over the long-term to maintain accreditation of their programs. The purpose of this article is to describe: 1) the development of a computer-based information system to manage a database generated by the research activity of a business school faculty; and 2) how this system can support the decision making roles of deans and department chairs. Although the setting is a business school, the design and benefits of this system are applicable to other academic units.