STRUCTURE AND RATIONALITY IN EDUCATIONAL INFORMATION‐DECISION SYSTEMS
| Pages | 119-125 |
| Date | 01 January 1976 |
| Published date | 01 January 1976 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009749 |
| Author | WARRENN L. MELLOR |
| Subject Matter | Education |
THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
VOLUME XIV, No. 1 May, 1976
STRUCTURE AND RATIONALITY IN EDUCATIONAL
INFORMATION-DECISION SYSTEMS
WARRENN
L. MELLOR
Computer-based educational information systems can extend the "bounded rationality" of
administrative decision making. They structure the administrator's problem-solving ap-
proach and systematize the communication linkages within organizations. They produce in-
formation for providing decision makers with a more complete knowledge, an increased
range of alternatives, and an improved capability for anticipating decision consequences.
INTRODUCTION
A close conceptual parallel exists between administrative decision mak-
ing and information processing. Decision making takes information, a
basic organizational resource, and transforms it into action. The process it
would seem, may be ordered and systematized in much the same way as
the electronic computer has mechanized information processing,1 for deci-
sion making is potentially a totally rational process. The individual lays
out the alternative choices confronting him, compares information about
the relative merits of each of these alternatives in terms of predetermined
criteria and, having resolved his uncertainty in favour of one of the alter-
natives, evaluates the outcomes of his decision.2 It is in the "information
analysis" stage that the impact of information system technology on the
process of administrative decision making is most keenly felt, for it is then
that the decision maker is, in effect, a data processor. First the decision
maker is presented with data. These he checks for consistency, much as an
electronic data processing machine would verify them. He then arranges
those data, or sorts them, so that they take on an intelligible sequence and
form. From these data he extracts those that are relevant, and uses them
for calculations, manipulating them as they could be mechanically. Finally
the output results are presented in a usable informative fashion.
Few decisions, however, exhibit totally objective rationality, for the
decision maker is actually capable of only "bounded rationality". Rather
than "maximizing", administrative man is content with the goal of
"satisficing", of
finding
a course of action that is good enough.3 "Bounded
rationality", moreover, is based on three premises:4
1.
that total rationality requires an unattainable knowledge and anticipa-
tion of decision consequences
WARREN L. MELLOR is Senior Lecturer in Education at Monash Univeristy, Melbourne.
He holds the degrees of B.A. (Sydney), M.Ed. and Ph.D. (Oregon).
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