Anderson School of Management

When a popular service was facing an overwhelming level of demand and becoming a victim of its own success, a technology solution was sought to come to its rescue. The original eLibrarian service used email to have the reference librarians provide students with research strategies within a 24-hour turnaround. The current eLibrarian 2.0 system is entirely Web-based, and provides new functionalities that increase the capacity of the service, while under the constraint of a steady-state number of librarians. These enhancements include an auto-populated knowledge base and a recommender system.

The rapid proliferation of communication and information technology coupled with an exponential increase in information has created an “access paradox,” whereby information is readily available, but individual skills for effectively utilizing the environment are not keeping pace. In response to the access paradox, the UCLA Anderson School’s Computing and Information Services (ACIS) has launched InfoIQ, a pilot program that seeks to develop a formal framework of technology and information education for MBA students that can be applied both during their academic careers and as business professionals.

The 1999 Sixteenth Annual UCLA Survey of Business School Computer Usage replicated the 1987 Third Annual Survey. Deans from 215 business schools from eight countries identified their three most critical general issues and their most critical information technology issues.

Content analysis was used to interpret the dean's general issues. Disregarding priority rankings, 34% of their general responses had some sort of a strategic component, indicated by the use of such words and/or phrases as planning, raising, increasing, continuous improvement, outcomes assessment, leading, strategic focus, reaching the top rank, comparative advantages, or market place competition. Demographic data allowed analysis by several groups including accredited/non-accredited, public/private, school size by student FTE, and type of program. Significant differences in the general response categories were shown when the schools were separated by type of program and accreditation status.

Content analysis was similarly used to interpret the dean's most critical information technology issues. Using priority rankings, strategic issues were consistently the major issue, followed by faculty and technology change issues. When using the demographic data to analyze the data by various groupings, significant differences were seen when the schools were separated by type of program and school size.

Comparisons between the dean's responses to the Third Survey and the Sixteenth Survey showed that the same general issues were recurrent, but with new emphasis. E.g., while faculty development remained an ongoing issue, the school administration issues now seem to have taken on even more priority than before, but with an emphasis on a strategic orientation and an emphasis on leadership and response to competitive pressures rather than being focused on management issues and maintaining the status quo.

The 1998 Fifteenth Annual UCLA Survey of Business School Computer Usage extends the focus of the previous surveys, providing a comprehensive overview of business school computing, communication, and information environments. This year there is an added emphasis on distance learning resources and issues. Results of the survey show that business schools, on average, are allocating about 3.5% of their overall school operating budgets on computing and information resources. However, the 88 schools which provided data related to their distance learning programs are allocating about 4.5%.

Other findings showed that nearly half of these business schools are offering a distance learning based business degree. Furthermore, these schools are primarily using their full-time faculty to develop the curriculum and teach the courses. These courses are supported via email (89%), fax (65%), video teleconferencing (56%) and telephone audio conferencing (35%).

Detailed appendices identify key bench marking metrics by business schools. This data includes computer ownership requirements, microcomputer and staff density ratios, as well as innovations in the areas of curriculum, Web development and technological environment.

The 1997 Fourteenth Annual UCLA Survey of Business School Computer Usage extends the focus of the previous surveys, providing a comprehensive overview of the business school computing, communication, and information environment. Results of the survey show that business schools are now allocating about the same amount of their overall budget to support information technology as in 1985. The 1997 ratio of 3.3% represented a drop from the peak of 4.6% in 1993. The average number of business school owned microcomputers, 244, also declined from the 1993 peak of 258. The figure emphasizes that although budgets have returned level of a decade ago, the average number of microcomputer systems supported is three times what it was in the mid-eighties.

Other findings showed 85% of the business schools with access to distance learning and teleconferencing equipment, but only 39% with regular usage for instruction. Further, required on-line student use of databases and information resources has grown substantially, reflecting the power of the World Wide Web. Reminiscent of the early surveys when there would be 25 different word processing packages on the market, each offering something slightly different, the schools identified 108 separate Web tool software packages.

Detailed appendices identify key bench marking metrics by business school including computers ownership requirements, microcomputers and staff density ratios, as well as innovations in the areas of curriculum, Web development, and the technological environment.

In cooperation with AACSB, the Thirteenth UCLA Survey of Business School Computer Usage focuses on the question of “Where are business schools in the computerization process?” Two hundred ninety-three schools completed the phase diagrams providing data on 43 aspects of the computerization process. Forty-one figures and 18 tables support the data analysis.

For this sample as a whole, business schools can be characterized as in the moderate growth phase, indicating initial acceptance of computer-related concepts but insufficient resources to meet demand. However, the school clustered into five statistically significant groups: Start-up, Mixed, Late Growth, Stable, and Mature. The strategic, instructional, operational and network issues associated with each cluster were contrasted. E.g., the instructional issue of inability to use computers in the classroom was identified by the earlier clusters whereas the problem of courseware development was identified by clusters for a further along the growth curve.

Longitudinal analysis comparing the Fifth (1998), Ninth (1992) and Thirteenth (1996) Survey data provide perspectives of the evolving role of technology in business schools over this eight years period. E.g., when compared longitudinally, the computer operating budget showed a significant reversal on the growth curve between 1988 and 1996, moving from a moderate level of stability back into the high growth phase which may be interpreted as an increased expectation of funding resources available to support the business school computerization efforts.