Dilemma of Aliesha State College Competence Versus Need

¶ … Aliesha state college competence vs. need

Competence vs. Need

The decision problem has been identified by looking at the fact that one area of the college has to go. There is no reason to see that there are any other choices other than the one that is being decided upon by the Board of Trustees. In other words, the dilemma in this particular case has been whittled down to the idea that either the speech clinic or the high school must go, and there are no other alternative solutions that would allow the college to keep both of those things and scale back some of the other programs. Because the case study does not say why things have been determined this way -- other than the fact that these two areas are the most expensive for the college to run -- there is no clear way to understand the decision problem any more thoroughly or to explore the issue in some other way that might lead to a change of ideas for what could be done to stay within the budget.

This is very frustrating, since the case in question does not allow the reader to really analyze what the Board of Trustees have done to come to the decision that one particular area of the college must go. If the background of this work by the Board could be read and understood, it would be possible that it would be easier to understand why the Board came to the conclusion that there were no other ways of adjusting the budget so that no part of the college would have to be completely shut down. Does the Board understand what caused the budget cuts? Is there an alternative source of funding that they have not explored? Can they appeal? Is there, in short, anything else that they can reasonably do to return the money coming into the college to some semblance of its former level?

All of these questions and more should have been asked by the Board before it determined that there was no other way to meet the budget other than to get rid of one of the areas of the college. It is possible that all of these things and more were actually done, but the case does not discuss this and so the reader is left hanging to a certain degree -- uncertain of what else could be suggested because what has already been suggested and explored is not yet known. While this is frustrating, it also makes diagnosing the true problem and finding the best solution for all involved rather difficult. The reader is left with the understanding that the Board of Trustees has decided that one area of the college must go -- either the speech clinic or the high school -- and the trouble comes from trying to decide which one.

Although this is the way the decision problem was dealt with in this case, it is not the best way to deal with a decision problem. There are other ways to deal with decision problems that would be better, but they are not options here, because the method of handling this issue has already been decided. Namely, one area or the other has to go. Instead of looking at things this way, the Board of Trustees might want to consider shifting their focus to whether some of the programs at the college could be reduced or scaled back to some extent, so that there would be no need to completely eliminate a particular area of study. The speech clinic does not produce good results, but it undoubtedly provides training for students in this field. The high school works well, but there are other high schools.