In The Alumni Attitude Study we ask about the importance and performance of communications efforts, programs, and elements of the student experience, and the importance of alumni doing things and the performance of university support for those efforts.

The relationship or difference between importance and performance is an indicator of agitation.  This “agitation gap” reflects the level of irritation that exists when performance isn’t living up to expectations. PEG’s previous research has indicated that one’s perception of importance increases as agitation increases and declines once performance meets or exceeds expectations. (more…)

The computer age ushered in a myriad of process improvement technologies.  Rarely does an organization look critically at issues in other than a process-oriented fashion.  And this is a good thing, since rarely are effective solutions discovered independently of the process in which the issue exists.  One of the most powerful of those recent technologies – and one that is widely applied in the corporate world — is that of benchmarking. (more…)

Many institutions that we have spoken with over the last several months are fighting to prioritize their upcoming budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year; as they foresee budget and other cuts looming ahead.  Most of these institutions have expressed an interest in conducting the Alumni Attitude Study©, but like other agenda items, have put this on the back burner hoping that there would be “extra funds” at the end of this FY to allocate to the initiative.  Luckily in some cases they were able to implement the study using money left over from the current budget cycle.  However, this is a situation that should and can be avoided. (more…)