Source: Kevin Kiley, Inside Higher Ed, September 16, 2011

What a group of management consultants found when they analyzed several research universities in 2008 and 2009 to identify potential savings probably didn’t come as a surprise to most people in higher education.
See also:The key findings section of Bain & Company’s report on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill summarizes the issue: “UNC has a complex [organizational] structure,” the slide states. “Multiple layers of management can exacerbate complexity. Complexity and related operating issues lead to inefficiency.” The report on the University of California at Berkeley sounds similar.
See also:
– The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Cost Diagnostic: Final Report Summary
Source: Bain & Company, July 2009
– Achieving Operational Excellence at University of California, Berkeley Final Diagnostic Report – Complete Version
Source: Bain & Company, April 2010
– Trends in College Spending 1999-2009
Source: Donna M. Desrochers, Jane V. Wellman, Delta Project on Postsecondary Education Costs, Productivity, and Accountability, September 2011
– UC-Berkeley’s Operational Excellence project
– Cornell’s Administrative Streamlining Program
– UNC-Chapel Hill’s Carolina Counts