About CSU Watch

CSU Watch is written by Thomas J. Norman, Ph.D., Professor of Management at California State University, Dominguez Hills, where he has been tenured since 2013 and has served as department chair and acting associate dean. He teaches management theory, compensation, and labor relations, and he is the author of two 2026 textbooks, Compensation and Management, built around the DART model.

The site grew out of a simple observation. The CSU publishes conclusions, in compensation studies, budget summaries, and construction approvals, faster than it publishes the records that support them. A faculty member who teaches compensation should be able to audit a compensation study. A resident near a campus should be able to find what a building cost per square foot. A student who asks the Board a question should be able to learn whether anyone answered it. When those things are not possible from the public file, that is the story.

How it fits with the rest of the desk

CSU Watch is one application of a method that runs through several related publications: OLE Lab Notebook on how organizations work, More Capable on how managers develop judgment in the AI era, and the DART Diamond, the management model underneath both. CSU Watch asks how one public institution can be made more accountable, using the same discipline: start with the artifact, label the inference, propose the remedy, end with a test.

Independence and disclosure

CSU Watch is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or published by the California State University, any campus, or any employee organization. Thomas Norman serves on the executive board of the Dominguez Hills chapter of the California Faculty Association and has served in campus and systemwide faculty governance, including the Academic Senate of the CSU; he writes here as an individual. Where a piece touches a matter in which he has a role, the piece says so.

Corrections

Send corrections to tjnorman@gmail.com. Every correction is logged on the page it changes, with the date.