A systems model of academic department performance is proposed and an empirical test of the model in a set of 20 departments is reported. A review of research into departmental functioning is also presented. Departmental input and process variables were examined in relation to eight departmental outcomes including: (1) student satisfaction with overall learning experience, (2) student satisfaction with faculty, (3) student satisfaction with academic advising, (4) student graduate school admissions ratio, (5) student employment in field ratio, (6) faculty satisfaction with departmental research quality, (7) faculty job satisfaction, and (8) degrees conferred per faculty member. Data were collected from each of 20 departments and the college records of a public urban college of arts and sciences. Student and faculty questionnaires were also used. No one input or process variable related consistently to a majority of the outcomes. The eight departmental outcomes were found to be largely independent of one another, and predicted by relatively unique patterns of departmental characteristics. Faculty workload, tenure pattern, and disciplinary differences were found important among the correlates of departmental outcomes. (Author/SF)