An Exploration of Faculty Involvement in and Attitudes toward Strategic Planning in Their Institutions (original) (raw)
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Evaluating the Impact of Strategic Planning in Higher Education
2016
Strategic planning can be broadly defined as a process used by organizations to define strategy and provide direction regarding future decisions. Grounded in the organization’s mission and vision, it is widely recognized as fundamental to an organization’s success over time. A growing number of higher education institutions are incorporating strategic planning processes at the institution-wide level, or for individual schools or programs. While there are multiple models of strategic planning, many of which include a periodic review of the resulting goals and objectives, there are few, if any, assessments of the impact of the process itself. This study of one intentional model for strategic planning at State University indicates that the program has been successful not only in assisting departments and programs in developing mission and vision statements, organizational goals, and action plans, but also in disseminating organizational information, promoting participation, incorporati...
Although strategic planning has been touted in numerous studies, the effectiveness of how it has been written and read is not that obvious, the clarity around what truly defines its performance effectiveness remains unattainable as there is no unifying theory that has emerged to date that can provide the framework for further researches. In response to the need for renewed attention on strategic planning, the “practice perspective turn” could provide a new methodological approach to better address questions such as of performance implications. This paper provides a brief review of the theoretical background associated with strategic planning development within the higher education context, sets forth a research agenda focused on the analysis of the micro-practices deployed in the planning process and its interrelationships with strategic language and alignment as collaborative endeavour in enhancing its performance, and presents preliminary findings to date.
Developing and Actioning Strategic Planning in Higher Education Institutions
Developing and Actioning Strategic Planning in Higher Education Institutions, 2012
This book aims to bridge the gap between preaching and practice in Strategic Planning in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). As academics, we have been preachers of management theories and concepts, but, when it comes to the real world of practicing what we profess to know well, it is surprising that preaching and practice often diverge. Management principles are simple and straightforward to teach, but when these principles are put into administrative or management practices in HEI, we do not fare that well in comparison to remaining within the safe zone of teaching. This is normally the case facing most Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) as they move forward on quality drives, which are both turbulent and never-ending journeys of continuous improvement. These journeys can be managed, however, if they are planned, and, if planned, they can be better measured based on the mission and goals of the position that the institution intends to achieve and sustain. This is basically management through measurement. In this management, it is necessary first to plan the desired outcomes; these then become the measures of achievement in terms of fulfilling the envisioned dreams. This is strategic management applied to managing Higher Education Institutions.
The Importance of, and Resources for, Successful Strategic Planning
2011
Recent trends in U.S. higher education have led many institutions to adopt or refine strategic planning efforts. Strategic planning at the academic department level (in alignment with university-wide planning) is crucial to identify opportunities and to provide a quality education to students. Rather than taking a proactive approach, too often academic departments engage in traditional (ad-hoc or activity-based) planning and leave genuinely strategic planning to be guided by administrators. In this paper, the authors emphasize not only the importance of strategic planning at the department level but also a process that can be used. This process includes following what they refer to as the C-SALT principles (Communication, Specificity, Assessment, Leadership, and Transparency) and collaborating with academic support units such as Institutional Research and Information Technology to aid in the development and implementation of successful strategic plans. The paper concludes with a “re...
Strategic Planning in Academic Departments
COLLEGES and universities have for decades struggled with a constantly changing playing field in terms of external expectations and finding the resources to meet them. Funding sources are no longer as reliable as in the past; the costs of doing business as an institution of higher education have exploded; public opinion of the ivory tower is shifting; and student demographics—indeed the students themselves—have changed from the time when today's postsecondary leaders were joining the faculty ranks. Compounding those challenges is the economic uncertainty of recent years, making it not surprising that constituents of higher education more than ever before are demanding responsive organization, smarter administration, and more transparent accountability. In that environment, the use of strategic planning has become one tool in the administrative arsenal for coping with pressures on universities. Faculty members often hear about strategic planning on their campuses, but the process and the principles that underlie it remain unfamiliar to many. For that reason , broad consensus among faculty members about the value of strategic planning has not emerged. The term would seem to be self-explanatory, referring to a specific kind of short-and long-range planning. In order for us to understand its nature and potential usefulness, it is helpful first to differentiate strategic planning from conventional planning. Conventional planning involves making an evaluation of an organization as it exists in current form. A self-study, like those produced in advance of an academic unit review, is a typical element of conventional planning. The focus is on how the institution routinely responds to daily, monthly, and yearly challenges to keep itself running within the parameters of its mission and resources. For example, conventional planning might address how the office supply budget is usually spent, or it might specify protocols for how to design the department's semester schedule effectively. These somewhat pedestrian aspects of planning are mostly about " breaking down a goal or set of intentions into steps, " with little thought given to what the ultimate goals are and to whether the steps even make sense (Mintzberg 108). While conventional planning certainly has its place, the cautionary note is that it can become simply pro forma and ultimately unfruitful unless it is supported by long-range, creative thinking. In contrast to conventional planning, strategic planning is both self-reflective and projective and should culminate in a shared vision for the department and in working toward the achievement of that vision. Strategic planning has been practiced at the campus level in higher education for years and has an extensive literature examining and supporting it (e.g., Keller; Rowley, Lujan, and Dolence), but there has been little research on it at the academic department level (Fountoukidis, Hahn, and Voos) and none that I could find at the foreign language department level. This lack is unfortunate, because, just as strategic planning helps a university focus on its mission and channel its resources, it can also help a foreign language department deal with today's shifting patterns
2005
Planning has been shown to be a key ingredient in organisational success. However, the challenges confronting contemporary organisational management are making it increasingly difficult for senior managers to allocate sufficient time and focus to substantive strategic thinking and planning. As well, in higher education settings such as universities, extensive government reforms are compelling academic and general managers to integrate approaches to corporate planning and management with academic planning and management. This creates difficulties and challenges in reframing past ways of doing things, but at the same time affords significant opportunities to those institutions that are able to harvest the benefits of these synergies. This paper explores those elements of strategic planning which are unique to university settings and, in so doing, puts forward a methodology for integrating the needs of faculty and academe with that of enterprise and institution. This exploration reveal...
Higher Education, 2019
This article classifies and assigns degrees of influence to the stakeholders involved in the implementation of strategic planning at a Brazilian higher education institution. In order to test the stakeholder influence theory, we carried out a case study of a Brazilian university based on qualitative methods. The models of Frooman (Academy of Management Review, 24(2), 191-205, 1999) and Mitchell et al. (Academy of Management Review, 22(4), 853-886, 1997) served as the theoretical basis for assessing the stakeholders' identification and management. Findings indicate that higher education institutions focus on the internal and external stakeholders that have the power to control them. In practice, this study provides insight into the stakeholder influences that have an effect on the implementation of strategic planning in a university. Based on the findings, university managers will be able to think more strategically about the institution's objectives, taking into account the degree of influence that stakeholders have on the institution's objectives.
Strategic planning in higher education: who are the customers
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The authors present an overview of strategic planning, examine its history and mystique, and conclude that planning, if properly implemented, can have a powerful impact on advancing and transforming colleges and universities.
The Reality of Strategic Planning in Sudanese Universities from the Viewpoint of Teaching Staff
2021
The chief objective of this study was to identify the reality of strategic planning in Sudanese universities by focusing on public and private universities in Gezira state. The study was based on primary data collected using a questionnaire distributed to 117 teaching staff members, 27 of them from Wad MedaniAhlia University, and a random sample of 90 teaching staff members was selected from the University of Gezira. The descriptive-analytical method was established by using the method of frequency and percentages for variables of a qualitative nature, and an independent sample T-test was performed to examine the difference between the public and private universities in terms of strategic planning. Also,a one-way analysis of variance was applied to test the differences in the level of teaching staff members' participation in strategic planning according to university type and employment category. The study found that the level of strategic planning practice in public universitie...