Strategic Planning PDF

Strategic planning is a systematic process for designing the future of higher education institutions. The strategic plan is generally expected to involve a coherent, consistent, and careful approach to ensure the longterm aspirations of the organization. Strategic planning is to align continuously t...

Strategic planning is a systematic process for designing the future of higher education institutions. The strategic plan is generally expected to involve a coherent, consistent, and careful approach to ensure the longterm aspirations of the organization. Strategic planning is to align continuously the organization with its ever-changing environment. Such planning usually focuses on enhancing the quality of teaching, increasing research opportunities, and fostering community partnerships in higher education institutions. Strategic planning has evolved for more than 60 years in the for profit business sector. Formalized strategic planning was developed during the 1950s, and the concept process was expanded during the 1960s to most large corporations in the United States. The decade of the 1960s was considered a boom period for strategic planning in the for-profit sector, but it is relatively a new concept for the non-profit sectors, and more specifically, to the institutions of higher learning. The conception of strategic planning in higher education accentuated its use as a rational tool for systematic management. It has been widely accepted as a management practice in academia lately. Strategic planning has significant implications toward shaping the institutional culture in higher education institutions. Strategic planning has many implications toward strengthening the institutional identity, image, and reputation of organizations including institutions of higher learning. Hence, irrefutably effective strategic planning is essential for seeking broad strategies in order to establish strategic goals and objectives that can set strategic indicators to advance the institutional identity, image, and reputation of higher education institutions. The benefits of strategic planning in higher education may include the following: 1. Creates a framework for determining the direction a university should take to achieve its desired future; 2. Provides a framework for achieving competitive advantage; 3. Allows all university constituencies to participate and work together towards accomplishing goals; 4. Raises the vision of all key participants, encouraging them to reflect creatively on the strategic direction of the university; 5. Allows the dialogue between the participants improving understanding of the organization’s vision, and fostering a sense of ownership of the strategic plan, and belonging to the organization; 6. Aims to align the university with its environment; 7. Allows the university to set priorities. Components of a Strategic Plan: Contemporary strategic plans have multiple components and each component serves a specific purpose. These components are planning tools used either separately or in groups, but their development is usually, of necessity, a linear progression. One of the purposes of the planning process is to ensure these individual components are aligned with each other and mutually supportive. While not technically a part of the strategic plan, the mission statement is the foundation for it because everything contained in the strategic plan must be aligned with the mission. In addition to the mission statement, a vision statement, institutional goals, and an optional values statement comprise the supporting documents establishing the context for a strategic plan. These supporting documents provide specific points of guidance in the planning process. The vision statement is the expression of institution aspiration, and is based on analysis of the institution’s environment. Institutional goals provide the mechanism for evaluating progress toward the vision, and values statements describe the manner in which the institution will work to achieve its goals.  Components of a Strategic Plan Mission The foundation of any strategic plan is the institutional mission statement. This statement delineates, in concise language, why the institution exists and what its operations are intended to achieve. For publicly controlled institutions, this statement of purpose may be dictated by the state, but for all institutions the statement serves as the explanation for the existence of the organization. Values Values have been removed from the mission to their own Values Statement component. There, they explain what the institution stands for and the way in which it intends to conduct its activities. In some cases, these values are so important the institution has programs and assessment measures to support and sustain them as key elements. The Institutional Vision Statement The institutional vision statement is one of the most important components of a strategic plan. The vision statement is an institution’s clear description of what it intends to become within a certain timeframe. The vision statement defines the institution’s strategic position in the future and the specific elements of that position with relationship to the mission statement. In some cases, the vision is that of one leader at the campus. Often this leader is the president, but the vision can sometimes come from an academic vice president or provost. Usually, however, the vision is reviewed and revised by members of the campus community, especially the strategic planning committee. Strategic Goals and Objectives There is much confusion about the terms used to name the parts of a strategic plan. Many people use the words “goal” and “objective” almost interchangeably, and have a distinct rationale for their particular definitions. In point of fact, as long as everyone involved in the planning process agrees to a definitional hierarchy, any combination of words can be used. However the words goal and objective carry connotations that can help guide their use in the process. The word goal connotes specific achievement; a target reached and “checked off”. The word objective is slightly more general in connotation. An objective helps set a course by giving a general direction, but an objective does not usually contain the specifics of its own completion. The Implementation Plan Turning goals and objectives into a working plan is the function of the Implementation Plan. This part of the strategic planning process is not usually for public consumption, and seldom is made available to the governing board. There are a variety of reasons this working document is not widely distributed, but the primary one is, more than any other part of the strategic plan, the implementation plan is revised, amended, and changed frequently to respond to environmental factors. While the strategic plan’s goals and objectives remain a source of guidance and focus, the implementation plan delves into the messy work of getting the job done.