Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Clifford Shisler
Committee Member
Diane Bryant
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Committee Member
Claudia Santin
Keywords
academic departments, administrative units, approaches to strategic planning, Board of Trustees, college-wide planning, development methodology, environmental scanning, evaluation, evaluation methodology, Flagler College, higher education, implementation, implementation plan, leadership theory, literature review, management, organizational theory, planning, planning processes, planning theory, research methodology, strategic issues, strategic issues approach, strategic plan, strategic planning, strategic planning models, strategic planning process, strategy theory, theoretical framework, universities
Abstract
The underlying problem for this project was that the planning process at Flagler College was more internally focused, did not take into account the external forces that could impact the institution, and did not address the strategic issues confronting the institution. The purpose of this project was to develop, implement, and evaluate a strategic planning process at Flagler.
There were five research questions. First, “What are the different approaches to strategic planning, including general principles that should guide the development and implementation of the planning process?” Second, “What is an appropriate strategic planning model or approach to strategic planning for Flagler College?” Third, “How will the strategic planning process be implemented?” Fourth, “What is an appropriate strategic plan for Flagler College and how will the plan be evaluated?” Fifth, “How will the strategic planning process be evaluated?”
Three methodologies were used to carry out this project. First, the development methodology was used to develop a strategic planning process and a strategic plan that was appropriate for Flagler. Second, the research methodology was used to gain insights about the strategic planning processes employed by other colleges and universities. Third, the evaluation methodology was used to evaluate the strategic planning process and the strategic plan.
Procedures were established to answer each research question. The procedures included an extensive review of the literature. Major topics included types of planning, planning in higher education, strategic planning, approaches to strategic planning, strategic planning models, strategic planning processes, and evaluation. The review also examined the theoretical or conceptual basis for the study, including approaches to management, planning theory, strategy theory, leadership theory, and organizational theory.
This study involved five steps: (1) the identification of strategic planning models or approaches to strategic planning; (2) the selection of a strategic planning model; (3) the development of a more detailed strategic planning process; (4) the development of a strategic plan using the previously developed process; and (5) the evaluation of the strategic plan and the strategic planning process.
From the findings in this study, it was concluded that: (1) Flagler College should include a strategic planning component in its planning process; (2) different approaches to strategic planning may be used to achieve similar results; (3) the strategic issues approach to strategic planning is an acceptable approach to strategic planning; (4) the strategic planning model developed by the researcher is an appropriate model for an institution of higher education; (5) the researcher’s model is an appropriate model for Flagler College; (6) the strategic planning process developed by the researcher produced an acceptable strategic plan for Flagler College; and (7) the strategic planning process accomplished what it was designed to accomplish.
Six recommendations resulted from this study. It was recommended that: (1) the College include a strategic planning component in its college-wide planning process and that all administrative units and academic department chairs include a strategic planning component in their planning processes; (2) the administrative units and academic departments be allowed to adopt and adapt different approaches to strategic planning in their planning processes; (3) the College continue to embrace the strategic issues approach to strategic planning and that it strengthen the approach by developing a more formal system of environmental scanning; (4) the College continue to use and refine the strategic planning model developed by the researcher; (5) the Board of Trustees endorse the Strategic Plan and that the plan be carried out as proposed in the Implementation Plan; and (6) the College should continue to evaluate the strategic planning process developed by the researcher and to use the evaluation results to refine and improve the process.