AFRICA
Strategic planning has become an integral part of the management and leadership rituals of African universities and many other tertiary institutions. For some universities, the strategic planning cycle is every five years, but for others it is every 10 years.
The crux of the matter is this: What does strategic planning mean and how can it be distinguished from other management strategies or techniques? Strategic planning has been defined as the process of articulating long-term goals for an institution and a roadmap to accomplish those goals. It combines goal theory and practice, analysis and action in the management of an institution.
Proponents state that strategic planning is needed when an organisation is facing critical challenges from its external environment. Accordingly, every strategic planning process inevitably involves SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis of an institution.
Unfortunately, African universities’ strategic plans hardly meet the external challenges posed by competition for students and faculties, dwindling government funding and their relationship with government.
One of the problems of strategic planning in African universities and numerous other universities is not the ineffective performance of SWOT analyses but deciding what constitutes matters that should be strategically planned.
The boundary is so fluid that anything goes into the strategic planning process and becomes part of the plan. From the countless university strategic plans that I have read, strategy is often conflated with operations, but the two are distinctly separate in theory and practice.
Defining strategy and clarifying focus
Various definitions, descriptions and conceptions of strategy exist in practice and in the literature. However, one that galvanises little controversy is that strategy (1) is a connection between an institution’s mission statement and the realities of its external environment; and (2) is a conscious choice related to an institution’s path towards sustaining itself and strengthening its future prospects.
For this reason, an operational plan is different from strategy. Consequently, whether a statement made during the strategic process relates to strategy or to operational issues is dependent on examining the institution’s mission statement, which is a description of what the institution does, whom it serves and its significance.
Take this example. The University of Lagos, Nigeria’s oldest university, has the following mission: “To provide a conducive environment for teaching, learning, research and development, where students and staff will interact and compete effectively with their counterparts globally.”
Certainly, the University of Lagos faces competition, not only from state and federal universities and the distance education offerings of foreign universities, but also from the private universities that are mushrooming up in Nigeria. But how are those universities competing against the University of Lagos and how should the University of Lagos respond within the boundaries of Nigeria’s laws, regulations and customs?
As part of its strategic planning process, the University of Lagos has to do some research to identify the nature of the competition it faces. It has to use the research data to do competitive intelligence analysis. It also has to do SWOT analysis to assess how best it could respond to the competition. Nevertheless, the University of Lagos cannot simply do what its competitors are doing; it has to do something differently, more effectively and efficiently than its competitors are doing.
Suppose the research findings indicate who the competitors are and that they have smaller classes of about three-quarters the size of the University of Lagos’ normal classes for first- and second-year students. This is to allow the students to adjust to the university culture of teaching, learning and assessment.
Accordingly, the following are strategic statements which could be used to counter the competitors’ strategy and allow the University of Lagos to achieve its mission. The first is “to provide teaching and learning support services to students transitioning into the university community” and the second “to provide counselling services targeted specifically at first- and second-year students”.
Both the first and second strategy support the mission statement by contributing to the creation of a conductive teaching and learning environment for first- and second-year students as they transition to the university environment.
Both statements also address the competition for students as many students face learning and emotional challenges in transitioning from high school to university. Obviously, the competitors do not provide any tutoring or counselling services to their students.
The strategic planning committee has to deliberate carefully on each strategy and choose those suggestions that would directly assist the University of Lagos to achieve its mission.
Those that are chosen are communicated first to senior administrators (including the chancellor, vice-chancellor, pro-vice-chancellor, deans, heads of departments, finance director, registrar, and so on) and then to other internal and external stakeholders for their support, modification or rejection.
Strategy vs operational statements
Operational statements consist of detailed things to do and often involve setting objectives, the deployment of resources, changing mandates and the formulation of new policies and regulations.
For each strategy one or two operational statements are created to deliver that strategy. For example, the following two operational statements could be used to deliver the first strategic statement above: “Establish a mathematics learning centre and writing support centre for first- and second-year students that will fulfil their needs during those adjusting years. Writing support would include essay editing and tips for writing course assignments and examination. Maths support would consist of tutoring services for students regarding maths problems, explanation of concepts and motivating students.”
For the second strategic statement, it might be: “Provide after-lecture tutorials divided into two groups to offer more in-depth discussion and explanation of lecture themes or concepts for first- and second-year students.”
A review of the strategic plans of many African universities indicates a confusion between strategic statements and operational statements. It shows a lack of alignment between their strategic plans and mission statements.
In one strategic statement, for example, a university says it intends to improve municipal services, which has nothing to do with its mission. Another university’s strategic plan states that it wants to encourage the university community to make use of library services.
Indeed, if a clear boundary exists between strategic and operational statements, strategic planning will be a more focused and effective management tool.
Eric Fredua-Kwarteng is an educator and policy consultant in Canada.
"strategy" - Google News
October 11, 2020 at 04:44AM
https://ift.tt/3dkZoAf
Taking a more focused approach to strategic planning - University World News
"strategy" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2Ys7QbK
https://ift.tt/2zRd1Yo
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Taking a more focused approach to strategic planning - University World News"
Post a Comment