Strategic Change in Colleges and Universities: Planning to Survive and Prosper / Working Toward Strategic Change: A Step-by-Step Guide

to the Planning Process

Journal of College Student Development, Mar/Apr 1998 by Hoctor, Michael B

Strategic Change in Colleges and Universities: Planning to Survive and Prosper Daniel J. Rowley, Herman D. Lujan, and Michael G. Dolence

San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 1997, 343 pages, $34.95 (hardcover) Working Toward Strategic Change: A Stepby-Step Guide to the Planning Process Michael G. Dolence, Daniel J. Rowley, and Herman D. Lujan

San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 1997, 180 pages, $22.00 (softcover)

Higher education journals and the popular media are filled with clarion calls for attention to the challenges of the new millennium and their potential impact on higher education. For example, in their document, "Preparing for the 21 st Century," the National Academy of Sciences asserts:

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The challenge facing education today is more varied than past challenges. It encompasses the rapidly increasing diversity of the nation's population, the growing internationalism of commerce and culture, the explosive development of information technologies, and other great technical and social transformations. There is no simple, universal prescription for success. But a focus on high standards for all, coupled with recognition of the need for versatility in the face of change, can help prepare all students for the demands of the 21st century.

Can and will higher education summon within its ranks the leadership and collaboration necessary to address these challenges? Arguably, to do so requires strategic thinking and the involvement of a wide

array of stakeholders willing to adopt new ways of thinking and problem solving. Because education is largely decentralized in this country, a university or college seeking to plan its future has typically been left to its own devices when undertaking such planning. A search for resources reveals few reliable and field tested tools for the higher education administrator/planner. The literature base on strategic planning in non-business organizations is still very much in the formative stages.

A new publication, Strategic Change in Colleges and Universities: Planning to Survive and Prosper by Rowley, Lujan, and Dolence, provides in a single volume just this kind of resource. The book presents a practical framework and defines a specific, structured, and productive process for strategic planning and implementation in higher education settings. It is aimed primarily at the institutional leaders responsible for the macro-organization-presidents, boards of trustees-but it can also be utilized by vice presidents, department heads, etc., for planning in academic or non-academic components of the campus. While the macroorganization focus will likely yield the most farreaching outcomes for an institution, the process may well be frequently applied in student affairs divisions or departments where a comprehensive planning process is not already in place.

In contrast, The Fifth Discipline by Senge provides a comprehensive theoretical basis for the development of learning organizations and has become an important reference for organizations and institutions transformation in order to both survive and flourish. Compared to such publications there is little theoretical narrative in Rowley. Instead, sparsely grounded in theory, it provides the user with a practical step by step guide for aligning an academic institution with the "environment" in order to help assure longterm stability and survival.

The book rests on several underlying assumptions: (a) strategic planning can provide a useful approach for colleges and universities to enable them to use strategic management to participate in their own futures to organize and re-engineer the components of the campus, and (b) an institutional mission is derived from the strategic planning process rather than vice-versa. The authors' approach is to provide a readable and practical guide to strategic planning in the university or college setting-a kind of cookbook approach. It is tailored to the needs of the academy where multiple constituencies require a more collaborative approach than other kinds of organizations.

In a context of challenging institutional characteristics, the planning process is defined as one in which the university may pursue an ongoing process of discovery, learning, and evaluation, unique to the specific institution. "Successful transformation requires successful preparation." Only with self-

knowledge and knowledge of external changes that impact the academy can it be known what is best for the university. Two major themes are seen as essential to strategic planning; one is to change the way people think and make decisions by moving from traditional thinking to strategic thinking and strategic decision making. This concept parallels the "paradigm shifts" of other planning models. Second is a change from "provider-driven education" to the development of partnerships which benefit everyone and provide skills and knowledge based on rapidly changing and complex needs of emerging technologies. The authors maintain the institution which provides programs "it thinks best for society" risks its existence and relevancy.

The book tells about what happened in the experience of creating change in a mountain-west university planning process. The process was controversial and difficult; it did not accomplish all of the expectations of the planners, but made major changes in direction and in the process of making decisions which are expected to take the university into the 21 st century stronger and with more clear purpose. Lessons can be learned from that experience.

In ten steps, Strategic Change defines the "strategic planning engine." First, key performance indicators are developed which define the essential activities of the institution over which the institution has control and those conditions over which the institution may have little or no control. In steps two and three the external environment and the internal environment, respectively, are assessed to check performance against expectations. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats are analyzed in step four followed by generating ideas and testing ideas in steps five and six. In step seven, strategies, goals, and objectives are formulated. Step eight is determination of institutional readiness for change followed by implementation of the strategy and documentation of impacts in step nine. Finally, in step ten, the plan is evaluated and revised. Throughout the entire process and common to most strategic planning models, it is essential to maintain broad-based participation in and support for the process. It is vital to widely communicate progress and product. Further, the plan must remain flexible to allow for changes suggested throughout the process.

The key questions posed by the authors for a college or university study are:

1. Who will our students be?

2. What should we teach?

3. How should we teach it?

4. How will students learn?

5. What are society's needs?

6. How does society expect us to meet its needs?

7. What role will learning play?

8. How will we pay for it?

Their premise is that it takes strategic planning (or regardless of the rhetoric of change, "reengineering," "reform," or "restructuring") to answer these questions so the institution can do what it does best. It cannot be left to tradition or chance.

Much of the difficulty experienced in this work can predictably result from the fear of change; e.g., faculty and other staff may resist strategic planning as irrelevant or a poor fit to the academy. Others may attempt to co-opt the planning into governing bodies they control. The authors identify strategies for the development of a rationale to solve real issues before any planning process is designed, seeking allies for the process, communicating throughout the process, and moving from skepticism to participation. The book provides lively discussion of alternatives.

By contrast, another west coast university, as it begins its second century and approaches the 21st century, is currently engaged in a process to define answers to the following questions typical to a higher education strategic planning process:

1. To what should the university be committed?

2. What should characterize the university learning community?

3. What opportunities should the university be seizing?

4. How can we better serve the needs of our students?

5. What international, national and local challenges should the university be meeting?

6. What obstacles, barriers and limitations should the university be overcoming?

7. Finally, and most importantly, what kind of a university (i.e., organization) is needed if the university is to achieve these goals?

In this example, the university has worked through many of the steps outlined by Rowley even though the primary structure for its process and the practical steps outlined in this publication were never explicitly stated. Instead the university set forth to define a "Shared Vision" for the next decade and century including all stakeholders who wished to participate. As the vision statement unfolds, nine common themes have been identified and work is now in progress to define critical indicators and specific action plans for each theme.

It may not be so important which approach is taken, but that an organized, thoughtful planning approach be used to engage a campus community in purposeful planning of its future. Political courage may well be necessary for a successful process; Rowley's structure can provide clarity of purpose and guidelines to that success.

The authors of Strategic Change have also provided a companion workbook, Working Toward Strategic Change: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Planning Process, based on the same strategic planning engine model as their book. The workbook further spells out a step-by-step approach to planning and provides forms, exercises, and ideas to guide handling the data gathered, analyzed, and applied throughout the process. Electronic spreadsheet templates, at an additional charge, are also available.

This model for institutional planning and change was generalized from a specific case study which admittedly did not go well. A more valid model might have resulted had it been applied in additional institutional settings prior to publication. Further, the authors never really align their strategic planning model with the limitations created by the highly probable point quoted from Rosser and Penrod that "change in higher education results primarily from a major crisis, outside pressure, or a vigorous and farsighted leader." All of these likely result in "top/down" processes as opposed to the inclusive, egalitarian, and participatory process promoted here. Nonetheless, this book and its companion workbook probably should be studied by all in higher education who seek to understand or to undertake any kind of long range planning in the academy. It is unique for its focus on the strategic planning process specifically in higher education.

In summary, while strategic planning has been the subject of many books and articles for business, industry, and organizations, it is widely believed the application of strategic planning processes to higher education is materially different and more difficult. This publication and its companion workbook provide

a thorough, well organized, and useful compendium for the higher education leader, administrator, or practitioner who plans to address change within a university or college, especially if using a strategic planning model.

Bibliography for "Strategic Change in Colleges and Universities: Planning to Survive and Prosper / Working Toward Strategic Change: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Planning Process"
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