LibGuides: LHE-7600: Strategic Planning and Operations in Higher Education: Week 7 Resources

Week 7 Resources

Achieve Culture Change to Implement Your Strategic Plan
Hope, J. (2018). Achieve culture change to implement your strategic plan. Planning for Higher Education, 46(2), 1-3.
This short article is a case study of how a large university involved many leaders at different levels in operationalizing the strategic plan by developing action items related to the significant planning goals.
A Practical Guide to Strategic Planning in Higher Education
Hinton, K. E. (2012). A practical guide to strategic planning in higher education. Society for College and University Planning.
Read pages 23-41. Examine the text through the lens of university or college operations. The author discusses the evolution of the entire planning/effectiveness cycle and how organizations operationalize plans.
Colleges Need to Rethink Strategic Planning
Eckel, P., & Trower, C. (2019, Feb. 14). Colleges need to rethink strategic planning. Inside Higher Education.
These authors make a compelling argument that institutions need to rethink strategic planning processes, which frequently result in fancy plans that are more of an aspiration than reality. The authors argue that strategy sits in the middle of planning and operations by addressing two questions: Where to play? and How to succeed? The authors also argue that developing a strategy is a team process.
Does Strategic Planning Matter?
Mallon, W. T. (2019). Does strategic planning matter?. Academic Medicine, 94(10), 1408-1411. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000002848
This author makes an argument that strategic planning doesn’t matter as much as operational planning. Plans are often fluff, but do they matter in the long-term? The author does address institutional culture and strategy, making the case that plans can indeed communicate culture.
Strengthening Higher Education and Creating Coherence Through Integrated Institutional Effectiveness
Seymour, D. (2019, June 28).Strengthening Higher Education and Creating Coherence Through Integrated Institutional Effectiveness [Webinar]. AAHE-SCUP. https://www.scup.org/resource/strengthening-higher-education-and-creating-coherence-through-integrated-institutional-effectiveness/

Juggling Chainsaws: Managing the Tensions Between Strategic Planning and Decentralized Budgeting
Harvey, B. C. (2020) Juggling chainsaws: Managing the tensions between strategic planning and decentralized budgeting. In L. Goldstein (Ed.), Linking resource allocation to planning and assessment (pp. 41-50). Society for College and University Planning.
SCUP-Collection-Linking-Resource-Allocation-to-Planning-and-Assessment
The author discusses the tensions and conflicts between strategic planning and decentralized budgeting processes. On the one hand, the institution is trying to mobilize resources to accomplish overarching goals. On the other hand, institutions tend to allocate resources based on the operational structure of the institution. The question becomes, how can institutions acknowledge these conflicts and design processes that overcome them?

Management in Higher Education: Thinking and Planning More Strategically
Stukalina, Y. (2015). Management in higher education: Thinking and planning more strategically. Journal of Business Management, 10, 70-79.
This article approaches higher education planning, strategy, and operations from a European perspective. Notice the similarities to the issues faced by European institutions and think about how they compare to U.S. institutions of higher education. The authors make a case for linking strategical thinking and planning with operations.
Promoting Engagement in Strategic Planning
Illich, P., & Herwick, S. (2020). Promoting engagement in strategic planning. Planning for Higher Education, 48(3), 23-32.
This article is a case study of one institution's efforts to establish SMART or FAST goals at the departmental level to operationalize its strategic planning process. The institution used this method to change the culture so that strategic planning is more integrated with operations.