Reflections on a “new” university’s strategy‐making process
| Published date | 01 December 1996 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09684889610146145 |
| Pages | 9-16 |
| Date | 01 December 1996 |
| Author | Antony Luby |
| Subject Matter | Education |
9
Introduction
Until quite recently, the University of Paisley
had adopted a relatively informal approach to
strategic planning. This changed, however,
when four years ago the university was
required by its major funding body, the Scot-
tish Higher Education Funding Council
(SHEFC), to submit annually a corporate
plan, the criteria for which were predeter-
mined by SHEFC.
The university’s present approach to con-
structing this strategic plan can be outlined as
follows. After receiving updated information
from the four faculty deans, the vice-
principal, in consultation with the secretary,
constructs a first draft of the strategic plan
which is discussed and modified at a meeting
of the senior management team. This draft is
then discussed by the policy and resources
committee and the senate before final discus-
sion and approval by the university court.
Thus, a fairly wide consultation process takes
place prior to final submission of the strategic
plan to SHEFC[1].
Linked with its development of strategic
planning and its intention to achieve the
award of Investor in People (IIP), the univer-
sity recently created a new post of staff devel-
opment officer. Since IIP “requires all
employees to be aware of their organization’s
strategic plan and to have personal develop-
ment plans which support the institutional
plan” (Cowham, 1994, p. 284), then one of
the main aims of this investigation is to identi-
fy how the university’s strategic plan might be
fashioned more closely to the personal devel-
opment plans of the staff.
Literature review
Strategic planning is an area in which it is
important to operate sensitively since “the
crucial link between the planning activity and
the organization’s culture needs to be recog-
nized” (Glatter, 1995, p. 122). Thus, it is
necessary to explore the relationship between
the process by which the strategic planning
activity is undertaken and the culture in which
this process is embedded. This relationship
between process and culture has been classi-
fied by Asch and Bowman (1989, p. 2) as a
“strategy-making process”; and Mintzberg
and Waters (1989, p. 16) have identified a
continuum of eight such strategy making
processes (see Figure 1).
Quality Assurance in Education
Volume 4 · Number 4 · 1996 · pp. 9–16
© MCB University Press · ISSN 0968-4883
Reflections on a “new”
university’s strategy-
making process
Antony Luby
The author
Antony Luby is Staff Development Officer at the
University of Paisley, Scotland, UK.
Abstract
Investigates the process of strategic planning in a “new”
university and addresses some key issues pertaining to this
process, notably an understanding of the complex univer-
sity environment. Sets the scene within the context of
recent literature and, using the research method of semi-
structured interviews, posits four practical recommenda-
tions for fashioning closer links between the university’s
strategic plan and its staff.
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