EVANGELINE L. LEYNES

PHDEM 706 Advanced Strategic ManagementDR. HERNADO P. GOMEZ

Professor

Strategic Planning is the process of looking at all aspects of your school and planning how you wish to move the school forward. It provides the ‘big picture’ of where you are, where you are going and how you are going to get there.

Finding an ideal future vision for the organization.

Where is the school now? Where does the school want to be in 3, 5,

10, 20 years? How are we going to get there?

All schools should have a strategic plan.

Without one, the school’s key stakeholders

(parents, students, staff and the

community) don’t know where you are

going.

With a strategic plan, everyone is working towards the same

vision, trying to reach the same goals, and building commitment to the organization.

A Strategic Plan also makes everyone’s work easier.

It reduces the number of decisions senior management has to make since most decisions are made on the basis of whether or not they fit the school’s vision and goals;

It ensures the school staff focus on the essentials as determined by key stakeholders;

It provides direction so all stakeholders have a clear vision of what the school is trying to achieve and some understanding of the strategies agreed upon.

Decisions about strategic planning should take into account:

The school’s stage of development

The level of resources available

The level of competence of the Board and senior management in the area of strategic planning.

Every organization needs a current plan and execute the plan. Especially in these challenging times!

The ‘strategic plan’ in this scenario is simple and concentrates on very few targets over a relatively short period of time.

The important focus in this type of planning is the concentration on a few targets at a time.

Most strategic planning approaches focus on delivering a document rather than on actionable insight.

Failure to Implement

A plan is nothing more than words on paper until it is implemented.

School stakeholders quickly become cynical if months are spent on developing a strategic plan, and then the plan remains in the principal’s office, or amongst the board’s papers.

Without action, assessment, and re-planning, a strategic planning exercise is a waste.

Often the plan wrongly states what the leader wants rather than what can emerge from team knowledge, expertise and vision.

Organizational Structure

Organizational Structure

How it Works

Functional Structure

Such organizations are divided into specific departments and employees are hired for each department based on their professional skill sets that are best suited for that department. For instance, an accounts graduate would be preferred over an arts graduate for handling the accounts and taxation department.

A functional structure features well-defined channels of communication and authority/responsibility relationships. Not only can this structure improve productivity by minimizing duplication of personnel and equipment, but it also makes employees comfortable and simplifies training as well.

But the functional structure has many downsides

The functional structure can result in narrowed perspectives reduced cooperation and communication may occur

Decisions and communication are slow to take place because of the many layers of hierarchy. Authority is more centralized.

The functional structure gives managers experience in only one field—their own. Managers do not have the opportunity to see how all the firm's departments work together and understand

their interrelationships and interdependence.  

Evangeline L. Leynes