Discussion 1: Collaborate to Develop Implementation Plan
A strategic plan with no associated action plan is simply what Hinton (2012, p. 7) refers to as a shelf document. Each strategic planning goal needs a specific action planan implementation planto avoid this problem. Many individual tasks must be completed over a period of years before the strategic goal can be accomplished. Different tasks will be accomplished over different time periods. For example, some tasks may be carried out at the beginning of the strategic plans implementation, while others may occur midway or near the end of the plans timeline. In addition, the completion of each task is likely to require the work of more than one internal or external stakeholder.
Consider the strategic technology goal you drafted in Module 3 and refined in Module 4. What types of tasks might Grand City University take in the first 3 to 6 months to begin to address this goal?
Download the Implementation Plan Template from the Learning Resources. Use this template to create an implementation plan for at least three tasks related to the strategic technology goal you created for Grand City University. The particular tasks you identify should be complex enough to require the work of several stakeholders and take several months to complete.
You will post your completed implementation plan in your designated group Discussion area (the same groups as Modules 3 and 4). You and your colleagues will review one anothers implementation plans and provide constructive feedback.
With these thoughts in mind:
Assignment:
In your designated group area, post your implementation plan for your strategic technology goal.
Required Readings
Buller, J. L. (2015). Change leadership in higher education: A practical guide to academic transformation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Chapter 1, The Only Thing We Have to Change IsChange Itself (pp. 711)
Hinton, K. E. (2012). A practical guide to strategic planning in higher education. Ann Arbor, MI: Society for College and University Planning.
pp. 1819 pp. 2048
Fleuriet, C. A., & Williams, M. L. (2015). Improving institutional credibility: Communication as the centerpiece of planning in the age of accountability. Educational Planning, 22(1), 6784.
Optional Resources
Tromp, S. A., & Ruben, B. D. (2010). Strategic planning in higher education: A guide for leaders (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: National Association of College and University Business Officers.
pp. 1922
My Module 4
Environmental Scan is critical in any organization either non-profit or profit oriented. The only key to success for many organizations is planning and better know how about the environment (Buller, 2015). It applies in either you are developing a workforce or an information technology. SWOT analysis and environmental scanning are both referred as strategic assessment tools which help somebody in understanding a plan (Goodrich, 2010).
In any labor force, environmental scanning is crucial in developing agency understanding of the external and internal environment. It will be used to identify whether Grand City University needs are in sync with the competency and availability of the workforce. The First thing to consider is to interview the staff members of the university to know their concerns. SWOT analysis is useful in this stage as it helps the researcher know about strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the University. The data collected from the staff members is analyzed as follows:
Strengths
Technology in the university is gradually changing.
Many accredited technological subjects
Successful graduates of technology class.
The school supports towards technology and innovation.
Weaknesses
Sluggish responsiveness to community and student needs.
Unequal and high workloads on staff
Limited resources to support technological events
Competitive market
Opportunities
Partnerships in support of Grand City university technology initiatives
Regional diversity
New construction
External community supports through interest in the expansion of the program
Technological advances
Threats
Lack of finances
Negative public perception of technological change
Negative perception of the residents and students that education is a means to a job
Negative attitude on the study of science as a difficult subject
Lack of employment
Conclusion
From the data and analysis done at Grand City University, it is clear that the usefulness of SWOT analysis is not only limited to any profit-oriented firm. Environment scanning data build a foundation for a SWOT analysis finding. From the study, I have come up with two most significant findings which are as follows. The environmental scan shows that technology advances in the future will result in unemployment, which is a threat in future. Environmental Scan also identifies technology as making people lazy which is a threat to national income and economy of a country.
References
Buller, J. L. (2015). Change leadership in higher education: A practical guide to academic transformation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Goodrich, R. (2015, January 1). SWOT analysis: Examples, templates & definition. Business News Daily. Retrieved https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4245-swot-analysis.html
Morrison, J. L. (1992). Environmental scanning. In M. A. Whitely, J. D. Porter, and R. H. Fenske (Eds.), A primer for new institutional researchers (pp. 86?99). Tallahassee, Florida: The Association for Institutional Research. Retrieved from https://horizon.unc.edu/courses/papers/enviroscan/
My Module 3
Introduction
Private companies, Non-governmental organizations, public organizations and International organizations usually have Strategic plans that drive the course of their actions for a period of time. In these strategic plans are goals that these organizations plan to achieve over a period of time. The Grand City University has not been left behind and as an enlightened educationist I believe that education should change the world we leave in, especially through technology (Hinton, 2012: Laureate Education, 2016). The university Strategic goal should therefore be to Enhance the generation of knowledge in Grand City University through science frontiers. This objective of this plan will be Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) and would be implemented through introduction of programmes that offer energy, space, innovation and biosciences research studies at Grand City University in the fiscal period 2017-2022.
Space Science and Technology will be introduced in 2017 -2018 academic year and will focus on establishing the necessary institutional and strategic regimes for establishing and developing viable earth and space observing programmes. This will include establishing institutional and national space programmes aimed at harnessing the benefits of space technology for social, economic and sustainable growth and development. There will be exchange programmes with US universities that offer space science to help generate the syllabus and outsource instructors in the field. Space science should of focus; even the greatest science driven countries like the US have low literary level of space science. That means that in England it is even worse. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, in USA only 18% of 12th grade students, 325 of 8th grade students and 29% of 4th grade students got proficient grades in science (Neal & Schanzenbach, 2010). Almost half of freshmen admitted in universities cannot understand math or English and require remedial classes. Also in 1956 there were twice as many science students in UK than there were in 2009 (Neal & Schanzenbach, 2010). These show a worrying trend that students no longer embrace science related courses and therefore should be encouraged to take contemporary science courses like Space Science. If UK wants to beat US economically, investing in science and technology is one such way (Diment, 2015: Buller, 2015).
In the academic year 2018-2019 Hydrogen and Energy programme part of the plan will be introduced as a course in the university and will go along way to offer long-term leadership and cross-cut RDI in the energy sector. The outcome of the introduction of Energy focused programmes at Grand City University will play a key role in establishing a globally competitive and sustainable knowledge on the English energy sector to ensure socio-economic benefits for Englands potentially beneficial energy sector.
In the academic year 2019-2020 Biotechnology and Health innovation programmes will be introduced as a course in the university and will train and provide longterm policy leadership for the development of a world-class bio-economy in England. This will be attained by the use of student and professional innovation instruments that offer intellectual property, financial backup and innovation management. The innovation instruments and planning will drive strategic interventions that will ensure the through the University England translates a big proportion of its scientific knowledge into commercial technological services and products. This will be achieved through designing institutional structures and creating laws and policies that facilitates technological development so that it progresses into national, regional and international markets (Tromp & Ruben, 2010).
The academic year 2020-2022 will be the evaluation period for these courses so that the university administration finds out their impact in the local and international technological world.
In a nutshell, if this three piece RDI plan is implemented, Grand University will be the next and only stop for science and technology studies.
References
Buller, J. L. (2015). Change leadership in higher education: A practical guide to academic transformation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Hinton, K. E. (2012). A practical guide to strategic planning in higher education. Ann Arbor, MI: Society for College and University Planning.
Laureate Education (Producer). (2016c). Grand City University profile [Word document]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Neal, D., & Schanzenbach, D. W. (2010). Left behind by design: Proficiency counts and test-based accountability. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 92(2), 263-283.
Tromp, S. A., & Ruben, B. D. (2010). Strategic planning in higher education: A guide for leaders (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: National Association of College and University Business Officers.
