A Framework for Strategic Planning and Change in Higher Education: The Case of a Business School. AIR 1993 Annual Forum Paper.

At Washington State University's College of Business and Economics (CBE) a strategic planning program was introduced using a focus on the student as the product and the potential employers as the customers of the product. Using this approach the focus of planning is redirected with future employers the most heavily weighted source of feedback on customer satisfaction. After a failed 1990 attempt at strategic planning based on traditional approaches, a workshop challenged faculty to reorient and consider students as the college's product and employers as the primary customer. Faculty voiced strong resistance. In 1991 faculty initiated a survey of program graduates and employers on satisfaction with the college's activities. The results left faculty more open to the need for change. In the summer of 1992 faculty chose faculty-led focus groups with business leaders as a way to solicit more information. Findings from these were summarized for the strategic planning committee. Further faculty discussion concluded that themes had emerged from the research which called for specific actions which ultimately produced a new, reoriented plan. Results indicated that faculty resistance could be successfully overcome by directly involving them in the process. (Contains eight references.) (JB)