Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to understand the experience of faculty members who were involved in a strategic planning process and what roles they believe faculty should play in future processes. The study utilized a mixed-method format to answer two questions. The first question was "how did faculty members perceive their experience with a planning process designed to set and modify the specific steps necessary for accomplishing the goals and objectives of the institution's strategic plan?" The second question was "what roles did faculty members recommend faculty members, in general, play in future planning processes?"

The study was conducted in four phases. During the first phase, six faculty members who were involved with the university's planning process were interviewed to begin developing an understanding of their experiences. Results from the interviews were used to develop a survey, which was pre-tested in Phase II and distributed in Phase III. To clarify and elaborate on findings from the preceding phases, Phase IV consisted of follow-up interviews with faculty members who were interviewed during Phase I and with faculty members who completed the survey during Phase III and volunteered to participate in Phase IV.

An analysis of the findings revealed four conclusions. First, the planning process was dominated by administrators at all times and in a variety of ways. Second, their experiences indicated that communication among various individuals and groups who are part of the institution's strategic planning process could have been improved as well as a need for additional communication about the fate of the teams' final recommendations. Third, the lack of clearly defined roles resulted in faculty members defining their own roles for their own purposes. Finally, a lack of incentives, recognition and accountability mechanism enabled faculty members to determine how actively they participated in the planning process.