158 Strategic Leadership
classifications or issues that are more illuminating for their work. The groupings
are simply a device used to focus on the characteristics of change and to think
systematically about them (cf. Bryson 1995; Rowley, Lujan, and Dolence 1997;
Sevier 2000).
The systematic collection of information about external influences becomes a
precondition of effective strategy formation. In large institutions, planning and
research staffs are available to spearhead the effort, while in smaller colleges the
task can be divided among several offices. In all cases, the work is substantially
assisted by sources of analytical and quantitative information that are readily
available. National educational associations, regional consortia, and state and
local governments are repositories for data, as are periodic special projects on
higher education’s future. Needless to say, publications devoted to higher educa-
tion offer timely and easily available trend analyses. The World Wide Web gives
access to dozens of other possibilities for accessing information, both about higher
education and other spheres of activity, including a wealth of comparative infor-
mation from IPEDS, as noted in chapter 5 (cf. Morrison and Wilson 1997 for an
excellent list of sources).
A PEEST Illustration
To make the issues more concrete, we shall use an abbreviated PEEST analysis
to display some of the trends and challenges that institutions of higher education
are facing. Even though it is intended only to be illustrative, our exploration
will allow us to draw several general conclusions about the prerequisites of
environmental scans within a process of strategic leadership (cf. Alfred et al.
2006; Newman, Couturier, and Scully 2004; Yankelovich 2005).
In the early years of the twenty-first century it has become clear that higher
education is being shaped by:
Political Forces:- Accountability and assessment: steadily increasing regulatory controls and
demands for accountability by state and federal governments, including the mea-
surement of student performance and debates about educational policy driven
by sharp ideological divides - Strained federal resources: a likely restraint or reduction in programs of federal
student assistance and support of basic research that accompanies massive federal
deficits looming far into the future and exploding entitlement and defense costs
and uncertain tax policies
Economic Forces: - Declining state resources: erratic and uneven financial resources for higher
education, accented by uncertain economic growth, volatile equity markets,
and gyrating support from state governments, in a general pattern of long-term
decline in public revenues as a proportion of total university income, accompa-
nied by a strong pull toward privatization