4

CHAPTERCHAPTER

Creating and Situating

an Integrative Strategy Process

I

f a new approach to strategy is to prove successful, it has to be carefully
situated within the models of thought and responsibility of educational com-
munities, especially given what we have learned about the complexities and
value conflicts of academic decision making. Strategy processes often yield less
than they might, or they fail, because they have not been preceded by the hard
work of clarifying assumptions about the use of strategy in collegiate settings
(cf. Alfred et al. 2006). For academicians, the concepts and tools of strategic
planning often resonate suspiciously with the language of marketing and com-
merce. Time invested in defining and translating the meaning of strategy is
well spent.
In order to find the right place for it, this chapter will examine four broad
themes that prepare for the work of strategy. By starting with a brief analysis of
the evolution of strategic planning in higher education and the corporate world,
I will trace several models of strategy and place in evidence emerging trends that
implicate a method of strategic leadership. Then, I will explore some of the deeper
issues in situating strategy by examining several conflicting paradigms that reveal
the underlying tensions in contemporary academic decision making. Next I offer a
detailed framework for an integrated strategy process that draws together methods
and meanings that are often tacit or disconnected and that places identity and
vision at the core of the approach. Finally, I will develop a brief typology of various
patterns of strategic decision making to aid academic institutions in situating and
assessing their own uses of strategy.