Building Organizational Capacity: Strategic Management in Higher Education

by J. Douglas Toma

Overview

Every university or college president envisions bold initiatives—big projects intended to change the nature of an institution with significant implications across all sectors. How can leaders and senior managers charged with implementing reforms effectively frame their work and anticipate potential pitfalls?

No organization can maximize its capacity, defined as the administrative foundation essential for establishing and sustaining initiatives, without considering its core elements individually and in concert, according to J. Douglas Toma. This book examines eight essential organizational elements—purposes, structure, governance, policies, processes, information, infrastructure, and culture—and illuminates their influence in strategic management through case studies at eight institutions.

Building Organizational Capacity situates strategic management within the context of higher education, providing practitioners with the tools to better understand institutional challenges in accomplishing its missions and realizing its aspirations. Toma's clear and well-integrated review of the latest research, as well as his advice for decision makers applying the book's lessons in practice, ensures this volume's place in the growing literature on strategy and management in higher education.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801897634
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	11/15/2010
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

J. Douglas Toma is an associate professor at the Institute of Higher Education, University of Georgia.

Table of Contents

Foreword James E. Morley, Jr. vii

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction 1

1 Strategic Management and Systems Thinking 15

2 Managing Increasingly Complex Institutions 35

3 Purposes: Redesigning the Curriculum at The College of New Jersey Matthew Hartley 54

4 Structure: Rethinking the Setting for Teaching Mathematics at Virginia Tech Kelly Ward 75

5 Governance: Enterprise Resource Planning Implementation at Valley City State University Adrianna Kezar 97

6 Policies: Enhancing Faculty Scholarship and Integrating Student Research into the Curriculum at LaGrange College Kathleen Shaw 118

7 Processes: Improving Student Retention at Paul D. Camp Community College Christopher C. Morphew 135

8 Information: Tuition Discounting at the University of Redlands Kevin Kinser 151

9 Infrastructure: Maintaining Quality with Static Resources at Seminole Community College Lisa Wolf-Wendel 172

10 Culture: Invigorating Undergraduate Education at the University of Georgia Greg Dubrow 189

Conclusion 207

Appendix 221

Notes 229

Bibliography 239

Index 259

Editorial Reviews

Toma achieves the stated goal of the book. With practical concepts and real-world examples, he convincingly proposes Building Organization Capacity as fundamental for creating and sustaining initiatives to improve institutions of higher education.
—Jeffrey W. Alstete, Review of Higher Education

From the Publisher

Toma achieves the stated goal of the book. With practical concepts and real-world examples, he convincingly proposes Building Organization Capacity as fundamental for creating and sustaining initiatives to improve institutions of higher education.

Review of Higher Education - Jeffrey W. Alstete

Toma achieves the stated goal of the book. With practical concepts and real-world examples, he convincingly proposes Building Organization Capacity as fundamental for creating and sustaining initiatives to improve institutions of higher education.

— Jeffrey W. Alstete

Review of Higher Education