Chief academic and finance officers' perceptions of the effectiveness of strategic planning in Minnesota community and technical colleges

This study examined the strategic planning process of Minnesota community and technical colleges from the perception of the chief academic and finance officers. Specifically, this study determined the extent to which the chief academic and finance officers' perceive the strategic planning process is effective in making decisions regarding program planning, financial allocations, facilities and technology management, and general decision making. This study also determined the chief academic and finance officers' perceptions of barriers for effectively using the strategic plan in making decisions. Further this study determine to the extent to which the chief academic and finance officers perceive that the MnSCU system influences their strategic planning processes.;The perceptions were compared empirically to understand differences and identify barriers to implementing strategic plans of community colleges. These differences may be useful to understand the contrasting perceptions that may exist between the chief academic and finance officers. This identification and understanding may be useful by administrators to assess how to fully implement strategic planning and thus provide direction to the chief academic and finance officers as they develop their related plans. The results may also assist presidents in developing strategic plans based on perceptions of their key administrators. A 3 part survey was used to collect the date from forty-nine the chief academic and finance officers from the 27 two-year colleges in the MnSCU system.