Strategy, culture, and renewal: An interpretive case study of LeMoyne-Owen College, an historically black institution of higher education

This inquiry into strategic planning at a small private black college in the UNCF sector, using ethnographic methods and an analysis based on the construct of college cultures, evaluated the outcomes of planning and leadership strategies relative to the institution's viability and its rebound after decline in the 1980s. The analytic paper was developed from a longer evaluation study and uses a simplified narrative to present the data collected during two academic years of fieldwork at the College, 1989-91. The literature reviewed for the study included previous studies of the black college sector, and sources for concepts used in the analytic paper were derived from studies of strategic planning in higher education, college cultures, presidential leadership, and organizational decline.;The study describes the strategic planning used by the institution as a "linear type," not an "interpretive type," with reference to the work of Ellen Earle Chaffee. The approach to the development of strategic resources among various constituencies only partially succeeded in motivating and committing organizational stakeholders to participate in the process of renewal. The strategic planning process from 1987-1991 has increased the institution's viability, expressed as survival, but did not entirely reduce the threats and risks to this institution, which may be similar to those experienced by other small private black colleges in the UNCF sector in the era after desegregation.;During the era of renewal and strategic planning, 1987-91, the institution made significant progress toward renewal of academic programs and curricula; toward better administrative organization and a stronger, more effective bureaucracy; and toward the acquisition and management of fiscal resources. The study also found that the history and culture of the institution, its recent experience of decline, and the lack of resources to fund all initiatives were powerful forces restraining change and that there were conflicts between old members and new management.