On The Limitations Of The Strategic Planning In Colleges

In recent years, the departments of educational administration, colleges and research divisions attached more importance to strategic planning of colleges. It couldn't be denied that developing and implementing the strategic plan make important effect to the reform of adminstration in colleges, and also promote the healthy development of colleges. But after consulting the related lectures and investigating the cases of implementing the strategic plans, it's easy to find that the strategic planning of colleges are in a delimma. Some people sing the praise of the strategic planning, and some query the effectiveness of it. In view of such fact, it's necessary to probe into the limitations of the strategic planning in colleges.The limitations of strategic planning in colleges are bound up with the limits of the strategic planning, the organizational characteristics of colleges, and the uncertainties of the environment. From the perspective of the strategic planning, itself has three natural obstacles that are the theory hypothesis of rationality, linear thought, and stylizaiton, which limit the effectiveness of the strategic planning in colleges; from the perspective of organizational characteristics of colleges, compared with enterprises, colleges are complex organizations that have vague goals, loosely-coupled system and multiple power structures, which restrict the effectiveness of the strategic planning in colleges; from the perspective of environment, there're three typical uncertain environments that are the uncertainty of policy, regional economic society, and the inner environment, which contain the effectiveness of the strategic planning in colleges.The aim of this research doesn't means the negation of the strategic planning in colleges. Profits and risks of strategic planning coexist. Because the effectiveness of strategic planning in colleges are limited, colleges could gain limited profits, but at the same time there're lower risks for the colleges if the strategic plannings fail. Therefore, the strategic planning in colleges can yet be regarded as an effective way of administration.