Building Organizational Capacity: Strategic Management in Higher Education [Hardcover]

Every university or college president envisions bold initiatives -- big projects intended to change the nature of an institution and thus having significant implications across it. How can leaders and senior managers charged with implementing reforms be most effective in framing their work and anticipating 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 needed tools to better understand challenges faced by their institution 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. J. Douglas Toma is an associate professor at the Institute of Higher Education, University of Georgia.