The Hardest Part of Integrated Planning

Abstract

While college and university administrators tend to be conscious of the need to integrate financial and budgetary considerations into institutional plans, there are other equally important concerns to weave into planning. Real integrated plans proclaim not only what the organization will invest in and improve on, but also, what it will cease doing. Priority-setting, done properly, includes decisions about shutting down non-priority activities, yet most institutional plans in higher education shy away from such considerations. Mindful of the hard choices that must be made in genuinely integrated plans, college and university leaders must be careful to compose planning teams with diverse sets of participants whose ownership of the plan lends overall legitimacy to the process, and to the plan, itself.

Keywords: Integrated Planning, Strategic Planning, Stakeholder Composition, Program Closure

JEL Classification: O21, I20, I23