An Accountable and Participatory Approach to Strategic Planning and Management at a Young Non-Profit Foundation University in Turkey

​This study aims to investigate the implications of a participative approach to strategic planning on the perceptions of the executive administration and the remaining internal stakeholders of a non-profit foundation university regarding the goals and undertakings of the institution. The university decided to take advantage of its small size to initiate a participative strategic planning effort for its second 5-year strategic plan. This approach utilized s Strategic Planning Advisory Committee and its subcommittees composed of representatives from different academic and administrative units. Two years after the development of the strategic plan, the university-wide Quality Committee performed a SWOT analysis through a workshop to assess employee perceptions about the progress achieved regarding the strategic plan goals. The findings from the SWOT analysis were prioritized based on an institution-wide survey to allow for a larger stakeholder participation. The results revealed a prioritized list of institutional strengths and weaknesses in relation to the strategic goals. The findings were shared with the executive board of the institution and their feedbacks were gathered, as a result of which several action items were developed with the aims of aligning the prioritization of the institutional strengths with the strategic goals as well as the resolution of the weaknesses revealed by the study. This exercise was well taken by all internal stakeholders. They particularly appreciated the opportunity of expressing their thoughts on institutional development and their ideas being formally conveyed to the administration by the Quality Committee. The Quality Committee is in the process of taking various steps to reconcile the differences of internal stakeholders to orchestrate efforts to achieve strategic institutional goals. The current and future challenge is to keep the enthusiasm alive and to ensure the continued support and involvement of all internal stakeholders.