Benefits and Issues of Shared Governance in Strategic Planning

Strategic Planning
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January 18, 2020
Introduction
Strategic planning is important in the field of education. From management decisions to individual techniques used to teach students, evaluating, understanding, and creating a system is crucial in order for educational institutions to meet both its short and long-term goals. However, strategic planning can become more difficult when practiced. Due to the variety of stakeholders and their competing goals and interests, reaching one objective goal could be exposed to different kinds of risks and complications. In this article, the author would discuss about some of the ways in order to address these issues when it comes to strategic planning. Specifically, the succeeding sections would dwell on the role of “shared governance” in strategic planning within the university. All in all, the author believes that despite the significant benefits of shared governance in strategic planning, management should be able to address the different complex issues that are inherent in these processes. 
The Paradigm of Shared Governance
           Governance, according to Kaplan (2004), is defined as “the means by which the public trust can be monitored and its general welfare implemented”. Accordingly, the concept of shared governance is described as the practice whereas decisions are made, not only by a few but through the collaboration of different people and institutions (i.e., faculty, staff, interest groups) that collectively plans and create a plan for the future (Eisenstein, 2019). This characteristic of involving different groups is the reason why shared governance is important in strategic planning since it allows each participant to voice out their ideas and concerns, as well as use their expertise in reaching a consensus. One example of this in the academic setting is budget allocation. As cited by Kaplan (2004) himself, strategic planning of academic budgets can be more efficient with the help of all those concerned such as the students, staff, and the management themselves. By doing this, unnecessary and unfeasible budget cuts or additional fees can go through collective bargaining between the representatives of each sector. 
Reflection
           One of the instances where the author has seen the importance of shared governance is within his own institution. Specifically, the author sees that shared governance is practiced as the management encourages both the faculty and staff and the student council (through their representative) to attend quarterly meetings of the board. At times, the board would also encourage State institutions to participate and nego...