How do UC Berkeley and UC Boulder Strategic IT Plans Compare Against the Baldridge Criteria and Each other for Assessing Strategic Planning?

Strategy Planning: Comparing the Approach Taken by Two Universities
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Strategy Planning: Comparing the Approach Taken by Two Universities
Strategy planning is one of the most important elements in any organization. In most cases, Information Technology (IT) organizations do not see the need for conducting strategy planning in their operations as most of them believe that all that they need is to have the right technology in place and then the rest will follow. However, for the IT organization or department to be successful, strategy planning is crucial as it determines either the failure or success of the organization. However, the strategies that the IT departments put in place are varied from what other organizations have in place or even what is the accepted practice. This paper analyzes the strategy planning put in place by University of California and the University of Colorado and then examines them against the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award accepted standards.
At the University of California, the IT department has a plan that follows certain guidelines. Key among this is their focus on the fundamentals. The University of California recognizes that IT Service Management is a process-based practice that has the sole objective of aligning the presentation of IT services with the needs of the clients. With this understanding in mind, the IT department has a plan to ensure that everything that they do is tailored to meet customer needs. Making plans with the end-user in mind ensures that the University does not come up with products that are rejected by the end user. At the University of Colorado, the main focus in the IT department is ensuring that they offer support for teachers and learners. The University of Colorado does this out of the realization that teachers and learners are the most crucial part of the IT process and therefore does everything to ensure that they do not come up with IT technologies that are likely to be rejected by the end-users (UC Berkeley, 2010).
The other thing that is a common feature in both universities is the need to create leadership. In ensuring that this happens in the right manner, the two universities have done everything possible to enhance the integration of IT strategic planning with the universities strategic plans and objectives. By looking at the larger institution in the strategy planning, the universities realize that the IT department cannot operate as a solitary entity and that collaboration within the larger organization is required. This kind of collaboration means that the entire organization has to be involved in the decision making process and that each department makes their contributions on what they think should be done to bring about the element of harmony in the organization (UC Boulder, 2010).
Most of the strategic plans that have been put in place by the two organizations measure up with the Baldrige criteria. At Baldrige, the IT planning strategy is focused on leadership which involves ensuring that the top management is involved in leading every sector of the organization. Once this has been done, it becomes easy for the other departments to follow suit and make strategies that are consistent with those of the upper manage...