Assess the Status of Research on Strategic Planning Initiatives, Islamic Azad University of Rasht

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1 International Research Journal of Applied and Basic Sciences 2013 Available online at ISSN X / Vol, 6 (4): Science Explorer Publications Assess the Status of Research on Strategic Planning Initiatives, Islamic Azad University of Rasht Hosseinali Taghi Pour 1, Mohammad Hadi Asgari 2, Firoozeh Sedaghat Hoor 3 1. Department of Management Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Mazandaran, Iran 2. Assistant Professor, Department of Business Management & Accounting, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Mazandaran, Iran 3. M.A Student of Educational Management, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Mazandaran, Iran Corresponding Author: Firoozeh Sedaghat Hoor ABSTRACT : The current research aimed to Assessing the state of Research Activities in terms of the components of Strategic planning in the of Rasht Azad University and also examined differences between the current and the ideal situation in University of, while using descriptive survey method. In order to achieve above goal, we used a researcher-made questionnaire with cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient of (.94). Using Morgan sampling method, 418 participants were recruited from a population consisting 140 of faculty members and graduate students in faculty of Rasht Azad university. Dependent T-Test was utilized to compare significant differences between the current and the ideal situation. In order to rank elements of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, function, outlook, and guideline Fridman test was used for each of them. The research findings revealed that elements of strengths, threats, outlook, and goals a appropriate conditions and elements of function, chance, outlook, guideline, and practical planning in terms of implication of strategic compounds for research activities are in almost good conditions.in addition when comparing the current and the ideal situation, there is a significant gap (./05) between them. Using fridman test, we determined priority of elements of each categories that indicates a big distance to obtaining good status for utilizing strategic compounds in research activities. Finally considering results of this research, some suggestion were given to enhance quality of research activities in faculty of Rasht azad university. Keywords: Strategic Planning, Research Activities, Rasht Azad University, Situation, Ideal Situation. INTRODUCTION Complexities and speed of global community changes make governors present policies and plans which correspond to contemporary issues. Therefore, application of strategic planning (SP) has been propounded as a necessity in governments, organizations and societies. The present conditions involve public organizations think in a novel form and SP is of great importance in this case. SP can be regarded as one of the most important pillars of managers and links the presence to future. One of the main goals of SP is that it warns organizations with external opportunities and threats and makes them show appropriate response. In fact, the main duties of high-rank managers of an organization are to determine goals, strategies and plans for an organization such that the organization can be flexible. Statement of problem SP and its effectiveness evaluation is one of the main duties of new managers and all organizations have to deal with it inevitably. SP is a transformational managerial approach and on the other hand, it has lost this characteristic in many experiences. External environment is changing rapidly and competition is severe. Organizational systems should use a kind of planning in order to be successful, such that the planning is future-orientedآ" and environment-oriented". It must identify environmental factors and changes in the long run and also it must determine their influences on the organization. This kind of planning is the very SP which identifies internal strengths/weaknesses and external opportunities/threats after investigation of internal and external

2 organizational environment and formulate long-term goals for organization (considering organizational mission) and choose a suitable strategy from among strategic choices which uses strengths and eliminates weaknesses in order to seize the opportunities and avoid threats, so that it leads to final organizational success (Payers & Robinson, translated by A'arabi and Parsaeeyan, 2001). Today, organizations can not move forward without planning because of the changes in external environment in economic, technologic, social, demographic and regulation affaires. Formulation of strategic plan has been started from about 3 decades ago in world universities (Dowris, 2003). Because of different reasons such as the important role of research in development of countries and reduction in financial resources of universities, research has become very important in universities. Furthermore, demand for higher education and complementary education has increased and research activities have increased in universities. Therefore, planning for research process in universities is one of the main and complex duties of universities. Therefore, research management function has received a lot of attention in strategic planning in universities. Today, countries pay special attention to research in universities and research activities SP in universities is prepared in accordance with their macro-level strategic plan. Research strategic plans in universities like Boston and Stanford universities are examples of this. In other words, research strategic plans must be coordinated with macro-level strategic plan in order to have an effective strategic plan (vertical alignment). Strategies of research field must be prepared in a way that they accompany other strategies and result in fulfillment of mission, vision and strategic goals (Hax and Majluf, 1996). Mirkamali (1999) believes that strategic planning means selection of long-term goals of an organization based on the investigation of environmental conditions, present facilities and resources and development of instructions, operation, facilities and resources for achieving goals. Furthermore, he combines 13 steps of Kaffman and Herman and 8 steps of Bryson and presents 6 basic stages in SP which include: definition of the philosophy and mission of organization, evaluation of external environmental, prediction of organizational abilities and opportunities and environmental facilities, special planning, SP implementation, supervision and control and revision. Factors like recognition of organizational philosophy and mission, selection of long-term goals, internal and external environment, identification of resources and internal abilities and facilities and environmental opportunities, determination of instructions and strategies and appropriate solutions for organizational future can be mentioned in SP (Mir Kamali, 1999). One of the main methods of planning in organizations is SP. In SP, mission, vision and organizational goals are set and after identification of external environment, strategic decisions are made in order to reach goals and finally strategies are formulated. SP is implemented in three general levels: corporate level, business level and functional level (Piers and Rabinston, 2000). In organizations, SP is usually started with determination of vision and mission and in the first level of planning (corporate level), organizational goals and strategies is determined for a long-term period of time. Then, SP is done for business unit level in shorter periods of time in order to form coordination in lower organizational level. Then, organizational strategies are formulated in functional level through identification of functional necessities of higher-level strategies in the lowest level of SP. In other words, strategies needed for each of the functions of organization like operation, R&D, finance and marketing and human resources are prepared considering the necessities of higher-level strategies. Increase in demand for higher education and reduction in governments' investments are reasons why universities consider SP. Therefore, it seems that universities also like to consider SP in order to overcome environmental limitations. In universities, functional-level strategies are formulated after determination of macro-strategies (university and its different branches) such that goals, mission and vision are fulfilled in the end (Hax and Majluf, 1996). The present research tries to present strategic planning for Rasht University research activities in order to improve research process and considering SP components. SP background outside Iran Arly (2009) conducted a research titled "development of SP process model for AI section in sport groups of faculties" and investigated the application of SP. This research aimed to identify formal SP process used by AI section of sports groups. This research also identified SP advantages and challenges which make SP a difficult duty for sports groups in faculties. In the end, a strategic plan model was provided for AI section. Teresa (2010) conducted a research titled" SP in Ekat Kior hospital in Antrido state:"mixed method study" and investigated SP application in this hospital. This research was conducted by means of combination of two designs: exploratory qualitative concentrated groups, and quantitative empirical research. Result showed that the hospital high-rank managers had used SP principles in contradictory ways. No significant relationship was verified between SP, hospital type and organizational performance. Results showed that managers of the hospital were not prepared for SP in new environment. Geromley (2007) conducted a research titled "R&D planning for selection and implementation of projects through rough solutions using Markov decision-making model" and dealt with application of planning in improvement of R&D activities. Key parts of the research included: 1) a summary of research literature, R&D 510

3 planning 2) Markov decision-making model (MDP) based on planning tool for R&D of technology, 3) rough solution-making method evaluation for different types of solving research networks Filho et al (2002) conducted a research titled" SP in public R&D organizations for agricultural crops trade: Brasil and USA". In this research, internal and external environmental issues were investigated. Methodology used in this research included comparative analysis of concepts, methods and processes commonly utilized in SP like SWOT analysis, and investigation of some of the results obtained by some public organizations in relation to R&D activities in the field of crops trade. In the final part o the research, necessary strategies were presented by means of SWOT output. David et al (2010) investigated the design of SP in accounting group in Chaleston College. This research aimed to find factors which were believed to be important for accounting group (in USA).Data obtained was used as a part of Association of advanced collegiate schools of business in validation process. The research dealt with achieving at a short-term vision by the faculty association. Content analysis of SP recommended a wide range of viewpoints which were included in the plan. Research questions Main question How is the situation of university research activities in terms of SP components? Subsidiary questions How is the situation of research activities in terms of "mission" component in SP? How is the situation of research activities in terms of "strengths" component in SP?? How is the situation of research activities in terms of "weaknesses" component in SP? How is the situation of research activities in terms of "opportunities" component in SP? How is the situation of research activities in terms of "threat" component in SP? How is the situation of research activities in terms of "vision" component in SP? How is the situation of research activities in terms of "strategy" component in SP? How is the situation of research activities in terms of "policy" component in SP? How is the situation of research activities in terms of "goals" component in SP? How is the situation of research activities in terms of "operational planning" component in SP? Research theoretical framework Howard Sherman and Ran Schultz referred to rapid and unexpected changes in competition world and believe that the presence of these changes along with emergence of knowledge, information and new technologies and economic, social and political chaos involve strategic thinking of managers in order to be able to overcome the conditions. They also believe that domineering strategies are resulted from unpredicted events and committees and teams must simulate future and provide new ideas for future (Davari, 2001). Michael Porter who is one of the most famous theorists in strategic management and owns one of the greatest advisory companies in this field (in his book "competition strategy") believes that many companies spend their time and energy on practical effectiveness and change their structures and their engineering system but they must be aware that this is not enough in a world in which competition is so important and is increasing. He believes that each company should take on a special strategy and methodology for competition in market (Porter, 1980). Coffnman and Herman Koordel et al Ubang Bryson David Table 1. frequency of SP components Hanger and Veilon Piers and Robinson Mir Kamali Arabi Saki Aghazadeh Davari Experts/component * * * * * * * * * * * mission * * * * * * * * * * * * Vision * * * * * * * * * * * * Environmental scanning * * * * * * * * * * * * Internal scanning * * * * * * * * * * * * Goals * * * * * * * * * * * * Policy * * * * * * * * * * * Strategy * * * * * * * * * Operational planning In the above table, SP components which have been mentioned a lot in references have been used. The conceptual model of this research is based upon these components. 511

4 Research conceptual model External environment scanning Vision SP components Operati onal planning Strategy Goals Internal environment scanning Policy Figure 1. Research conceptual model model. SP components which had the greatest frequency (according to table 1-2) were incorporated into the RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The present research is an applied research and it is a descriptive-survey study in terms of data gathering method. Statistical population of the research included all higher education students and faculty members of Rasht Islamic Azad University, who were 1140 people according to the latest statistics. Sample size was calculated by means of Morgan Table and simple random sampling method. Table 2. research sample and population Master degree student Faculty members total population sample Data was collected by means of a researcher-made questionnaire and investigation of documents and evidence. RESEARCH RESULTS How are university research findings in terms of SP components? One-sample t test was used to answer the research question and also a three-point scale was used for judging each factor (favorable, pretty favorable, and unfavorable) and the following table shows the condition of each of them. 4-choice scale was used to describe the present situation of SP and its components in Rasht Islamic Azad University. unfavorabl e Pretty favorable favorab le

5 Table 3. SP application state in research activities component mean T test Degree of freedom Significance level condition mission Pretty favorable strength Pretty favorable weakness Pretty favorable opportunity Pretty favorable opportunity Pretty favorable vision Pretty favorable strategy Pretty favorable policy Pretty favorable goals Pretty favorable Results of table 3 show that the condition of application of strength component in research activities in Rasht University is significant according to t point (-2.71) in 0.05 level and this component application is in pretty favorable situation. Furthermore, the condition of components "threat", "strategy", "policy" and "goals" in application of research activities is "pretty favorable". The means obtained for application of SP in research activities in components "mission", "opportunity", "weaknesses" and "vision" were 2.44, 2.34, 2.30 and 2.34, respectively. This shows that all these components are in pretty favorable conditions in terms of application of SP in research activities. CONCLUSION Complexities and speed of global community changes make governors present policies and plans which correspond to contemporary issues. Therefore, application of strategic planning (SP) has been propounded as a necessity in governments, organizations and societies. The present conditions involve public organizations think in a novel form and SP is of great importance in this case. SP can be regarded as one of the most important pillars of managers and links the presence to future. SP is a method which has been used by most organizations for achieving expected development and growth and more than 80% of organizations all over the world have used this managerial approach (Harison, 2003). SP is a set of decisions and activities which are designed by organizations in order to help them reach their targets (Piers and Rabinson, 2000). Therefore, SP is implemented for identification of future path and organizational direction. Generally, Sp process is started with determination of mission and vision, then strengths/weaknesses are identified by means of internal environment analysis and threats/opportunities are identified by means of external environment scanning and finally, strategies are formulated based on the collected data. Strategies or strategic actions are taken to meet organizational mission and based on strengths/weaknesses and opportunities/threats. SP is a belief and attitude, besides being a technique, which persuades managers to predict distant horizons. SP can be regarded as the most helpful and most effective method for determination of organizational strategies. REFERENCES Dooris MJ Two decades of strategic planning. Planning for Higher Education,31,( 2), Filho FA, Maria L, Paez D, WJ Strategic planning In Public R&D Organizations Brazil and the United States Of America.Technological Forecasting & Social Change Journal. 69(4), Harrison Jeffrey S Strategic Management of Resources and Relationship,. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., pp. 6. Hax AC, Majluf NS The Strategy Concept and Process. A Pragmatic Approach. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall International, Inc.pp Hopkins WE, Hopkins SA Strategic planning-financial performance relationships in banks: A causal examination. Strategic Management Journal,18 (8): Kirkland J Towards an integrated approach: university research management in an institutional context. journal of technology Management and Sustainable Development, 4, (3) Lachapelle P, Emery M, Hays Ra L The pedagogy and the practice of community visioning: evaluating effective community strategic planning in rural Montana', Journal of Community Development, 41: (2),

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