Strategic Management

Hello and welcome to my blog—PMGT 611- Anatomy of Project Organizations. For over 20 years I have served in the military and been lead on many projects. However, not until I retired and began my Master’s coursework at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University have I been exposed to the “formal” project management (PM) field. As I am a novice, with little to no formal experience, all the tools and techniques I have learned are based in education and little experience…so far anyway!

This leads us into this week’s discussion topic: Strategic Management. For this topic, I am choosing to review the strategic plan of a charter school where I volunteer and substitute teach. This school is only in its third year of operation and still working out some issues. However, the school has been able to achieve some impressive stats.  In identifying the strategic effectiveness of the school, I will breakdown the Four Activities of the Strategic Management Process.

1-      “Review and define the organizational mission” (Larson & Gray, 2014 pg. 29).  The charter school organization developed their mission statement:

“Our mission is to create a 21^st Century learning environment that recognizes students’ multiple intelligences and divers learning styles with a culturally responsive curriculum and instructional program that includes diverse instructional strategies and enriching content to facilitate each student’s growth and building within them a strong foundation for future success in middle school, high school, college, and beyond” (Levinson, 2012).

2-      “Analyze and formulate strategies” (set long-term goals and objectives)(Larson & Gray, 2014 pg. 29).

The school clearly defines what they hope to achieve. Now the question is whether their strategies identifies what needs to done to realized that mission. The strategies for the school involve specific targets for students by grade level. The school uses testing to “complete pre-assessment (MAP Assessments) and benchmarks for each marking period of all grade levels” (Levinson, 2012). End-of-Grade (EOG) Tests will also be used in grades 3-5 for assessment. “By setting specific, and strategic, goals [the school board] can determine whether [school board] are fulfilling the school’s mission” (Levinson, 2012).

               

3-      “Set objectives to achieve strategy” (Larson & Gray, 2014 pg. 29).

”Objectives translate the organizational strategy into specific, concrete, measurable terms” (Larson & Gray, 2014 pg. 31). By analyzing the charter school’s application, we see that S.M.A.R.T. objectives have been established. 

A sample is taken from the application (Levinson, 2012):

Subject Area	Goal(s)	Measurable Objective	Evaluation Methods	Time Line
Reading/ELA	Grade Level Mastery	>85% proficiency	Formative and Summative Assessments, EOG (3rd-5th), MAP Assessment	2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19
Math	Grade Level Mastery	>85% proficiency	Formative and Summative Assessments, EOG (3rd-5th), MAP Assessment	2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19

4-      “Implement Strategies through Projects” (Larson & Gray, 2014 pg. 32).

“Implementation answers the question of how strategies will be realized, given available resources” (Larson & Gray, 2014). This includes assets of the schools (buildings, computers, etc.) and  human resources (teachers, staff, etc.). In general, in order for the school to realize its’ vision, the school must implement projects to meet objectives. These projects range from adding new playground equipment to completing a testing cycle. The school has plans in place and complete projects as priority dictates.

The charter school has been effective, as realized by data over the three years of operations. The school is ranked first in the county according to test scores.  As long as the board remains vigilant and continually review strategies, students will benefit. The school must be flexible and “highly adaptive to short-run changes while being consistent in the longer run” to remain successful in realizing the mission.

This blog can be viewed at www.pmgt611.blogspot.com.

Damien

References

Larson, E. W., & Gray, C. F. (2014). Project management: The managerial process (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

Levinson, D. (2012). Anderson creek club charter school: Charter school application. Unpublished manuscript.