The strategic management process: an aid to organizational learning in further education?

Abstract

This article seeks to make a critical contribution to the growing further education (FE) discourse and its current domination by the non-contextualised ideas of management and markets. In making this contribution the authors draw on both the general theoretical literature and original longitudinal research from within one post-Incorporation college. The research examines the impact of the introduction of the strategic management process (SMP) following the Education Act, 1992, and argues that the SMP’s role was greater than that of just a management tool. It is argued that the role of the SMP should be seen as more extensive than that of simply fulfilling the requirements of the Further Education Funding Council and the FE marketplace. The process of constructing and implementing the strategy can be seen as a major vehicle for change in the socio-cultural context of FE colleges – also that the SMP has an understated dimension that encompasses a social process. Using the SMP in this manner can facilitate and enable organisational learning whilst stimulating increased professional participation, development and ownership.