There are many models used for strategic planning, but it should be noted that the main elements of these models, if not identical, are very similar in nature.
Today, many organizations are involved in some form of strategic planning. Model they choose, often determined by their internal structure of the company, but in almost all cases, the process aims to ensure that the organization can truly predict the future, to determine the direction of the future and, most importantly, to create the future, if everything is done properly.
For distance educators is natural to adopt the principles of strategic planning and even use them in the evolution of distance and open learning. In fact, because of the problems that we solve, raising new ground in the development of methods and means of distance education, we are in the political and organizational sense more progressive in our thinking and strategic planning model quickly adapt to our world. They help break complex problems into manageable components for analysis and solutions. It is also important that the strategic planning model can create the canvas to allow organizations to monitor their development and to transform this information back to the process of predicting the future. I think the teachers are able to choose the distance model and deals with its diverse constituents. We have few important stages of strategic planning which we very well known. The first stage – planning or scheduling, the responsibilities of people in senior positions in the organization, including the definition of the correct context for the planning and initiation of the process. At this stage, the organization will report according to planning requirements and identifies resources to ensure a successful outcome of the planning process.
The second stage is designed to ensure the shared values of the organization and that these values remain unchanged. At this stage the company is looking inward, identifying strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats (situation analysis). This information is often compared with the study of the environment, to ensure that the organization is aware of the factors that may influence the successful implementation of the strategic plan.
Next, the target – very clear statement that it is clear to every employee of the organization and, furthermore, that can be used to explain the rest of the organization. Unfortunately, in distance education is sometimes difficult to find that the only important phrase which briefly and clearly describes the work. In order not to change one’s mind, organizations are struggling to formulate a mission statement, which shall be promulgated throughout the organization. Mission statement – is the basis of the strategic plan usually answers to three basic questions:
- What does the business?
- How is my business?
- As an organization performs its tasks?
The definition of business purpose, including indicators of success, and describes how the organization will look like in the future. This ensures the accuracy and consistency of measurement and provides the ability to project past trends for the future.
This is an important strategic step cycle, which will enable the organization to make sure that it should be a clear policy that is based on its strengths. It would be natural to assume that the vision of the future and the situation in which the organization at the moment, not always in sync. Therefore, the next step is to conduct a strategic planning gap analysis. Gap analysis will help determine whether there are differences in the vision of the future and the current activities of the organization, and most importantly, the gap analysis will force planning team to prioritize and identify creative ways to reduce this gap.
Even if we search multiple search engines for this core of the structure and strategic directions of the organization; this information is distributed throughout the organization, and the process of the development of functional and operational plans. Operational plans tend to focus primarily on the “how” when “that” has already been defined. The operational plan includes links to relevant resources and their corresponding distribution. The main phase is the implementation of the plan and to check that the implementation of the relevant factors of success.
These is a very clear and accurate model for the meeting and encourage participation, based on the stories and experiences of the past and combines the necessary checks and balances that contribute to the development of monitoring and timely adjustments. In theory, the institutions involved in these processes, are able to ensure that they are in the most developed area of research and development of open learning provision allows them to demonstrate their contribution to improving access to learning. They also contribute to the spread of attachment to form and participate in this very important economic program.