Comprehensive Planning in Seventh-day Adventist Colleges and Universities in the United States

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the status of planning in Adventist colleges and universities in the United States, and also to determine if significant relationships existed between planning in small and large institutions and between administrators' and department chairmen's perceptions of institutional planning.

Procedure: Questionnaires were mailed to administrators and department chairmen in the 11 Adventist colleges and universities in the United States. Of the 362 questionnaires mailed, 235 provided data for this study. The data were analyzed using chi-square tests, t-tests, frequency distributions, and means.

Findings: A significant difference was found between planning in small and large institutions. No difference was found between administrators' and department chairmen's perceptions of SDA institutions' mission statements. A significant difference was found between administrators' and department chairmen's perceptions of the overall planning of SDA institutions.

Conclusions: The major conclusions of the study are: (1) All 11 institutions practice formal planning, but just over one-half, primarily larger institutions, practice long-range and strategic planning; (2) Comprehensive planning in SDA institutions is in the early stages of development; (3) Plans for enrollment, income, and mangement information need greater attention; (4) Most institutions have performed mission statement review within the past five years; (5) Presidents, vice-presidents, and academic deans have the largest involvement in the formulation of institutional goals and objectives; (6) Adventist institutions generally use an object-program budget or a strict object budget; (7) Institutions rely mostly on informal procedures to evaluate the attainment of institutional goals and objectives.

Recommendations: Administrators of Adventist institutions should: (1) undertake comprehensive, long-range, strategic planning; (2) take deliberate action to communicate the mission of the institution to every faculty and staff member; (3) provide more opportunity for wider participation in the planning process; (4) implement a decision support system or a management information system; (5) review their plans for income and enrollment; (6) implement a program budget or a zero-based budget; (7) give due consideration to political and governmental matters; (8) develop formal evaluative procedures; (9) cooperate in system-wide planning.

Availability:
For Sale
Publication Date:
1987
Author:
Herbert O Shand
Order Information:
Full text available online through ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Completed through Loma Linda University.
Language:
English
Resource Type:
Unpublished Plans & Papers; Internet Resources
Resource Objective:
Research
Level:
Tertiary
Audience:
Researcher
Religious Origin:
Seventh-day Adventist