Baldrige Criterion

To many people, strategic planning is something meant only for big businesses, but it is equally applicable to any type of business entity or organization. Strategic planning is matching the strengths of an organization to available opportunities. To do this effectively, an organization need to collect, screen, and analyze information about its environment. The organization also needs to have a clear understanding of its strengths and weaknesses and develop a clear mission, goals, and objectives (Wikipedia, n. . ). Acquiring this understanding often involves more work than expected. The organization must realistically assess its current state and device a plan of action to successfully make it better. So how does an organization gauge how well they are doing in term of matching their strengths to available opportunities? A self-assessment using the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence can help an organization achieve high performance and move toward performance excellence (Balbridge. om). Even if the organization isn’t ready to apply for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the Baldrige criteria are a framework for evaluating any organization’s processes, their impact on results, and its progress toward goals and objectives. The Baldrige criterion consists of seven key categories/indicators of success. One of these categories is strategic planning and it contains ten questions that are not routinely asked on how an organization can function more efficiently. In the case of University California, Berkeley’s and University of Colorado, Boulder’s campus-wide IT strategic plan, this paper will address some of these questions as they relate to Balbridge’s criteria for assessing strategic planning. The questions I will cover are: describe how the organization sets its strategic objectives into action plans, what the organization’s action plans are, and how the organization is able to project future performance on these key performance indicators or measures. In addition, this paper will also describe the following: how each university used the strategic planning process to address their needs, what are the university’s current strategic objectives, and the goals for each objective and the timetable for achieving these objectives. First of all, one of Baldridge’s criteria in strategic planning is answering the question of the organization’s current strategic objectives, the goals for each, and the timetable for achieving them. The following are the objectives for UC Basic IT resources that are adequately supported and refreshed in order to carry out their research, teaching and learning, and administrative work. 2. Seamless, integrated, immediate, and continuous self-service access to information and services. 3. Robust technology tools to support collaboration. 4. Access to tools and data/information that enable community members to develop their own integrated solutions. The UC-Bolder defined their strategic objectives as the following: 1. Universally available wireless network including all campus buildings and strategic open common spaces as well as access to a campus VPN. 2. Faculty purchase and renewal program allowing all faculties a significant subsidy for a new computer every several years. 3. Free antivirus and encryption to protect data as well as access to a variety of major software licenses. 4. Integrated email, calendaring, and scheduling (Exchange). 5. Accessible and multi-layered IT support including both centralized and dedicated IT personnel. 6. Classroom and online IT training. Although I did not go in depth about their objectives and timetables, clearly in each report, both universities exclusively defined what their IT strategic plans and objectives are for their future success. Charles McNamara (n. d. ), a leading strategic planning advisor, stated that goals should be designed and worded as much as possible to be specific, measurable, acceptable to those working to achieve the goals, realistic, timely, extending the capabilities of those working to achieve the goals, and rewarding to them, as well. By clearly defining what their goals and needs are, both universities mirrored the Baldrige criteria for strategic planning. Secondly, one of the ten questions asked in Baldridge criteria for strategic planning is how do you ensure that financial, human, and other resources are available to support the accomplishment of your action plans? In other words, how do the universities convert their strategic objectives into action plans through resource allocations? UC Boulder satisfied that question by having approximately 300 employees in the Information Technology Services. In addition, UC Boulder has also clearly defined how they will allocate their IT resources to ensure they meet their strategic goals. According to the website UC Boulder’s IT allocation is as follows: 1. Campus programs and projects (28%) 2. Academic technologies and spaces (25%) 3. Support, operations, and services (including network and telephony) (42%) 4. Administration amp; support (5%) With UC Berkeley, however, it paints a different picture. UC Berkeley did have an IT allocation but they used the generic term â€Å"resources† throughout their strategic plan and were not at all defined as compared to UC Boulder. Their means of resource support simply stated: â€Å"Researchers and research support staff across disciplines require a minimum level of research support with technical compatibility to facilitate research and the sharing of data, and to avoid significant reinvestment and training for each new research initiative. † By far UC Berkeley does not meet Baldridge criteria by not specifically allocating their resources. With goals and objectives clearly defined by both universities, a plan of action must take place. According to McNamara (n. d. ), action planning is carefully laying out how the strategic goals will be accomplished. Action planning often includes specifying objectives, or specific results, with each strategic goal. Therefore, reaching a strategic goal typically involves accomplishing a set of objectives along the way in that sense, an objective is still a goal, but on a smaller scale. Often, each objective is associated with a tactic, which is one of the methods needed to reach an objective. Therefore, implementing a strategy typically involves implementing a set of tactics along the way in that sense, a tactic is still a strategy, but on a smaller scale. He added that action planning also includes specifying responsibilities and timelines with each objective, or who needs to do what and by when. It should also include methods to monitor and evaluate the plan, which includes knowing how the organization will know who has done what and by when. With that said each university’s plan needs to address adapting and evolving with new and emerging technology to stay in accordance with the Baldrige criteria. UC Berkeley acknowledges how new technology will affect their strategic plan with the following statement in their plan, â€Å"New and emerging technology solution-building capabilities. They attempt to address new technologies in their 2030 plan, but unlike UC Berkeley, they do not address it specifically. UC Boulder’s attempt at planning for emerging technologies: â€Å"Flagship 2030; not only will advancements in research computing across campus help facilitate growth and excellence in research, the open, collaborative, and flexible spirit in which such advancements are pursued will help ensure research computing resources allow for new approaches to research, scholarly, and creative work, and bolster structural support for research and creative programs across campus. Last but not least, the Baldrige criterion asks the question. â€Å"What are your key performance measures or indicators for tracking the achievement and effectiveness of your action plans? † I have read both the universities report in its entirety but I did not find any mention of how each university would measure the successfulness of their strategic plan. It is kind of odd to me that they didn’t mention any indicators or measurement. Is this a common practice among the IT community to not take into account the importance of measuring the effectiveness of their IT strategies? When discussing measuring for effectiveness of the IT plan at UC Berkeley, Mr. Jack McCredie explains, â€Å"It is much more of a description of an end state that we are working for. We are more goal oriented, not number oriented, in our process. One UC Berkeley goal was to wire the campus, not count the number of nodes that are actually installed. Our board doesn’t seem to require particular dashboard numbers that say we are 38 percent of the way to accomplishing our goal.    Clearly in my opinion, both of the universities failed one area of the Baldridge criteria and are not showing any efforts and thoughts into establishing proper measures of effectiveness into their plans. In conclusion, in comparing the strategic IT plans of UC Berkeley and the University of Colorado at Boulder, similarities and differences become quickly evident. When Baldridge criteria for strategic planning are taken into account, in conjunction with comparing each strategic plan, the variation in d epth of commitment clearly shows. In my opinion, each universities IT strategic plan is not superior over the other as both have faults and missing some key ingredients in successfully attaining IT strategic planning superiority. As Charles McNamara stated, â€Å"A frequent complaint about strategic plans is that they are merely to-do lists of what to accomplish over the next few years. Or, others complain that strategic planning never seems to come in handy when the organization is faced with having to make a difficult, major decision. Or, other complains that strategic planning really doesnt help the organization face the future. These complaints arise because organizations fail to conduct a thorough strategic analysis as part of their strategic planning process. Instead, planners decide to plan only from what they know now. This makes the planning process much less strategic and a lot more guesswork. Strategic analysis is the heart of the strategic planning process and should not be ignored.

Would Tom Sawyer Have Been Prescribed Ritalin Essay

Would Tom Sawyer Have Been Prescribed Ritalin - Essay Example As the discussion highlights obviously, lack of control leads to decrease in the discipline. The diagnosis itself is relative because the border between impulsive personality and disorder is defined by the community. In the UK and Japan, the definition of impulsive personality seems to be broader because children in these countries are prescribed Ritalin not so often. While some doctors give to their patients more and more Ritalin prescriptions, others state that children can do without it because this drug serves as a â€Å"quick-fix† of the problem which does not cope with its causes. In this debate, I agree with Dr. Diller that better parental care and less pressure can result in better discipline and Tow Sawyer will live without Ritalin. The biggest problem children face in their life is represented by various demands. Children are required to be obedient; they have to meet different standards, pass various tests and participate in boring activities. These demands can caus e bad and impulsive behavior in children. It is not a disorder, but a logical reaction of a person to the situation when people are forced to do something they totally dislike. If children misbehave at school they do not necessarily have ADHD; it is possible that they cannot concentrate on tasks which do not fit their personality. The biggest pressure at school is the need for high performance. When I studied  at school, my parents always wanted me to be the best in the class. When I was worse than other kids, they tended to push on my forcing me to study something I disliked. I cannot say that their efforts were effective because they only destroyed my desire to learn the subjects where I could not succeed. Different studies show that Ritalin does help to concentrate on boring tasks, but it is helpless at improving

Mathematics Teaching Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mathematics Teaching - Essay Example The teaching issues should be talked about broadly and deeply in theory for achievement of greater understanding of subject matter either by the teacher or a pupil. For clear understanding of subject matter in such a subject like mathematics especially for children, teachers require to fuse theoretical and practical aspect in their work. This enables breaking down of complex ideas and concepts which become easy and logical in developing the understanding of learners and their acquisition of learning skills. In theoretical expression of a mathematical lesson a teacher ought to be keen in his confidence when answering learners questions and when dealing with their misconceptions, The National Strategies, (2010). On the other hand a teacher should employ various creative methods to intervene during a lesson in a discursive manner to come up with an effective learning environment depending with the curricula that are applied and the ability of the learners, Bronwyn (2003). In primary schools the theoretical expression of mathematical subject content should be simplified according to the age of the learners, this means that the teacher has to be sensitive to the age of the learners and curricula requirements in order to achieve good end results. Since the curricula in primary school is broad the teacher need to be well informed with all subjects to be able to express theory in mathematics explicitly to the learners. This enable the learners develop literature skills which are also very significant in understanding and expressing mathematics. Effective Planning Primary school teachers have to consider the factors of age and curricula requirements prior to their planning of lessons and in their plan ensure the learners and his or her colleagues understand the content of the plan. They should also make plans to involve learners with an out of class lesions and home work which give the leaner an opportunity to share with other for example parents, siblings or other pupils which is a good support in enhancing mathematical understanding and development of greater leaning skills Ernest, (1987). Teaching Strategies In meeting their objectives teachers should employ strategies that conform to the curricula provided by the education authorities as well as the age and abilities of learners. This can be achieved by analyzing the diversity of the learners abilities and their age hence coming up with a design that will enable them overcome any barrier that my hinder their understanding and development in skills. Lieberman, (2004)On the other hand teachers should employ creative approaches in teaching mathematics for example teacher can put a challenge to the learners that will make them need to talk about the subject manner hence creating a greater contemplation of many students at all levels of ability. Ernest (1988) Conclusion Teachers need to fuse theory and practice in teaching mathematics thus they should converse with all subjects to effectively deliver. In primary school teaching the age factor and variance in abilities is sensitive and