Aligning governmental and organizational missions: building a

310 Pages·2014·2.49 MB·English

Aligning governmental and organizational missions:
building a model of FE organizations in Malta

Nicholas J. Zarb

Thesis completed in part fulfilment of the requirements of the
Ph.D degree in Education.
Centre for Educational Research and Development
University of Lincoln 2013

1
Abstract
Purpose: This thesis proposes a first conceptual model using data gathered in 2012, to
delineate the assessed alignment between the Maltese government’s policy for the further
education sector (FE) and FE organizations’ missions. Although alignment models exist,
no research has been published detailing the FE sector and the usefulness of such models
in small island states.
Methodology: Since alignment is multifaceted, a complementarity blended approach
was used to help uncover its complexities. Data were collected from seven FE vocational
and academic organizations via questionnaires to academic staff; interviews with
principals and other internal and external stakeholders; content analysis of mission
statements.
Findings: Assessing alignment to create the conceptual model showed that there is only
moderate alignment between organizational mission and government policy while
organizational missions in practice differ significantly from organizational mission
statements. Due to their brevity, mission statements can only capture a part of such
organization mission. There may be occasions where organizational realities exceed the
expectations of a mission statement thus turning conventional wisdom on its head.
Significance: By utilizing systems theory a new conceptual model based on inputs,
outputs, organizational processes and feedback is proposed together with a new
metaphor of an operating theatre to add to existing metaphorical explanations of the
field. Such an alignment model explains the FE sector in the small island state of Malta.
The use of a complementarity blended method may be useful to explain educational
alignment in other small states.
Key words: alignment models; further education; mixed method; systems theory; small
island states; Malta.

i
Acknowledgements
The past four years have been an absorbing experience and I must begin by thanking
those friends and colleagues who encouraged me to embark on this journey.
Throughout the duration of the PhD there have been a number of people, without whom
my learning would not have been as fruitful as I believe it has been. The first of these is
of course Angela Thody, my supervisor. Angela has always been supportive whilst
allowing me the space to experiment and to learn from my own mistakes. For me,
Angela has been the ideal supervisor.
There have also been a variety of groups of people who have been both challenging and
supportive in helping develop my ideas. First, there are the fellow students who have
given valuable feedback during research seminars; however special mention goes to Ian
Mifsud, Claire Felice Pace and Kenneth Vella who have always listened, empathised and
encouraged whenever appropriate. Secondly is the academic community at Lincoln:
Terrence Karran, Leslie Bell and Julian Beckton for questioning my thinking.
Final thanks go to Beverly Potterton, for excellently managing the administrative side at
Lincoln; Louis Scerri who kindly and professionally edited the final draft of my thesis;
my family, who silently suffered my absence while I forged ahead with my work.

ii
Contents
Page
Abstract i

Acknowledgements ii

Contents iii

Tables and figures vi

Glossary viii

Chapter 1 Introduction: why alignment is important 1
Introduction 1
Rationale 2
Theoretical background 6
A critique of alignment 10
Basis of literature review 12
Defining the Maltese FE sector: a comparative analysis 13
Research questions 19
Conclusion 20
Chapter 2 Literature review: stakeholder theory, 22
government and EU policies for the FE sector
and the resource-based view of organizations

Introduction 22
Stakeholder theory 23
iii
Government and EU policies for the FE sector 30
Resource-based view 43
Conclusion 54
Chapter 3 Literature review: strategic theory, 56
organizational mission and performance
measurement

Introduction 56
Strategic theory 56
Organizational mission 64
Performance measurement 73
Conclusion 84
Chapter 4 Research design and methodology 86
Introduction 86
Research questions 86
Methodological approach 87
Validity and reliability 91
Methods 93
Data analysis 103
Positionality and ethical concerns 111
Conclusion 113
Chapter 5 Analysis of mission statements, interviews, and 114
questionnaire and merging of data sets

Introduction 114
Content analysis of FE organizations’ mission statements 115
Analysis of semi-structured interviews with stakeholders 119
Questionnaire analysis 159
Merging the data sets 186
iv
Conclusion 191
Chapter 6 Discussion: an analysis of the principal issues 194
Introduction 194
Government policy alignment 194
Quality assurance 198
Opportunities and threats 200
Mission alignment 202
Strategic planning and resources 205
Conclusion 213
Chapter 7 Conclusion: a model explaining the Maltese FE 215
sector
Introduction 215
The Maltese FE model 215
The need for a new alignment metaphor 224
Research limitations 227
Implications for theory and practice 229
Conclusion 234
References 235
Appendices Appendix A – mission statements thematic binary coding 280
Appendix B – examples of deductive and inductive 281
thematic coding
Appendix C – coded FE organizations’ mission 282
statements
Appendix D – interview questions for respondents 284
Appendix E – questionnaire administered to FE 291
organizations’ lecturing staff
Appendix F – statistical equations used in this thesis 295
Appendix G – sample letter sent to interview informants 297

v
Tables and Figures

Page
Table 1.1 Comparative summary of organizational alignment models 7

Table 1.2 Malta FE organizations 2011/2 14

Table 1.3 Research questions delineated by government and other stakeholders 20

Table 2.1 Definitions of stakeholders, 1984-2004 24

Table 2.2 Classifications of organizational strategies to stakeholder claims, 1991- 28
2002

Table 3.1 Relationship between Welsh HE organizations and mission statement 70
attributes, 2009

Table 3.2 Internal curriculum alignment attributes 72

Table 3.3 Quality assurance typology in HE 76

Table 3.4 KPIs used in education 82

Table 4.1 Pseudonyms used by interview respondents, 2012 96

Table 4.2 Internal processes in Maltese FE organizations, 2012 98

Table 4.3 Data sources: FE organizations’ mission statements, 2012 102

Table 4.4 Types and volume of qualitative data 106
Table 4.5 Research questions’ sub-categories used for data coding 107
Table 4.6 Nonparametric statistical tests used to analyse quantitative data 109

Table 5.1 Data sources: policy themes in FE organizations’ mission statements, 116
2012

Table 5.2 Roles, barriers and government policy formation: perceptions from 121
interview respondents, 2012

Table 5.3 Alignment of government and institutional policies: perceptions from 122
interview respondents, 2012

Table 5.4 Alignment of organizational mission with government policy: 137
perceptions from interview respondents, 2012

Table 5.5 Alignment of strategic processes with organizational mission: 146
perceptions from interview respondents, 2012
Table 5.6 Sample description: Maltese FE organizations’ respondents, 2012 160
Table 5.7 Respondents’ age groups in Maltese FE organizations, 2012 161
Table 5.8 Respondents’ teaching experience in Maltese FE organizations, 2012 162
Table 5.9 Respondents’ qualifications at vocational organizations, 2012 163

Table 5.10 Alignment of government and institutional policies: 2012 perceptions 165
from Malta’s FE Colleges’ employees (questionnaire data)
vi
Table 5.11 Mann Whitney U tests for government policies displaying significant 168
differences among government policy attributes (p<0.5)

Table 5.12 Alignment of organizational mission with government policy: 2012 173
perceptions from Malta’s FE Colleges employees (questionnaire data)

Table 5.13 Alignment of strategic processes with organizational mission: 2012 179
perceptions from Malta’s FE College’s employees (questionnaire data)

Table 5.14 Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis of FE 183
organizational groups and the whole FE system: interview and
questionnaire respondents’ 2012

Page
Figure 1.1 Theoretical foundation of this research 7

Figure 2.1 Stakeholder map for the Maltese FE sector, 2012 26

Figure 2.2 School system alignment as applied to an American school district 38

Figure 3.1 Seminal model of the strategic process 60

Figure 4.1 Examples of a radar diagram 110

Figure 5.1 Maltese FE organizations’ mission statements: policy themes, 2012 117

Figure 5.2 Maltese FE organizational groups and the whole FE system: 171
government policy radar diagram, 2012

Figure 5.3 Maltese FE organizational groups and the whole FE system: mission 178
alignment radar diagram, 2012

Figure 5.4 Maltese FE organizational groups and the whole the FE system: 183
strategic planning radar diagram, 2012

Figure 5.5 Alignment between Malta’s FE Colleges’ organizational missions and 187
government policies: merged questionnaire and interview data, 2012

Figure 5.6 Perceived roles and barriers to mission alignment in the Maltese FE 189
system: questionnaire and interview respondents, 2012

Figure 5.7 Effectiveness of Maltese FE organizations’ efforts to align resources 190
and strategic planning to organizational mission: questionnaire and
interview respondents, 2012

Figure 7.1 Explanatory model of the Maltese FE system, 2013 219

vii
Glossary

AIO Advanced, intermediate, ordinary
BSC Balanced scorecard
CPD Continuous professional development
EQM External quality monitoring
ERDF European Regional Development Fund
ETC Employment Training Centre
EUPA European Union Programmes Agency
FE Further education
GDP Gross domestic product
HE Higher education
IEN Individual educational needs
KPI Key performance indicator
LSA Learning support assistant
MIS Management information system
MTA Malta Tourism Authority
MUT Malta Union of Teachers
NCF National curriculum framework
NCHE National Commission for Further and Higher Education
NQC National Qualifications Council
PR Public relations
QA Quality assurance
RBV Resource-based view
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SMT Senior management team
SWOT Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats

Maltese FE organizations
DLS De La Salle College
GCHSS Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School
ITS Institute of Tourism Studies
JC Junior College, University of Malta
MCAST Malta College for Art, Science and Technology
SAC St. Aloysius College
SEC St. Edward’s College
SMC St. Martin’s College
SMAR Sir M.A. Refalo for Further Studies
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