Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations

578 Pages·2011·2.14 MB·English

by  Bryson, John M.

“The world and our communities are changing at a rapid pace. Public and
nonprofi t leaders need skills, knowledge, and tools to respond effectively
and swiftly to translate planning into action. This book combines both
practical and useful insights with realistic examples, intellectual rigor, and
clarity to help your organization successfully navigate the complexity of an
ever-changing environment. This book is a ‘must-read’ for government and
nonprofi t leaders who wish to be successful in thinking, planning, and improv-
ing systems and organizational outcomes. John Bryson has done it again!”
—Gary L. Cunningham, vice president of programs and chief program offi cer,
Northwest Area Foundation

“As organizational ties get more complicated and resources get ever tighter,
Bryson’s approach to strategic governance has more resonance than ever. In
this new edition that builds on what’s already a classic, Bryson helps us
understand not only how to do strategic management, but also how to get
strategic results.”
—Donald F. Kettl, dean, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, and
author, The Next Government of the United States: Why Our Institutions Fail
Us and How to Fix Them

“Time and again I attend conferences on strategic management and John
Bryson’s books and articles are either required reading, cited in the materials,
or highlighted by the presenter. John Bryson’s work on strategic management
is clearly the gold standard.”
—Jocelyn Hale, executive director, The Loft Literary Center

“John Bryson’s book on strategic management has long been the touchstone
in the fi eld for practitioners and academics alike. This new edition promises
to continue its preeminence and will be required reading for all with an inter-
est in this topic.”
—Stephen P. Osborne, professor of international public management, University
of Edinburgh, Scotland, and editor, Public Management Review

“John Bryson is one of those rare academics who is so respected, skillful, and
refl ective that he is invited in to help large and important public and nonprofi t
organizations deal with their most sensitive and signifi cant strategic issues.
This book shows why.”
—Colin Eden, professor of strategic management and management science,
University of Strathclyde, Scotland, and coauthor, Making Strategy: Mapping
Out Strategic Success

An Instructor’s Guide for the fourth edition of Strategic Planning for
Public and Nonprofi t Organizations is available free online. If you would
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Strategic Planning
for Public
and Nonprofi t
Organizations

A Guide to Strengthening and
Sustaining Organizational Achievement

Fourth Edition

John M. Bryson

Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by Jossey-Bass
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bryson, John M.

Strategic planning for public and nonprofi t organizations: a guide to
strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement / John M. Bryson.
—4th ed.

p. cm. —(Bryson on strategic planning)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-470-39251-5 (hardback); ISBN 978-1-118-04993-8 (ebk);
ISBN 978-1-118-05051-4 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-05053-8 (ebk)

1. Strategic planning. 2. Nonprofi t organizations—Management.
3. Public administration. I. Title.

HD30.28.B79 2011

658.4'012—dc23

2011017844

Printed in the United States of America

FOURTH EDITION
HB Printing
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

v

CONTENTS

Figures and Exhibits vii

Preface xi

Acknowledgments for the Fourth Edition xxi

The Author xxvii

PART ONE: UNDERSTANDING THE DYNAMICS OF STRATEGIC PLANNING 1

1 Why Strategic Planning Is More Important Than Ever 3

2 The Strategy Change Cycle: An Effective Strategic Planning Approach
for Public and Nonprofi t Organizations 41

PART TWO: KEY STEPS IN THINKING AND ACTING STRATEGICALLY 81

3 Initiating and Agreeing on a Strategic Planning Process 83

4 Clarifying Organizational Mandates and Mission 117

5 Assessing the Environment to Identify Strengths and Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Challenges 150

vi CONTENTS

6 Identifying Strategic Issues Facing the Organization 185

7 Formulating and Adopting Strategies and Plans to Manage the
Issues 219

8 Establishing an Effective Organizational Vision for the Future 271

9 Implementing Strategies and Plans Successfully 286

10 Reassessing and Revising Strategies and Plans 317

PART THREE: MANAGING THE PROCESS AND GETTING STARTED
WITH STRATEGIC PLANNING 353

11 Leadership Roles in Making Strategic Planning Work 355

12 Getting Started with Strategic Planning 383

RESOURCES 403

Resource A: A Guide to Stakeholder Identifi cation and Analysis
Techniques 405

Resource B: Using the Web in the Strategic Planning Process 428

Resource C: Developing a Livelihood Scheme That Links Aspirations,
Distinctive Competencies, and Distinctive Assets 450

Resource D: Using Action-Oriented Strategy Mapping to Identify Strategic
Issues and Formulate Effective Strategies 469

References 493

Name Index 528

Subject Index 536

vii

FIGURES AND EXHIBITS

Figures

1.1 The ABCs of Strategic Planning 11
1.2 Rational Planning Model 22
1.3 Political Decision - Making Model 23
1.4 Purposes and Functions of Strategic Planning and Management 39
2.1 The Strategy Change Cycle 44
2.2 Strategic Planning System for Integrated Units of Management 72
2.3 City of Charlotte, NC, Strategy in Balanced Scorecard Form 73
2.4 Strategic Planning Outcomes, Actions, Design Features, and
Context 78
3.1 Outcomes Likely to Be Needed if the Strategic Planning Process Is to
Succeed 100
4.1 A Stakeholder Map for a Government 134
6.1 Sorting Out the Issues and Their Implications 188
6.2 Strategic Issues Facing a Roman Catholic Religious Order 212
10.1 Miami - Dade County Strategic Management System 326
10.2 Strategic Issues Management Model 332
10.3 Purchaser - Provider Contract Model 333
10.4 Road Map for Virginia ’ s Future 337
A.1 Strategic Management Purposes and Functions and Stakeholder
Analysis Techniques to Assist in Fulfi lling Them 406

viii FIGURES AND EXHIBITS

A.2
Power Versus Interest Grid 408
A.3
Bases of Power – Directions of Interest Diagram, with Examples of
Power Bases and Interests 414
A.4
Stakeholder - Issue Interrelationship Diagram 417
A.5
Problem - Frame Stakeholder Map 418
A.6
Policy Attractiveness Versus Stakeholder Capability Grid 423
B.1
Basic DebateGraph Structure 441
B.2
DebateGraph Map of the Ideascale Transparency Project 442
C.1
BMC Competencies, Distinctive Competencies, and Distinctive
Assets 463
C.2
BMC Goal and Broader Purposes 464
C.3
BMC Goal, Broader Purposes, and Critical Success Factors (CSFs)/
Distinctive Competency Outcomes (DCOs) 465
C.4
BMC Livelihood Scheme 467
D.1
Small College Strategic Issue: Generate More Income 472
D.2
Small College ’ s Issues and Goals 474
D.3
General Shape and Logic of an Oval Map Intended for Use as an
Action - Oriented Strategic Map 476

Exhibits

1.1
Strategic Planning and Strategic Management: Defi nitions, Functions,
and Approaches 26
3.1
N.E.A.R. ’ s Strategic Planning Process 106
3.2
Longer Planning Process of a Large Human Service Organization 108
4.1
Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Mission Statement 143
4.2
The Loft Mission Statement 143
4.3
MetroGIS Mission Statements 144
4.4
The Wilder Foundation Mission Statement 145
4.5
Miami - Dade County Mission Statement and Guiding Principles 146
5.1
Minneapolis Park Board Summary of Findings from Commissioner
Interviews, May 2006 174
6.1
Litmus Test for Strategic Issues 210
7.1
The Loft ’ s Strategies, 2007 – 2012 224
7.2
City of Charlotte, NC, City Strategy 227
7.3
The ICT Strategy for the British Government 229
7.4
MetroGIS Strategic Initiatives 240
7.5
Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Vision Themes, Goals, and
Strategies, 2007 – 2020 246

FIGURES AND EXHIBITS ix

7.6 David Osborne and Peter Plastrik ’ s Typology of Public - Sector
Strategies 257
7.7 Bryan Barry ’ s Typology of Nonprofi t Strategies 258
10.1 Miami - Dade County Strategic Plan Summary 327
10.2 State of Virginia Agency Key Objectives at a Glance 339
11.1 The Leadership and Management Strategy of the Belfast Health and
Social Care Trust 356
A.1 Participation Planning Matrix 412
A.2 Ethical Analysis Grid 421
A.3 Policy Implementation Strategy Development Grid 425
B.1 Web Sites Where Web - Based Tools May Be Found 431
B.2 Matching Web - Based Tools to the Strategy Change Cycle 443
C.1 Identifying Distinctive Competencies, Distinctive Assets, and
Aspirations and Creating a Livelihood Scheme to Support the
Strategic Plan and Annual Business Plans 456
D.1 Template for an Oval 479

This book is dedicated to all of my students over
the last thirty - fi ve years, the people who have been kind enough
to read and comment on this book in its several editions, and
all the organizations with whom I have been privileged to work.
I owe you all a sincere debt of gratitude — not least for all that
I have learned from you.

xi

PREFACE

H

ow can the leaders and managers of public and nonprofi t organizations
cope with the challenges that confront their organizations, now and in
the years ahead? How should they respond to the increasingly uncertain
and interconnected environments in which their organizations operate? How
should they respond to dwindling or unpredictable resources; new public
expectations or formal mandates; demographic changes; deregulation or rereg-
ulation; upheavals in international, national, state, and local economies and
polities; and new roles for public, nonprofi t, and business organizations,
including calls for them to collaborate more often? What should their organiza-
tions ’ missions be? How can they create greater and more enduring public
value? How can they build on organizational strengths and take advantage of
opportunities while minimizing organizational weaknesses and overcoming
challenges to their organizations? How can they formulate desirable strategies
and implement them effectively? These are the questions this book addresses.

SCOPE

Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofi t Organizations is based on two
premises. The fi rst is that leaders and managers of public and nonprofi t orga-
nizations must be effective strategists if their organizations are to fulfi ll their

xii PREFACE

missions, meet their mandates, satisfy their constituents, and create public
value in the years ahead. These leaders and managers will need to exercise as
much discretion as possible in the areas under their control. They need to
develop effective strategies to cope with changed and changing circumstances,
and they need to develop a coherent and defensible basis for their decisions.
They also need to build the capacity of their organizations to respond to sig-
nifi cant challenges in the future.
The second premise is that leaders and managers are most likely to discern
the way forward via a reasonably disciplined process of deliberation with others
when the situations faced require more than technical fi xes. They will need to
design and construct, remodel, or repair existing processes or pathways for
deliberation among speakers and audiences that include analysis, synthesis,
and judgment; intellect and emotion; reasonable objectivity, but also partiality
and passion; at times transparency and publicity, at other times secrecy; and
at all times listening to and respecting what others say, at least until fi nal
choices are made (Garsten, 2006 , 127 – 129, 131, 191 – 194). This honorable
tradition of deliberation goes back at least to Aristotle and Cicero, both of
whom wrote eloquently of its virtues. But to succeed, deliberative practices
and processes also need institutional and organizational processes and struc-
tures in place to support them. The deliberative tradition of Aristotle and Cicero
nowhere implies that there is “ one best answer ” to major challenges, only that
there is the possibility of gaining understanding, fi nding common ground, and
making wise choices via the deliberative process.
Strategic planning at its best makes extensive use of analysis and synthesis
in deliberative settings to help leaders and managers successfully address the
major challenges that their organization (or other entity) faces. This book
begins by defi ning strategic planning as a deliberative, disciplined approach
to producing fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an
organization (or other entity) is, what it does, and why it does it. Strategic
planning has an important role to play as part — but only a part — of complex
social problem solving. Specifi cally, it can be helpful for: (1) gathering, analyz-
ing, and synthesizing information to consider its strategic signifi cance and
frame possible choices; (2) producing considered judgments among key deci-
sion makers about desirable, feasible, defensible, and acceptable missions,
goals, strategies, and actions, along with complementary initiatives, such as
new, changed, or terminated policies, programs, and projects, or even overall
organizational designs; (3) addressing key organizational challenges now and
in the foreseeable future; (4) enhancing continuous organizational learning;
and (5) creating signifi cant and enduring public value.
As experience with this kind of deliberative approach has grown, a substan-
tial and expanding inventory of knowledge, concepts, guidance, procedures,

PREFACE xiii

tools, and techniques has also developed to assist leaders and managers. In
the past forty - fi ve years, strategic planning of this kind has become a standard
part of management thinking and practice in the business world. In the past
twenty - fi ve years strategic planning has also become the standard practice of
large numbers of public and nonprofi t organizations. Of course, strategic plan-
ning isn ’ t always called for, doesn ’ t always work, or can work quite badly.
This book is intended to help practitioners make suitable, wise, and effective
use of strategic planning.
The fi rst three editions of this book played an important role in promoting
the use of strategic planning by public and nonprofi t organizations. The prac-
tice of strategic planning has progressed substantially, and new areas of
concern have emerged. Thus, although this fourth edition covers the same
topics as the fi rst three editions, it also focuses on additional areas requiring
special attention. All of the chapters have been updated and new cases have
been added. New material has been included on:

• The importance and logical structure of deliberative arguments and
the requirements for effective deliberation intended ultimately to
create public value

• Competencies and distinctive competencies

• Collaboration

• New approaches to strategic issue identifi cation

• The difference between strategic and operational issues and what
that implies for subsequent action

• The importance of strategy mapping for developing strategies,
identifying and making use of competencies and distinctive
competencies, and managing performance

• Performance management and balanced scorecards

• Organizational learning and formative and summative evaluations

• The applicability of Web 2.0 (and beyond) technologies throughout
the process

The third edition ’ s resource on strategic planning in collaborative settings
has been dropped and — because of its importance — has been incorporated in
the main text. A new resource section is devoted to developing a livelihood
scheme , which links competencies and distinctive competencies directly to
organizational aspirations. A livelihood scheme essentially articulates the core
logic of a strategic plan (Bryson, Ackermann, & Eden, 2007 ; Eden & Ackermann,
2010 ). A second new resource section summarizes information on using the
Web as part of a strategic planning process.