Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which presidents and faculty perceived that the faculty were involved in forming and articulating a vision for the organization. A second purpose was to determine the similarities and differences between the presidents' and the faculty members' views of constituent involvement in forming and articulating institutional vision. A third purpose was to discover what techniques were perceived as effective and what techniques were perceived as ineffective for involving faculty members in the process. A final purpose was to identify similarities and differences in the presidents' and the faculty's identification of effective and ineffective practices. Methodology. This was a descriptive qualitative study. The population consisted of the presidents and selected faculty members from five small, independent higher education institutions in Southern California. An interview questionnaire was employed to collect the data. Findings. (1) The president and a majority of faculty members agreed on the extent of faculty involvement in formulating and articulating the vision. (2) Twenty effective practices for inclusion were identified. Use of small groups and brainstorming ideas were perceived effective. Other effective practices included faculty representation on the leadership council, retreats, accordion process, providing a framework for discussion, and follow-up. Conclusions. This study found that presidents and a majority of faculty agreed that there was wide involvement at four of the five institutions studied. Those interviewed identified and agreed on a number of effective practices for inclusion. Recommendations for action. It was recommended that institutions planning to develop an organizational vision consider adopting practices such as (1) small groups, brainstorming, and accordion process; (2) planning for the process to be lengthy and "messy"; (3) faculty inclusion in governance; (4) follow-up activities; (5) surveying faculty and prioritizing ideas; and (6) modeling inclusive practices. Recommendations for further study. Recommendations included: (1) A further study using larger and/or public institutions; (2) Investigation of the perceptions of other constituents; (3) Selection of the identified practices using a quantitative analysis of those practices at selected institutions; and (4) A study which would attempt to discover if knowledge of effective inclusive practices affects identification of those practices among constituents.