Building a Strategy Map to Lead a School of Business in a Christian University

Abstract

All academic business units are involved in the ongoing processes of strategic planning and outcomes assessment. Although these processes should be driven by important values, such as stewardship, accountability, student learning, continuous quality improvement, and transparency, in many instances academic business units simply go through the motions of planning and assessment because of accreditation or institutional requirements. A “strategy map” can be a corrective to that, making the planning process both more meaningful and more actionable. Developed and tested in world-class companies, a strategy map depicts how any organization can accomplish its mission by identifying and investing in the key drivers of performance — those initiatives and resources that have a clear cause-and-effect relationship to its desired outcomes. This paper describes how the School of Business at Charleston Southern University developed a strategy map to guide strategic planning, mobilization of resources, program assessment, and ultimately, student learning.