IBM Technologies Mandates and Mission Assignment Introduction: Over the course of the next 7 weeks you will work towards developing a full technology progr

IBM Technologies Mandates and Mission Assignment Introduction: Over the course of the next 7 weeks you will work towards developing a full technology program strategic plan for an organization. This work can be situated within the context of your current organization, exist as a completely hypothetical exercise, or be a combination of both. While we encourage you to situate this work in your current context, the final decision of the organization you select to conduct this work and how authentic that work looks is completely up to you. The only requirement is that it be an organization with some kind of educational goals (k-12 district, online PD or learning group, school) and that the work you complete be in line with the ideas presented in the course.

Purpose: The first step in this work is to collect information about the mandates and mission of the organization you have selected. Now, some of what you might decided to do within the organization can be hypothetical (i.e., implementing new one-to-one program), however, the mission and mandates of the organization should still be based on the actual work of the organization.

Requirements:

Part 1:

Select an organization in which you will conduct the work of building a technology program strategic plan. Write a one-page description of the organization you have selected. Included in this description should be;

An overview of the organization (Name, number of people, general purpose, location).
A brief description of the existing technology resources of the organization.
Your real or hypothetical position within the organization that would allow you to oversee a strategic plan.

Part 2:

Complete worksheets 16-24 in the Bryson & Alston book. Worksheets_Assignment2.pdf

These worksheets can be submitted as a PDF or Word document. Remember, no links to Google Docs. Worksheet Directions
1. Have someone compile a list of the formal and informal mandates faced by the
organization (Worksheet 16 can guide this activity).
2. Review these mandates to clarify what is required and what is allowed. Discuss the
implications of the mandates for existing or potential programs, projects, and services
and for resource allocations. Have individuals fill out Worksheet 17 by themselves
first, to establish a basis for getting the discussion started.
3. Frame a clear, concise mandate statement, and regularly remind organizational
members of what the organization is required to do. This ensures conformity with the
mandates and identifies where the organization has discretionary authority and where
it does not. (When a mandate is found to be an issue, it may need to be changed.)
WORKSHEET 16: Initial Compilation of Mandates
WORKSHEET 17: Background for Group Discussion of Mandates
Instructions. Individuals should fill out this worksheet by themselves first, to establish a
basis for the group discussion to follow.
1. Discuss what is “mandated,” and identify the various types of mandates the
organization has. What does this mean about our purpose and nature as an
organization? Which mandates can and should we change as an organization, and
which ones require others (for example, the legislature or the courts) to be involved?
(It may be helpful to think in terms of a two-by-two matrix, with formal and informal
mandates on one axis and external and internal mandates on the other.)
2. What impacts do these mandates have on our future direction as an organization,
including their implications for resource availability and use?
3. What programs, services, products, and project areas are not ruled out by mandates?
4. What is the relationship between our organization’s current mission and its mandates?
Is the mission consistent with the mandates, in conflict with them, unrelated to them,
inappropriately linked with them, not taking full advantage of them, and so forth?
5. What mandates may need to be changed, eliminated, or added, and why?
WORKSHEET 18: Stakeholder Identification
Instructions. The starting place for conducting a stakeholder analysis is to list the
organization’s stakeholders. Be as inclusive as possible the first time around in filling out the
worksheet that follows. Later you and your group might consider deciding what importance
each stakeholder has in terms of his or her positive or negative impact on the organization, its
strategies, and its ability to fulfill its mission, meet its mandates, and create public value. A
stakeholder analysis done early in the process can help you decide who should be involved in
the process and when, how, and why. Additional stakeholder analyses are likely to be needed
in the issues identification, strategy formulation, plan review and adoption, and
implementation steps. Some stakeholders, like unions or policy board members, may be both
internal and external stakeholders. Below you can see a very general example of how
Worksheet 18 might be completed for a public agency. When filling out your worksheet, be
more specific than the example is about stakeholder identities—in other words,
say which state agencies and which nonprofit organizations are stakeholders. Have people fill
out the worksheet as individuals first, and then develop a final version by discussing and
pooling everyone’s responses.
Example: The figure on this page displays a very general stakeholder mapping exercise for a
public agency. Be more specific when you fill out your own map on the next page.
WORKSHEET 19: External Stakeholder Analysis
Instructions. An external stakeholder is any person, group, or organization outside the
organization that can make a claim on the organization’s attention, resources, or output or is
affected by the organization’s output. For example, an external stakeholder may be the
organization’s clients or customers for goods and services, a service partner, a funder, a
regulatory entity, a union, or taxpayers and the citizenry in general.
For each external stakeholder listed on Worksheet 18, whether an individual or a group, fill
out a separate External Stakeholder Analysis worksheet. Rank your stakeholders in terms of
their importance to your organization and their role. In order to do the ranking, you may need
to develop a set of evaluation criteria first.
1. How does this stakeholder affect us, and how do we affect this stakeholder?
2. What do we need from this stakeholder, and what does this stakeholder need from us?
3. How important is this stakeholder?
1. Extremely
2. Reasonably
3. Not at all
4. What role should this stakeholder have in the strategic planning process, if any?
0. Strategic planning coordinating committee member
1. Strategic planning team member
2. Participant in the process
3. Plan reviewer
4. Decision maker
5. Other
WORKSHEET 20: Internal Stakeholder Analysis
Instructions. An internal stakeholder is any person, group, or other entity inside the
organization that can make a claim on the organization’s attention, resources, or output or is
affected by the organization’s output. For example, internal stakeholders may be specific
board members, managers, or employees, or entire groups or departments.
For each internal stakeholder individual or group listed on Worksheet 18, fill out a separate
Internal Stakeholder Analysis worksheet. Rank your stakeholders in terms of their
importance to your organization and their role. In order to do the ranking, you may need to
develop a set of evaluation criteria first.
______________________________________________________________
1. How does this stakeholder affect us, and how do we affect this stakeholder?
2. What do we need from this stakeholder, and what does this stakeholder need from us?
3. How important is this stakeholder?
1. Extremely
2. Reasonably
3. Not at all
4. What role should this stakeholder have in the strategic planning process, if any?
0. Strategic planning coordinating committee member
1. Strategic planning team member
2. Participant in the process
3. Plan reviewer
4. Decision maker
5. Other
WORKSHEET 21: Power Versus Interest Grid
Instructions. A power versus interest grid arrays stakeholders according to two dimensions
on a two-by-two matrix (often using Post-it® notes on a flipchart sheet). The dimensions are
the stakeholder’s interest or stake in the organization or the issue at hand, and the
stakeholder’s power to affect the organization or issue. Interest here means interest in a
political sense; that is, having a political stake as opposed to simple inquisitiveness. In reality
each of the dimensions is a range, from low to high interest and from low to high power, and
stakeholders may be anywhere within those ranges. Nonetheless, it is often helpful to think of
stakeholders as generally falling into four categories:
•
•
•
•
Players have both an interest and significant power. They have a high potential to
affect the strategic planning process and its outcome.
Subjects have an interest but little power. It may be important to support and enhance
subjects’ capacity to be involved, especially when they may be affected by the
planning process or its outcomes, as might be the case with program participants.
Context setters have power but little direct interest. It may be important to increase
the interest of context setters in the planning process or its outcomes if they are likely
to pose barriers to progress through their disinterest.
The crowd consists of stakeholders with little interest or power. The crowd may need
to be informed about the process and its outcomes. Of course, if communication is
badly done, controversy may quickly turn an amorphous crowd into a very interested
mob.
Place each stakeholder name identified in Worksheets 19 and 20 in the appropriate place on
the grid. As discussed, the dimensions are ranges, so that, for example, within the player
category some players will be more powerful or have a stronger interest than other players.
Once the stakeholders are arrayed appropriately, discuss the resulting pattern or patterns and
what they mean for the organization and the strategic planning process.
Power versus interest grids typically determine which players’ interests and power
bases must be taken into account in order to produce a good strategic planning process and
set of outcomes. More broadly, the grid may also highlight coalitions to be encouraged or
discouraged, behavior that should be fostered, and stakeholders whose buy-in should be
sought and who should be co-opted. The grid does this, in part, by revealing which
stakeholders have the most to gain (or lose) and which have the most (or least) control over
the direction of the process and plan. The information provides a helpful basis for assessing
the political, technical, practical, and other risks as the process goes forward. (Note that
Worksheet 21 relies primarily on worksheet preparers’ perceptions; in some circumstances it
may be necessary to gather additional information in order to be sure about relative
placements of stakeholders on the grid.)
________________________________________________________________
WORKSHEET 22: Key External Stakeholder Engagement
Instructions. Identifying the organization’s stakeholders is an important early—and
ongoing—step in the strategic planning process. Recall that an organization’s stakeholders
include any person, group, or organization that can place a claim on the organization’s
attention, resources, or output, or is affected by that output.
Review Worksheets 18, 19, and 21 and list the key external stakeholders, and then decide
how they should be involved in the process—or not.
When you have filled out the table, revisit the question of who needs to be engaged in the
strategic planning process and how. Reconsider membership of external stakeholders on the
strategic planning coordinating committee, strategic planning team, and other relevant bodies.
Think about how to engage key external stakeholders in other ways: for example, through
focus groups, discussion groups, or surveys.
The ideal size for a strategic planning team is probably four to seven people and certainly no
more than nine. The team may be a subgroup of a larger group, such as the strategic planning
coordinating committee, although that group also should probably not be too large. There is a
trade-off between getting many people involved and still getting some action! The point of
this worksheet is to figure out how best to engage stakeholders (or not) in what ways over the
course of a strategic planning process.
Having said that, we would also advise being as inclusive as possible in engaging
stakeholders in other ways. Good suggestions and new ideas will come into the process, and
the legitimacy of the process will be enhanced.
Keeping participants informed and appropriately engaged greatly increases ownership of the
process, the plan, and its implementation. Developing an effective communications plan to
keep participants informed of the strategic planning process and its progress is often very
important for process and plan success.
WORKSHEET 23: Key Internal Stakeholder Engagement
Instructions. Identifying the organization’s stakeholders is an important early—and
ongoing—step in the strategic planning process. Recall that an organization’s stakeholders
include any person, group, or other entity that can place a claim on the organization’s
attention, resources, or output, or is affected by that output.
Review Worksheets 18, 20, and 21 and list the key internal stakeholders, and then decide
how they should be involved in the process—or not.
When you have filled out the table, revisit the question of who needs to be engaged in the
strategic planning process and how. Reconsider membership of internal stakeholders on the
strategic planning coordinating committee, strategic planning team, and other relevant bodies.
Think about how to engage key internal stakeholders in other ways: for example, through
focus groups, discussion groups, or surveys.
The ideal size for a strategic planning team is probably four to seven people and certainly no
more than nine. The team may be a subgroup of a larger group, such as the strategic planning
coordinating committee, although that group also should probably not be too large. There is a
trade-off between getting many people involved and still getting some action! The point of
this worksheet is to figure out how best to engage stakeholders (or not) in what ways over the
course of a strategic planning process.
Having said that, we would also advise being as inclusive as possible in engaging
stakeholders in other ways. Good suggestions and new ideas will come into the process, and
the legitimacy of the process will be enhanced.
Keeping participants informed and appropriately engaged greatly increases ownership of the
process, the plan, and its implementation. Developing an effective communications plan to
keep participants informed of the strategic planning process and its progress is often very
important for process and plan success.
WORKSHEET 24: Mission Statement
Instructions. A mission statement should clarify the organization’s purpose and indicate why
it is doing what it does. In other words, it should answer this question: Ultimately, what are
we here to do, and why?
Individuals should fill out this worksheet by themselves first. After they come together again
and discuss the results, a single individual or small group may be charged with coming up
with a new mission statement for review by key stakeholders.
Do not be surprised if a strategic issue emerges from a discussion of the organization’s
mission statement.
______________________________________________________________
1. What is our current mission? What does it say about who we are, what our purpose is,
what business we are in, whom we serve, and how we are unique?
2. In general, what are the basic social and political needs we exist to fill? Or, what are
the basic social or political problems we exist to address?
3. What is our role in filling these needs or addressing these problems? How does our
organization differ from other organizations?
4. In general, what do we want to do to recognize or anticipate and respond to these
needs or problems?
5. How should we respond to our key stakeholders?
6. What is our philosophy, and what are our core values?
7. Is our current mission dated, and if so, how?
8. What changes in the mission would I propose?
9. Examine the answers to the prior questions and draft a mission statement. (Example of
the mission of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family
Services: “The Department of Children and Family Services will, with our
community partners, provide a comprehensive child protection system of prevention,
preservation and permanency to ensure that children grow up safe, physically and
emotionally healthy, educated and in permanent homes.”)

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