Applying the Open Government Principles to the University’s Strategic Planning: A Sound Practice

Abstract

This paper describes an innovative experience based on the citizen participation as a fundamental principle of the Open Government, regarding the strategic planning in higher education institutions. Such innovation lies on two main pillars: the stakeholders' approach (versus the traditional product-service orientation) and a web platform based on UserVoice R and Wordpress R software. The web platform was designed not only for building up a consensual strategic plan in a medium-sized Spanish public university, but also to monitor and control it once implemented. During the participation stage, all the proposals were openly discussed and voted by the whole university community. One year later, the online platform for monitoring the Strategic Plan was re-launched in order to rate, comment and vote the values reached by the key performance indicators. The adoption of such technological tools turns into a sound practice of governance for sustainable strategic management, by encouraging the collaborative workflow, participation, reflection and learning. Moreover, it promotes the stakeholders' identification with corporate goals and enhance their commitment to the university's strategic plan.

Strategic alignment of open government initiatives in Andalusia

“…Similarly, the ALGs do not consider the modernization, planning and comprehensive development of the rural environment within the framework of an agrarian reform policy, favoring growth, full employment, the development of agrarian structures and the correction of territorial imbalances, promoting the competitiveness of agriculture at the European and international level (6.90% and low dispersion 0.26 -Table 4). Therefore, although a few scholars have emphasized the advantages and opportunities offered by ICTs in the innovation of public organizations and the formulation of public policies (Moreno-Carmona et al, 2020), most ALGs do not allow citizens to collaborate in the co-creation of solutions to face social problems.…”

“…At the local government level, ICTs provide municipalities with a great opportunity not only to be transparent, and to capture information and opinions from citizens in an innovative way, but also to enhance citizen engagement in the co-creation of solutions to face social problems. Using OG initiatives, local governments ensure the equity of access to all citizens in the formulation of public policies and the improvement of effectiveness by taking advantage of the knowledge and resources of citizens in strategic planning processes (Moreno-Carmona et al, 2020).…”

“…On the other hand, in recent years, in response to urban challenges caused by increasing urban population growth and the need for fast-track recovery from previous weather and health disasters that occurred in the cities, city governments are deploying ICTs at an increasing rate to become city smart. Nonetheless, each government manages its initiatives and resources differently to face these social challenges and transform its city into a smart city (Nesti, 2018). Hence, we find different approaches when undertaking initiatives (Deslatte and Stokan, 2020), such as the way in which these smart initiatives are planned, managed and implemented (Rodríguez Bolívar et al, 2020).…”

Integrating strategic planning and performance management in universities: a multiple case-study analysis

“…As far as universities are concerned, starting from the 1990s, studies such as that of Conway et al (1994) have emphasised the importance of the role of users in defining strategic plans and, in particular, of students in outlining the mission of tertiary education organisations, as well as from a competitive point of view in relation to the surrounding environment; more generally, some contributions have highlighted how to shape a process of mid-to long-term planning in universities (and why this is necessary) (Holdaway & Meekison, 1990;Lerner, 1999;Rowley, 1997). More recently, some studies on the theme have focused on specific territorial contexts, confirming the close link between strategy and the reference environment (Howes, 2018;Kenno et al, 2020;Luhanga et al, 2018;Moreno-Carmona et al, 2020;Mueller, 2015). With reference to the relationship between the strategic dimension and performance, strategic management is certainly at a higher level and can be interpreted as a performance management process at the strategic level (Poister, 2010).…”

Gestión del Gobierno Abierto y uso del portal de transparencia en una universidad pública peruana

“…Según Castillo Sánchez et al (2019), las universidades -consideradas instituciones del sector público o privado-están inmersas en el modelo de GA porque demandan del acceso a la información generada por procesos académicos y gestión administrativa. Un medio para incorporar el GA en las instituciones de educación superior es el uso de plataformas o portales web, basado en la participación ciudadana como principio fundamental (Moreno-Carmona et al, 2020) que permite ser transparente en la difusión de resultado científicos, reglamentos, procedimiento administrativos, entre otros (Saraite Sariene et al, 2020). Esta disposición de principios ha fomentado cambios para cumplir con los requisitos del desarrollo social académico responsable.…”