Considerably, the success of any organization depends on the strategic plan which has been enacted by the management. The organization must be vigilant in developing a vision statement which relates to its goal, objectives, and values. However, there are various essential elements which ought to put in consideration to be able successfully to create a smart and strategic vision statement for an organization. This research paper will focus on the process of creating a vision statement for a learning institution, which can be used to represent the change initiative of such organizations. The change initiative, in this case, is to improve the quality of education, values, and morals among students in the learning institution.
Future-oriented
The vision of the organization will focus on the future, in order to set strategic goal and objectives which are most likely to increase the competitive advantage of the learning institution. Owing to the fact that this is a learning institution, the future of the organization is unpredictable in terms of competition and technological dynamics and thus creation of the vision must be keen to ensure that the aspect of future changes in the education discourse must be prioritized (Neuvonen & Ache, 2017). Moreover, while creating the vision, it will be prudent to consider how to put the interests of a student who will be yearning to study in the institution. For instance, the vision will focus on the issue of inclusivity to attract more students from the diverse culture in the future. The future-oriented element will further be inclusive of the following items.
o Future changes in the quality of research
o Changes in education regulations and policies
o Future changes in the political and economic status of the institution
Reflects on the organization's values
Arguably, the vision of the learning institution will be created in a manner in which it reflects the values set by the organization. One of the values that the vision will include in the statement is the integrity. A learning institution is very sensitive and the value of integrity must be considered in the vision. Quality of services will be another value that the vision creation will put emphasis. As such, the vision will tend to applause the quality of educational programs offered in the organization. Another value that will be reflected in the vision statement will be accountability. In the contemporary society, this issue is affecting several organization and thus it will be a smart move to inspire top-notch accountability aspect in the vision (Grant, Little & Horn, 2017). Moreover, the value of academic excellence will be included in the vision in order to instill confidence among the students who will be seeking for a learning institution where quality of academics is guaranteed. The element of organization values will further focus on the following items
o Quality of researches
o Professionalism
o Social justice and fairness
o Innovation and creativity
o Cultural morality
Clarify the purpose and direction of the organization
The third element to consider in creating the vision will be to clarify the direction and purpose of the learning institutions. For a learning institution, the main purpose will be to provide affordable and quality education, which can make the students be competitive in the job market. Increasing the number of learners enrolled in the institution is another major purpose of the organization. In regard to organization direction, the vision will focus on improving the delivery of services with immense consideration of the current dynamics in the education sector. Without a set purpose and direction in the vision statement, it will be difficult to achieve the organization goals and objectives (Grant, Little & Horn, 2017). Other items to be considered in this particular essential element in the vision include:
o Aligning to the global expectation of higher education
o Moving towards digital learning
o Meeting customer demands for education.
o Fostering innovation and creativity
The final vision statement will be "To provide high-quality education and training, promote innovation, fairness professionalism, creativity and scholarship and instill good morals for sustainable societal development".
This mission statement effectively represents the change initiative that the organization intends to achieve. Quality of education is well articulated in the vision and this represents the intended change initiative. As discussed earlier, the quality of education provided by some of the learning organizations is poor and thus incorporating the aspect of quality in vision will definitely attract more customers and also increase the reputation of the organization. Effective training is also lacking in the most learning institution and thus including training in the vision is quite strategic. Moreover, the organization values of innovation, creativity, fairness, and professionalism further articulate the change initiative of creating an institution where learners are able to pursue their educational aspirations in a conducive environment. In addition, the vision is future-oriented in the sense that it intends to instill moral values for sustainable social development. With the current moral decadence, it is prudent for learning institution to predict the impact of such eventualities and provide moral values to the learners. Thus, this aspect will facilitate the accomplishment of the change initiative.
References
Grant, V., Little, A. V., & Horn, A. (2017). Developing a vision, strategy and offer for information and digital literacy (IDL): a case study of The University of Sheffield, UK.
Neuvonen, A., & Ache, P. (2017). Metropolitan vision making–using backcasting as a strategic learning process to shape metropolitan futures. Futures, 86, 73-83.
