A Systematic Review on Educational Strategic Management

A Systematic Review on Educational Strategic Management

*Cari Edward C. Beñalet, Manuel E. Paquiao Jr., Rosalie C. Baldezamo, Ruel S. Vicente, Jarah I. Reomero, Marilou D. Junsay

Davao del Norte State College, New Visayas, Panabo City, Davao del Norte, Philippines

*Corresponding Author

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2023.701177

Received: 11 October 2023; Revised: 19 October 2023; Accepted: 23 October 2023; Published: 24 November 2023

ABSTRACT

This systematic review delves into the extant literature on educational strategic management, employing the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework. A selection of research articles from Google Scholar, published between 2018 and 2022 and written in English, served as the primary data source. This review delineates the demographic characteristics of the existing work on educational strategic management, focusing on the geographical distribution, research methodologies, and participant numbers. Additionally, it synthesizes vital aspects of educational strategic management and consolidates recommendations found in the literature. Analysis of the literature’s demographics reveals a notable paucity of studies emanating from Asian and African countries, underscoring the need for a broader international perspective. Thematic analysis of eight articles spanning five countries identifies four central themes concerning the features of educational strategic management: optimized organizational structures, dynamic managerial capabilities, sustained pursuit of long-term objectives, and responsive feedback mechanisms. Furthermore, the review distills recommendations from various sources into four fundamental elements of strategic management: environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and evaluation and control. This comprehensive analysis provides valuable insights for school leaders seeking to enhance their educational institutions. It also underscores the potential for future research endeavors to explore diverse dimensions of educational strategic management, such as challenges and coping strategies.

Keywords: Education, strategic management, systematic review

INTRODUCTION 

In the last decade, educational systems worldwide have embarked on a profound transformation journey. This transition marks a shift from entrenched traditions of educational management rooted in the past to a forward-looking model anchored in strategic direction. The central objective of education under this new paradigm is to advance and sustain educational excellence. Notably, this era of change has seen a pronounced emphasis on reforms dedicated to enhancing educational institutions, pedagogical practices, and the overarching educational system (Latorre-Medina & Blanco-Encomienda, 2018).

Strategic management, adeptly employing an organization’s resources to fulfill its objectives, has been at the heart of this educational evolution. Prior studies have defined strategic management as the art of formulating goals, strategies, and objectives to enhance an organization’s or a company’s competitiveness. It predominantly revolves around efficiently utilizing human capital and material resources to achieve predefined objectives (Sabattin et al., 2020).

A burgeoning body of literature underscores the pivotal role of strategic management and planning as the foundation for success in the intricate landscape of education. Within this context, the human resources within educational institutions emerge as the linchpin of strategic management, essential for optimizing performance and fostering excellence in schools.

Explorations into the factors influencing strategic management in education reveal a compelling narrative. The success of educational institutions and centers is intrinsically linked to the judicious application of strategic management across diverse domains. A telling example lies in the strategic management practices employed by Hershey National Track Company, as illustrated by Darden et al. (1989), which illuminate how strategic decision-making at the executive level can facilitate success even in fiercely competitive environments (Carvalho et al., 2021).

Strategic management, furthermore, has emerged as a force for organizational effectiveness in various sectors. Within the realm of education, strategic planning has evolved from its more assertive origins, rooted in business practices. This evolution has been catalyzed by the influx of professionals from the private sector taking on leadership roles in educational institutions. These adaptations now emphasize collaboration and consensus, as exemplified by Kose and Kose (2019), who highlight key components of educational strategic management, including structured organizational frameworks, managerial proficiency, goal alignment, and constructive feedback mechanisms.

Nevertheless, the landscape of educational strategic management has its challenges. A comprehensive analysis reveals various issues, including leadership, training, resource allocation, and educational policy frameworks, which underscore the multifaceted nature of this domain (Nyagah, 2015). The significance of conducting a systematic review to pinpoint a research gap and have also outlined a systematic review protocol for this specific domain and its associated research (Price, 2017).

A systematic literature review has been undertaken to address these challenges and bridge theoretical gaps. This review is a comprehensive compilation of existing research on educational strategic management, offering invaluable insights and direction for all stakeholders within the educational sphere. As this transformation unfolds, schools need clear and strategic direction to avoid wandering, where objectives shift frequently, and school leaders may need clarification about the purpose of their work as educational managers. Historically, schools have leaned more toward operational planning, emphasizing efficiency and effectiveness (Bush & Coleman, 2018).

Research Questions

The study tends to conduct a systematic review analysis of the existing literature about educational strategic management. It aims to answer the following research questions:

1. What demographic data is in the existing literature on educational strategic management regarding country, research design, and the number of participants?
2. What are the features of educational strategic management?
3. What suggestions for further research can be identified by exploring the current literature in educational strategic management based on the elements of strategic management?

METHODOLOGY

This study used a systematic review analysis design. A key aspect of systematic analysis is gathering and evaluating all papers on a topic and design. Based on their quality, systematic reviews do statistical meta-analyses of study outcomes (Ahn & Kang, 2018). It is also the primary concern of Ranganathan and Aggarwal (2020) that a systematic review is a statistical approach for statistically combining the results of several research studies to produce a pooled estimate of treatment impact, which is usually included in systematic reviews. Therefore, systematic reviews are the most substantial evidence (Chandler et al., 2019). The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) reporting checklist was used to conduct this systematic review, as shown in Figure 2. (PRISMA; Liberati et al., 2009). The process has four stages: identification, screening, eligibility, and inclusion. For this investigation, a thorough literature search was done to discover articles that included systematic reviews.

Adopted from: Liberati A, Altman DG, Tetzlaff J, Mulrow C, Gøtzsche PC, et al. (2009) The PRISMA Statement for Reporting Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses of Studies That Evaluate Health Care Interventions: Explanation and Elaboration. PLOS Medicine 6(7): e1000100. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000100

 Figure 1: Information flow between the various stages of a systematic review

Searching, Screening, and Data Extraction

The primary database-search tool used by the study to find relevant literature that may be included in it was Google Scholar. Google Scholar was primarily chosen because it includes an advanced search tool that allows users to specify their preferred functional words, the portion of the paper in which they were used, and the year of publication. Additionally, it offers statistics depending on inclusion and exclusion standards, such as full-text versions.

To find relevant reviews, we launched Google Scholar, clicked the “advance search” option, and set the inclusion criteria to “in the title of the article” and the use of keywords like “educational strategic management” were applied in the search and browsing of valid literature, that generated two hundred and fifty-eight (258) results. We then set the publication year between 2018 and 2022, which was narrowed to ninety-two (92).

Furthermore, there were several duplicates, as we saw. To quickly eliminate the ten duplicates, we exported the articles using Microsoft Excel and sorted them from A to Z. As a result, eighty-two (82) items were still available. These were examined based on language, with only articles written in English included, leading to the identification of seventy-one (71) sources and the exclusion of 55 articles. Because the seven eliminated publications could not be accessed, the researchers only kept sixteen (16) sources from these 29 journals. The researchers then reduced the number of papers to nine (9), excluding seven that needed to be published in a journal format. To ensure that every paper the researchers review is in qualitative format, we removed one using quantitative methods, which left eight (8) qualified articles to be included.

Moreover, we screened the articles by concentrating on the key elements of educational strategic management. The inclusion and exclusion standards for this review are shown in Table 1, which shows the eligibility criteria that determine which articles were included and excluded.

Table 1 Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria of the Systematic Review

Search Strategy

The documentation of the analysis process and the establishment of inclusion criteria in this research were diligently carried out following established guidelines.

We used Google Scholar to look for pertinent works. To quickly compile the most recent and pertinent articles, we used the “advance search” option and selected inclusion criteria such as “in the title of the article” and the year between 2020 and 2022. To systematically include relevant works, we carefully filtered the searched articles by looking at the titles, reading the abstracts, and even downloading the whole texts for in-depth analysis. We searched various sources during the data collection procedure to adequately support

the current reviews. All references were properly cited for easier searching.

 Data Extraction Procedures

For convenience in reference, navigation, and citation, this systematic review has extracted the names of the authors, the year of publication, the country, the study design, participant characteristics, the study aims, the results and discussion, the conclusion, the recommendations, and the implications for strategic planning in education. The reviewed studies for strategic planning in education are included in Table 2. All of them were taken from Google Scholar.

Table 2  Reviewed Studies on strategic planning

Data Analysis

In the early part, with the final listing of the literature, simple tabulations of demographic data were made using Microsoft Excel regarding the study year, nation, and subject area. A comparison of the various literature was considered to overcome the outdated professional development skills in public schools. The analyzed data were also presented in a graphical format to provide a general image of the complete data set.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The eight reviewed articles in this paper came from eight countries. These were appropriately distributed according to the following:  India (1), Malaysia (2), Indonesia (3), Egypt (1), and Ghana (1). Five studies (63%) concentrated on basic education, while two studies (25%) focused on higher education. On the other hand, only one study (13%) was not identified (see Table 3).

Table 3   Distribution of the Reviewed Studies by Country and by Educational Level

FINDINGS

The results of the framework’s sections are shown in the next section. The first section focuses on the demographic data in the existing literature on educational strategic management regarding the country, research design, and the number of participants. The second section identifies features of educational strategic management. The third part discusses the suggestions for further research that can be identified by exploring the current literature on educational strategic management based on the elements of strategic management.

Demographic Data on the Existing Literature on Educational Strategic Management

Table 4 summarizes the full-text publications and journals reviewed about educational strategic management and the nation in which the study was done, research methodologies, participant numbers, and study objectives. As seen in the table, India (1), Malaysia (2), Indonesia (3), Egypt (1), and Ghana (1) were the countries from which the studies were from. The quantity of qualitative and quantitative research designs used throughout all literature about educational strategic management may have been roughly balanced. According to the number of participants, the type of study and research design used have an impact.

The summary of the research emphasis for all relevant literature is shown in the last row following the review analysis. Additionally, the readers were informed of the study’s purpose(s) and expected that the posed research questions would be addressed.

Table 4  Demographics of the Various Literature

Features of Educational Strategic Management

Based on a thorough review of the ten (10) articles, four (4) emerging themes on the features of educational strategic management: Efficient Organizational Structure, Dynamic Management Skill, Maintaining Long Term Objectives, and Emerging Feedback, as shown in Table 5.

Table 5 Emerging Themes on the Features of Educational Strategic Management

Efficient Organizational Structure

In the efficient organizational structure in educational strategic management, the following characteristics, as shown above, are education innovation strategic management practices, awareness, clarity, enthusiasm, and commitment.

Education Innovation Strategic Management Practices. The execution methods are as follows in educational institution innovations. Personalized educational settings development (Dias, 2018). This concept aids the person’s abilities for thought and analysis, growth of their additional intelligence, and development of a dependable citizen. Additionally, eight distinct intelligence formations are necessary for success in many of today’s strategic management (Ashittey, 2022).

Furthermore, Yaakob et al. (2019) emphasize opportunities for learning through problems: Examine what you already know and learn more. You must acquire and improve your people skills to improve team performance by enhancing your communication abilities, developing more adaptability in information processing and satisfying obligations, using evidence to support claims, and practicing the abilities you will need after your education.

Awareness, Clarity, Enthusiasm, and Commitment. 

Plans provide for early commitment to a course of all corporate strategic activities that will benefit from being coordinated and implemented convincingly. Plans are a further programming tool (Swain & Pradhan, 2020). Commitment to the factors that, at all costs, will steer the organization in the right direction and the goals for the system (Bahri, 2020).

Dynamic Management Skill

Based on the comprehensive review, dynamic management skill is characterized by fundamental transformation, overcoming resistance to change, and developing skills and change competencies.

Fundamental Transformation. Various definitions come to mind when transformation work is considered. Swain and Pradhan (2020) stated that a transformation is a significant alteration in shape or appearance. It is a structural method of implementing a strategy or vision to transfer people, teams, and organizations from one state to another desired state in the future. Transformation is a process of change in which organizational culture shifts in favor of a particular type of culture that institutionalizes such social processes (Ramdhan,2019). Making long-term and short-term goals, a future perspective, a mission, and meaningful outcomes are all components of strategic management; as a result, the start of an effective shift in transformation can be strategic (Bahri, 2020).

Overcoming Resistance to Change and Developing Skills and Change Competencies. Change is a necessary process that must happen whether it is acknowledged because it is dynamic. Management is frequently viewed as a technique to control the company effectively and efficiently until the point of execution and evaluation, ensuring its goals and objectives are met (Sabaruddin et al., 2022). The configuration form is revealed according to the scope, competition results, targets, and resource allocation (Syarifudin et al., 2022). Additionally, Dias (2018) stated that people in the organization would be led and able to function at their best if strategic management could maintain long-term objectives and use strategic management techniques, using operational management as a tool to accomplish the organization’s strategic objectives or company, particularly in terms of competition, it can encourage managers and leaders to think strategically.

Maintaining Long Term Objectives

In Maintaining long-term objectives in educational strategic management, the following characteristics, as shown above, are creating innovative programs, sustaining the survival of the institutions, keeping the institute progressing, and achieving top standards. It includes strengths and weaknesses for the effective management of environmental opportunities and risk, and lastly, a configuration of the results that are expected to be achieved in the future.

 According to (Dias, 2018; Ashittey, 2022; and Sabaruddin et al., 2022), maintaining long-term objectives creates innovative programs because the school administrators can examine the efficacy of particular programs and enhance them in response to their results. It ensures the institutions’ survival by demonstrating future planning for the organization’s benefit and providing a potential solution to any issues that might arise (Ashittey, 2022; Syarifudin et al., 2022)

According to Ashittey (2022), decisions made by management regarding implementing measures to put a newly decided strategy into place and overseeing the ongoing pursuit of that plan. It is crucial to carry out the new plan to increase competence and effectiveness in decision-making while demonstrating quantifiable progress toward achieving the desired outcomes and objectives.

Diaz (2018) defines Organizational Strategy “as the determination of the basic long-term goals and objectives of an enterprise and the adoption of course of action and allocation of resources necessary for carrying out goal.”, thus the value of sound planning facilitates the implementation of the strategy and, eventually, results in success.

Additionally, planning is one of the management’s responsibilities. Management is frequently viewed as a technique to control the company effectively and efficiently until the point of execution and evaluation, ensuring its goals and objectives are met (Sabaruddin et al.,2022; Ashittey, 2022).

Emerging Feedback

In Emerging Feedback in Educational Strategic Management, the following characteristics are:  improves execution and maintains transparency in planning action and continuous improvement in the strategy control and determination of fair performance criteria.

Human resources are essential to educational administration in this challenging world since they are the ones who will carry out the task. The school administration should comprehend the characteristics of developing feedback to complete the task to boost the standard of educational quality. So, emerging feedback can help an organization run more efficiently. To balance developing plans and acting, leaders must be aware of the input, process, and output of feedback data as well as the impact and feedback of the teachers while creating educational strategic management. Leaders should establish fair performance criteria to clarify things for the teachers (Swain & Pradhan, 2020; Yaakob et al., 2019; Bahri, 2020).

According to Swain and Pradhan (2020), these institutions also frequently incorporate strategic planning, which enables organizations to respond to macroeconomic environmental and educational policies to improve the future.

Any organization must handle both internal and external environments. The shape, style, and nature of the interactions increase in complexity with the organization’s size. Because there are many various types of organizational leaders, it makes it more and more difficult for them to make decisions. Therefore, strategic and operational management must discover a fast and suitable solution (Ashittey, 2022; Sabaruddin et al., 2022; and Ramdhan, 2019).

Additionally, emerging feedback is essential to educational strategic management since it helps decision-makers in an organization make good choices.

Summary Of Suggestions From Various Literature

In providing a synthesis of the different recommendations from various works of literature, it used the four elements of strategic management, namely (1) environmental scanning, (2) strategy formulation, (3) strategy implementation, and (4) evaluation and control, as shown in Table 6.

Table 6  Synthesis of the Different Suggestions / Recommendations

CONCLUSION

With this scoping review, the authors aimed to contribute to educational strategic management, such as efficient organizational structure, dynamic management skills, maintaining long-term objectives, and emerging feedback that helps school leaders manage schools. Because leaders need to evaluate how to manage their loose and tight configurations and, as a result, reinforce simultaneous personal and organizational factors associated with school improvement, strategic leadership is becoming increasingly relevant. As a result of a deeper comprehension of the constructions, it is now time to advance the research into more intricate, longitudinal, and explanatory methods. This integrative and systematic evaluation of the educational literature on strategy and strategic leadership of determining the features of strategic management in education was an attempt to contribute to the overall goal of this project.

Research Agenda

Institutionalized education policies are derived from a wide range of short-term and long-term planning activities, such as development plans, government programs, and strategic plans, to find a solution to this issue and investigate the requirements that the field of strategic management will have shortly. Based on the demographics of the various literature, only some studies that the schools and school leaders must understand and realize the features of strategic management in education were noted in Southeast Asia. Hence, it can be a source of another similar study in the context of these countries. Lastly, the output of this study gains social relevance because the results can substantially satisfy all school leaders. They may utilize the results of this study in crafting and enhancing policy and implementation, and this can be an avenue to present this study in various local, national, and international forums, which will also have the potential to publish this work in a reputable journal.

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