Institutional Context and Change
Institutional context, including among other things, the mission, vision, culture, and values embraced and encouraged among all of the institution’s constituents, plays a significant role in when, how, why, and if change happens or does not happen within colleges and universities. As a higher education administrator, understanding the significance and importance of your institution’s context will help you appreciate how it influences your reaction to change and your ability to initiate change.
Reflect on previous changes you have experienced as a college student, parent of a college student, or higher education administrator. At that time, did you have an appreciation for the institution’s context and its influence on the change? What obstacles did you notice, if any? For this milestone, consider the changes you have experienced with a refreshed view of how the institution’s context influences outcomes to guide your perceptions of the changes taking place in your case study.
Prompt
In Module Three, you will continue to provide support for the change effort by considering why institutional context is influential to change and by investigating how the institutional context of your case connects with the change process. You will consider the reasons why it is necessary for leaders in higher education administration to acknowledge the influence of institutional context for successful implementation of change. As you do so, use your selected case to explain how the institutional context can create an obstacle to change; assess whether an institution can successfully change without fully understanding its institutional context; assess whether this institution’s context will be an obstacle to the change and explain why or why not. This milestone submission addresses critical element III, section A (vision and mission) of the final project, and it serves as an initial draft for this element. Substantial instructor feedback will be provided for foundational support of the final project.
As you consider the case study you selected and work through course content, identify ways to build on this milestone submission to expand your analysis, assessment, and application of these pieces of the project for your final submission in Module Nine. As you work on your milestone submission, it is important to note that not every critical element of the final project will be addressed by your milestone submission. When preparing your milestone and final project submissions, be sure to support your work with supplemental information and additional resources beyond the required resources and readings.
The following critical elements must be addressed in your paper:
- Mission and Vision: Explain how the institution’s vision and mission can create an obstacle to change. In general, can an institution change without being informed by its vision and mission? Can the institution’s vision and mission be drivers for change?
- Ability to Change: Assess the institution’s ability to change. Reflect on how the mission and vision were previously detailed in Milestone One, consider the change initiative being undertaken, and predict specific reasons why the change agent may face obstacles or conversely find the process to move forward smoothly.
- Context as an Obstacle: Assess other elements of institutional context as obstacles to change. Examine how the institution’s context could create challenges and opportunities for change. Beyond mission and vision, identify additional contextual institutional elements that may hinder the change process and predict why they pose a challenge for the change agent.
What to Submit
Your paper must be submitted and formatted as per the APA Manual as a two- to three-page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and at least three sources cited in APA format. Ensure you have a cover sheet and reference sheet. Cover sheet and reference sheet are additional pages.
AI Usage
If you use gen AI tools to support your work on this assignment, be sure to follow these AI usage guidelines. You must acknowledge your use of these tools in your work. Guidelines on how to cite AI tools can be found in this Shapiro Library guide.
4-3 HEA 630 Milestone Three Guidelines and RubricDetermining Leadership Approaches
Leadership philosophies and styles play a significant role in change. Depending on the philosophical approaches and styles used by campus leadership, changes may rarely be initiated, embraced, or managed well within the institution; or the opposite may be true. Sometimes leadership philosophies and styles are influenced not only by individuals internal and external to the institution, but also by the context of the institution itself.
For this milestone, you will consider how institutional leadership influences the change initiative in the institution described in your selected case study. As a guide, use your own experiences as a higher education leader to evaluate the leadership styles exhibited, make connections to institutional context, and draw conclusions about the style’s effects on change.
Prompt
In Module Four, you will continue to provide support for the change effort by investigating how institutional and individual leadership influences the need for the change and the way the change process is managed. You will assess the impact, influence, and importance of leadership styles and philosophy on change. As part of the final project, critique your selected case to assess the leadership style and philosophy exhibited by the change agent, first by determining who the change agent in the case is. This may involve more than one leader or change agent and it may or may not be a new president. Describe how the leadership philosophy influences and drives institutional change by providing examples that are described in the case or that you predict may be resulting from the leadership style. Offer specific ideas about the exhibited leadership style will impact the change initiative. Draw connections to institutional context to support your conclusions about leadership. Examples you find within the case or those that you predict can support your conclusions. Support your ideas with course literature and referenced sources. This milestone submission addresses critical element IV, section A (leadership style) and section B (leadership philosophy) of the final project, and it serves as an initial draft for these elements. Substantial instructor feedback will be provided for foundational support of the final project.
As you consider the case study you selected and work through course content, identify ways to build on this milestone submission to expand your analysis, assessment, and application of these pieces of the project for your final submission in Module Nine. As you work on your milestone submission, it is important to note that not every critical element of the final project will be addressed by your milestone submission. When preparing your milestone and final project submissions, be sure to support your work with supplemental information and additional resources beyond the required resources and readings.
The following critical elements must be addressed in your paper:
- Explain how your leadership style as the new president would impact the needed changes at the institution. Be sure to think about how leadership style influences culture. For instance, think about connections between change and culture of the institution.
- Describe how your leadership philosophy can drive needed change at the institution. Be sure to address how leadership philosophy informs change strategies.
What to Submit
Your paper must be submitted and formatted as per the APA Manual, as a four- to five-page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and at least three sources cited in APA format. Ensure you have a cover sheet and reference sheet. Cover sheet and reference sheet are additional pages.
AI Usage
If you use gen AI tools to support your work on this assignment, be sure to follow these AI usage guidelines. You must acknowledge your use of these tools in your work. Guidelines on how to cite AI tools can be found in this Shapiro Library guide.
5-2 HEA 630 Milestone Four Guidelines and RubricAnalyzing Communication Strategies to Influence Change
In real estate, the key is “location, location, location.” In change, one might say the key is “communication, communication, communication.” Perhaps you have already pondered the question that if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, did it actually make a sound? This analogy can be applied to change initiatives. If you have an innovative idea, but you do not communicate it, nothing will happen. Communication strategies are key to every stage of the change process and every member of the university constituency affected. Without effective communications along every step of the process, the initiative may not get off the ground, may stall, or may fail altogether.
While institutional context and leadership are influential to change, communication strategies are even more critical. Consider your experiences with change initiatives as a higher education administrator or as a student to guide your ideas about the importance of communications as an influential factor in change.
Prompt
In Module Five, you will continue to provide support for the change effort by focusing on communications that will be important in every stage of the change process. You will assess the impact, influence, and importance of communication strategies on change. As part of the final project, for your selected case, critique the communications strategies used to influence and manage the change. Think about what has been done, what has not been done, and what should be done. Recommend effective communication strategies that would make a positive impact for change at the institution outlined in your selected case; explain how the strategies could be implemented to support student success, retention, and persistence. Think about who should be communicating and to whom, how, when, where, and why. Predict how communications strategies can be used to build collaboration and support of the change at your institution and consider why this could be critical to successfully implementing the plan. Predict also how institutional culture influences what communications strategies will be most effective and consider why you have come to those conclusions. Illustrate how recommended communication strategies would support the change and possibly strengthen the culture of the institution. This milestone submission addresses critical element IV, section C (implemented communication strategies) and section E (communication strategies support change) of the final project, and it serves as an initial draft for these elements. Substantial instructor feedback will be provided for foundational support of the final project.
As you consider the case study you selected and work through course content, identify ways to build on this milestone submission to expand your analysis, assessment, and application of these pieces of the project for your final submission in Module Nine. As you work on your milestone submission, it is important to note that not every critical element of the final project will be addressed by your milestone submission. When preparing your milestone and final project submissions, be sure to support your work with supplemental information and additional resources beyond the required resources and readings.
The following critical elements must be addressed in your paper:
- Implemented Communication Strategies: Recommend effective communication strategies that would make a positive impact at the institution. Be sure to explain how they could be implemented at your institution, supporting student success, retention, and persistence. You might want to think about how institutional culture informs the use of communication strategies.
- Communication Strategies Support Change: Illustrate how your recommended communication strategies would support change across the institution. Be sure to explain how communication can strengthen a culture of change.
What to Submit
Your paper must be submitted and formatted as per the APA Manual, as a two-three-page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and at least three sources cited in APA format. Ensure you have a cover sheet and reference sheet. Cover sheet and reference sheet are additional pages.
AI Usage
If you use gen AI tools to support your work on this assignment, be sure to follow these AI usage guidelines. You must acknowledge your use of these tools in your work. Guidelines on how to cite AI tools can be found in this Shapiro Library guide.