Public sector strategic planning: Is it really planning or is it really strategy or is it neither or both?

摘要

This dissertation centers on strategic planning in the public sector and focuses on Cabinet Departmental level agencies of the federal government (civilian only). For more than three decades, scholars have written about strategic planning. For an equal length of time, practitioners have produced strategic planning documents. However, neither strategy nor strategic planning are words that have figured prominently in the public sector. This issue raises questions about strategic planning in the federal government. Is it really planning? Is it really strategy? Is it neither or is it both? What is the difference? And can strategy really be developed in a federal bureaucracy? The influences affecting strategy development, both external and internal that exist in the public sector are not the same as the influences in either the private or nonprofit sectors. Distinctions and comparisons of the influences affecting the strategic planning process were made with both the private and nonprofit sectors. Through literature, case studies, surveys, and interviews the question of what is public sector strategic planning was addressed.; This dissertation established the difference between planning and strategy and examines the question is strategy developed in the cabinet level civilian federal sector. Among the conclusions drawn was the finding that public sector respondents described strategy as long term and as the "how" to move from point A to point B. Planning was described as short term; more of an action oriented process, and more specifically focused. In addition, two key themes emerged as a result of this study: first, is the important role that leadership plays in the strategic planning process, and second is that public sector strategic planning is internally focused and politically driven based on current issues. Based on the findings, public sector strategic planning is both planning and strategy. In addition, a new definition of strategic planning was developed: public sector strategic planning is oriented toward the current political perspective. Strategy development in the public sector entails achieving the results of the current political administration.