Examining School Administrators' Beliefs and Understandings about Strategic Planning: An Exploratory Typological Perspective

Abstract

The present study aimed at determining the planner profiles of school administrators’ through unearthing their beliefs and understandings towards strategic planning by adopting a typological perspective. The exploratory descriptive approach was employed in the research. The research was conducted with the participation of 21 school administrators in a large province in Southeastern Turkey. The data were collected via one-on-one interviews. Thematic and conceptual coding revealed that the profiles labeled as “right-handed planner, left-handed planner, analyst and catalyst” by Mintzberg (1994) in the strategic planning process could define school administrators’ understandings and beliefs about planning in the current study. In the research, it was revealed that the planner profiles displayed by school administrators differed based on contingent and contextual specificities. However, it was understood that they decided on which planner profile to adopt based on their experiences rather than a technical perspective. The planner profiles of school administrators were discussed in terms of their potential contribution to the strategic planning processes.