Academic Affairs - Minnesota State University Moorhead



	STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE FOCUS GROUP SUMMARY DATE: 10-21-99 TIME: 9AM PLACE: CMU214 FACILITATOR: Grindeland NOTE-TAKER: Rice STRATEGIC GOAL: IMPROVE COMMUNICATION 1. Based upon any information you have, how would you evaluate Moorhead State's internal and external communication? internal communication could be better ongoing problem with internal communication partly because of the diverse publics in an academic community, including faculty who are wed to their disciplines external communication has improved recently but internal communication is still seriously lacking...there is not much teamwork...there is a weak sense of community external communication has improved but MSU remains in third place following NDSU and Concordia there are significant institutional barriers to effective internal communication on our campus, including no master calendar, no common time to meet, and time constraints external communication has improved but there are still too many problems, for example, problems with our neighbors when they don?t know houses will be burned, etc. internal communication is sometimes uncoordinated and untimely, for example, a classroom remodeling project was begun with one days notice to the department and faculty member involved the web has improved some aspects of internal communication but there is still a sense of isolation intradepartmental communication is effective, but interdepartmental communication is weak there are problems related to how we present ourselves to students who are coming here for visits, including tours to prospective students there are problems related to how we communicate things to students and others in our academic community Again, using the dot method, objective # 7--to increase the quality and quantity of internal communication was highly favored with six dots followed by objective #9--to improve on-campus recruitment with two. Objective #8, participants agreed, should be included under objective #7?improve internal communication and objective # 10 should be included under objective # 5--improve marketing. Clearly, participants wanted to improve internal communication, including the adoption of a high-quality common calendar and centralized communication system. In addition, they wanted to improve marketing as well as on-campus recruitment. 2. In looking at the objectives for this goal, which are the most important and why? Of the six objectives provided by the strategic planning committee, only two received votes via the dot method: #5--improve marketing received two votes and # 1--articulate a clear vision received one vote. Although it wasn?t the top priority for all participants, everyone felt we should improve marketing in general, including quality and quantity of our advertising. They felt we should have a marketing plan and the resources to execute that plan. They felt this plan should provide the means to find out what potential students, current students, faculty, staff, administrators, community members, etc. want and need from a university, how MSU meets those wants and needs, and how these constituencies will be persuaded that MSU does in fact meet those wants and needs. Participants agreed that MSU needs a clear vision to accomplish this. 3. Are there any objectives that were not listed by the strategic planning committee that should have been included? Focus group members identified four additional objectives: #7--to increase the quality and quantity of internal communication among students, faculty, staff and administrators #8--to centralize and improve the process of placing material on the university calendar and clearly communicating what is there to all constituencies #9--to improve the quality and quantity of on-campus recruitment to the extent that we are perceived to be at least equal and hopefully better than our competitors #10--to improve the quality of external communication with our neighborhood 4. What measurable outcomes should be targeted regarding the objective given first priority by your group? increased satisfaction with the system of scheduling campus events increased satisfaction with the level of awareness regarding campus activities increased satisfaction with the timeliness of information provided regarding campus activities/events increased awareness of campus activities by members of our academic community increased attendance at campus events a common meeting time for campus wide convocations more scheduled and unscheduled time for increased face-to-face interaction among faculty, staff and administrators increased face to face contact between faculty in different disciplines more interdisciplinary courses more effective communication to all members of the university regarding activities in a timely manner (0n Time--not too early nor too late) more knowledge about what is going on increased timeliness and quality of communication between administrators and faculty/staff a university club for faculty, staff and administrators 5. What measurable outcomes should be targeted regarding the objective given second priority by your group? marketing plan an increase in the advertising budget for MSU an increase in positive perceptions and a decrease in negative perceptions of MSU by potential students increased enrollment an increase in the number of campus visits more professional training of tour guides a consistent, high-quality message from tour guides on campus visits better communication to potential students regarding options for majors


A member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System an equal opportunity educator and employer \| Accessibility Questions? \| Contact academic@mnstate.edu \| Updated 09/16/08 MSU Moorhead \| 1104 7th Ave South \| Moorhead, MN 56563 \| 1.800.593.7246 home \| msum \| academic support \| apac \| department and faculty data \| links \| contact us \| strategic planning