Exploring Maintenance and Facility Operations Strategies for California Community Colleges

Exploring Maintenance and Facility Operations Strategies for California Community Colleges by Virginia Parras Grande MBA, St. Thomas University, 2006 BS, Regis University, 2005 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Business Administration Walden University June 2016 Abstract California community college leaders are looking for strategies to sustain facilities and maintenance operations because the governor only approved the allocation of $87.5 million in the 2014-2015 Budget Act for facilities maintenance operations. Guided by the change and strategy theories, the purpose of this multicase study was to explore the strategies that a select group of college leaders have used to sustain or improve their facilities maintenance operations. The data collection process included a review of college planning documents and semistructured interviews with 10 senior administrators from 3 large California community colleges who have used strategies to address sustaining or improving their facilities maintenance operations. Saldana coding and an inductive analysis process were used to identify themes. Triangulation was employed to increase the trustworthiness of interpretations. The analysis revealed the central role of planning as the strategy leaders should employ to improve institutional success. Funding was an additional theme leaders regarded as the issue that most often undermined planning and effective maintenance operations. All participants acknowledged the need for the integration of planning and funding to create institutional success. These findings suggest that community college leaders who use planning, funding strategies,California community college leaders are looking for strategies to sustain facilities and maintenance operations because the governor only approved the allocation of $87.5 million in the 2014-2015 Budget Act for facilities maintenance operations. Guided by the change and strategy theories, the purpose of this multicase study was to explore the strategies that a select group of college leaders have used to sustain or improve their facilities maintenance operations. The data collection process included a review of college planning documents and semistructured interviews with 10 senior administrators from 3 large California community colleges who have used strategies to address sustaining or improving their facilities maintenance operations. Saldana coding and an inductive analysis process were used to identify themes. Triangulation was employed to increase the trustworthiness of interpretations. The analysis revealed the central role of planning as the strategy leaders should employ to improve institutional success. Funding was an additional theme leaders regarded as the issue that most often undermined planning and effective maintenance operations. All participants acknowledged the need for the integration of planning and funding to create institutional success. These findings suggest that community college leaders who use planning, funding strategies, maintenance strategies, and who empower people to sustain facility and maintenance operations can improve the teaching-learning environment. When community college leaders transform the teaching-learning environment, they enable student success. Student success increases the earning power of students that contributes to social change by expanding the tax-base and creating greater economic development. Exploring Maintenance and Facility Operations Strategies for California Community Colleges by Virginia Parras Grande MBA, St. Thomas University, 2006 BS, Regis University, 2005 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Business Administration Walden University June 2016 Dedication This study and all of the effort I put into completing it is dedicated to my children, Diego and Isabel. I hope and pray they will be proud of my efforts and use the accomplishment of this study and degree completion as inspiration for them to become life-long learners and influence the global good. Acknowledgments I wish to acknowledge my mother, Preciosa, whose love and devotion gave me the inspiration never to give up. I know that her prayers and the ever special beacon of love from my father above, helped give me the tenacity to succeed. To my husband Robert, who has always been beside me, thank you for your support and love. To my Parras Family Frank, Kristy, Kristina, Frankie, Diego and Courtney, I am also extremely grateful for the love and support you gave me in this effort. To all of my other family members and friends whose encouragement sustained me – THANK YOU! A sincere thank you to my mentor, Chancellor, and committee chair, Dr. Arthur Q. Tyler, whose guidance and support made this dream a reality. I am so grateful to the responsiveness and direction provided by my committee members Dr. Mohamad S. Hammoud, and Dr. Yvonne Doll. I am also very thankful and appreciative of the support Ms. Yvette Thompson provided. Finally, I wish to extend a special thank you to Dr. Freda Turner for her leadership in this arduous journey.