The Context for Information Technlogy Planning within the Maricopa Community Colleges While all community colleges share a common mission of providing affordable and accessible education to all individuals throughout the geographic areas they serve, not all community colleges are alike. They differ in three major areas which form the context for any type of information technology strategic planning. These areas are organizational culture, customer communities, and current technology base. Any attempt to implement a new approach to strategic planning for information technologies must take these three areas of context into account. Organizational culture is not static.
Organizational culture can be different in different parts of the organization.
An analysis of the organizational culture of the ITS department, the cultures of other district office divisions, the cultures of the ten Maricopa Community Colleges, and the organizational culture of the Maricopa district as a whole, has led the ITS management team to several conclusions about information technology planning within the Maricopa District. First, the predominant culture within the Maricopa district is that of consensus. Each college has its own mission statement as does each major division within the district office. Because each college is autonomous and can make major decisions without consulting other institutions or divisions within the district, the need for consensus management is strong, particularly in the areas of establishing long-range technical plans and any type of technology policies or standards. This analysis was key to the approach taken in the development of this Learning Action Plan and will remain central to the strategies used by the Information Technology Services department in moving forward on information technology issues within the district.