The answer may be “yes with a note”. Many colleges in the past may have relied heavily on what has been known as “Best Practices” or BP to report institutional metrics. One may notice that almost every US higher learning institution follow the same path on reporting their institutional metrics. Focus heavily on reporting is what was in the past, which may be less relevant given the current changes and dynamics in the industry. For example, majority factbook or factsheet are provided and make available on the institution’s website. There is a clear justification of doing so which is partly to fulfill their accountability as public institutions or to show their responsibility to the donors.
While applying BP is a great way to manage an organization, one may ask how has such a policy helped them to cope with the dynamics and changes that have affected the environments where they are operating? If the best practices represent the best of best strategies that ever invented, found or practice in the industry, then below are the critical questions to think about:
- Why the second order for optimal condition on the institutional metrics function such as retention and graduation is greater than zero? If this is the case, then an institution is in need to find a breakthrough to survive in the future.
- Why there are so many higher ed institutions listed on the DoE’s HCM list? May be the logical answer is clear in that, they did not adopt the so-called BP. However, the troubled institutions may have adopted the BP, but fail to adapt to the new reality which may have caused the BPs are no longer relevant.
There is a clear flaw if organizations hold tight on the BP without looking at (1). the new reality and (2). the institution’s core competencies as discussed in Harvard Business Review written by C.K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel in1990. The question is how a higher ed entity is able to recognize its core? Will the core ever change because of new public policies and industry dynamics? IRI will help finding the answers.