Competing on Culture

Community colleges are under intense pressure to change in response to shifts in an increasingly complex environment. Stakeholders are placing simultaneously contradictory demands on colleges for more and better service, increased accountability, and more efficient use of resources in order to get the most from colleges in tough economic times. These demands have contributed to cultural fragmentation in community colleges as staff are pulled in competing directions by events beyond their control. The upshot is a circumstance in which leaders are finding that culture is perhaps the most powerful element affecting organizational performance and change. The old saw “culture eats strategy for breakfast’ epitomizes the importance of culture as a means for enhancing the long-term viability of an organization. This book provides fresh analysis of organizational culture in the community college context with a critical examination of the relationship between organizational culture and change. Readers will benefit from frank advice with insights to drive change by transforming and leveraging culture to shape the future of community colleges.

It's said that 'culture eats strategy for breakfast.'  In that case colleges should devour this book over breakfast for clear, practical advice on how to create an organizational culture capable of improving learning and student success in the face of the many challenges confronting higher education today., VanWagoner’s monograph is a far-reaching analysis on how culture shapes colleges, and its critical role in institutional transformation.  In an era where campus CEOs are buffeted by innovation and disruptions daily, VanWagoner offers an elegant how-to on growing this secret ingredient., Culture is everything! Community colleges cannot hope to find their futures while ladened with intransigent cultures and subcultures that are antithetical to the exploration, innovation, and change, necessary to advance student success in meaningful ways. VanWagoner does a masterful job of outlining the primacy of culture in the organization, its implications for change, and provides valuable insights, in part through actual cases, to help institutions determine how best to undertake cultural transformation., All college leaders are challenged with the cultural shifts often necessary for meaningful change and progress.  VanWagoner brilliantly provides a practical and accessible approach to make culture a competitive advantage for colleges that want to position themselves for success in an increasingly complex future.

Randall VanWagoner has served as president of Mohawk Valley Community College (New York) since 2007. He is also the co-facilitator of the Strategic Horizon Network – a consortium of forward-thinking community colleges focused on learning about disruptive innovation and the future of postsecondary education.