Strategic Maturity Assessment in Management of a Modern Educational Organization

Abstract

Introduction. In the context of the digital transformation of higher education, changes in the structure of educational demand and increased competition between universities, the importance of strategic management is increasing, ensuring the alignment of development goals, resources, projects and management decisions. At the same time, the existence of a development program does not always indicate high management efficiency, which makes it necessary to assess the strategic maturity of an educational organization. Goal. The study aims to develop a theoretical approach to assessing the strategic maturity of an educational organization and the definition of criteria to identify management gaps in the implemen­tation of the strategy. Materials and methods. The research is based on the application of a structural and functional approach, qualitative content analysis of strategic and methodological documents, development programs of Russian universities, as well as secondary analysis of statistical data characterizing current trends in the development of higher education. Results and discussion. It is revealed that the main limitation of strategic man­agement is the insufficient integration of strategic goals into the system of project management, resource provision and management feedback. The authors’ four-component model of strategic maturity of an educational organization is proposed, including target consistency, resource-project feasibility, a management feedback loop and a contextual strategic position. Conclusion. According to the results of the study, strategic maturity is deter­mined not by the existence of a development program, but by the degree of its involvement in management decision-making processes. The proposed model can be used as a tool for evaluating and improving the strategic management of educational organizations.