Multicriteria Approach to Prioritize Strategic Goals: Case of a Public University

Abstract

This research aims to enhance the strategic planning process in public organizations, more specifically universities by suggesting two prioritization approaches using Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods, considering the case of Ankara University (AU), a Turkish public university. Performing an independent analysis of goals, the first approach involves an application of AHP to get the goals’ importance weights, which in turn are used as the input of a three-scenario based TOPSIS application along with the goals’ anticipated costs. The second approach follows an influence-based perspective to highlight the degree of interdependence of university goals and the need for a balanced solution to strategic planning. DEMATEL is thence employed to further explore the causal relationships between these goals. Then, the influence weights are incorporated along with AHP importance weights and the anticipated costs as the input of another TOPSIS application. Although the first approach generates significant insights to decision makers (DMs) as it prioritizes strategic goals based on their importance to AU and their budgets, the second approach provides a deeper analysis and an advanced prioritization model. DMs can therefore select the approach that works best for them in terms of needs and data. This study can help AU and similar institutions prioritize their strategic goals, efficiently allocate resources, and enhance their overall strategic performance. The study also demonstrates the effectiveness of MCDM methods in strategic planning and provides valuable insights for future research in this area.

Keywords

• Strategic planning
• AHP
• TOPSIS
• DEMATEL
• criteria importance
• influence

Stratejik Hedeflerin Önceliklendirilmesine Yönelik Çok Kriterli Yaklaşım: Bir Devlet Üniversitesi Örneği

Abstract

Bu araştırma, kamu kurumlarında ve özellikle üniversitelerde stratejik planlama sürecini geliştirmeyi amaçlamakta olup, Ankara Üniversitesi (AÜ) örneği üzerinden Çok Kriterli Karar Verme (ÇKKV) yöntemleri kullanılarak iki önceliklendirme yaklaşımı önermektedir. İlk yaklaşımda, hedeflerin bağımsız analizi gerçekleştirilmekte ve Hiyerarşi Analizi Süreci (AHP) uygulanarak hedeflerin önem ağırlıkları elde edilmektedir. Bu ağırlıklar, hedeflerin tahmini maliyetleriyle birlikte üç senaryoya dayalı bir TOPSIS uygulamasına girdi olarak kullanılmaktadır. İkinci yaklaşım ise, üniversite hedeflerinin karşılıklı bağımlılık düzeyini ve stratejik planlama için dengeli bir çözümün gerekliliğini vurgulayan etki temelli bir bakış açısını benimsemektedir. Bu doğrultuda, DEMATEL yöntemi kullanılarak hedefler arasındaki nedensel ilişkiler derinlemesine incelenmektedir. Ardından, etki ağırlıkları AHP’den elde edilen önem ağırlıkları ve tahmini maliyetlerle birlikte başka bir TOPSIS uygulamasına entegre edilmektedir. İlk yaklaşım, stratejik hedefleri Ankara Üniversitesi açısından önem dereceleri ve bütçeleri temelinde önceliklendirerek karar vericilere (KV’ler) anlamlı içgörüler sunarken; ikinci yaklaşım, daha kapsamlı bir analiz ve gelişmiş bir önceliklendirme modeli sağlamaktadır. Böylelikle KV’ler, ihtiyaçlarına ve mevcut veriye en uygun yaklaşımı tercih edebilmektedir. Bu çalışma, AÜ ve benzeri kurumların stratejik hedeflerini önceliklendirmelerine, kaynaklarını etkin biçimde tahsis etmelerine ve genel stratejik performanslarını artırmalarına katkı sağlayabilir. Ayrıca, ÇKKV yöntemlerinin stratejik planlamadaki etkinliğini ortaya koymakta ve bu alandaki gelecek araştırmalar için değerli içgörüler sunmaktadır.

Keywords

• Stratejik planlama
• AHP
• TOPSIS
• DEMATEL
• kriter önemi
• etki düzeyi

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