Research into Strategy Implementation in Public Schools of Higher Education in Poland

This article aimed to show a broad picture of strategy implementation in public schools of higher education in Poland. The analysis of strategy cascading showed that the process of transferring school strategies into lower organizational levels stops at the department/institute level. It was also concluded that strategy implementation is rarely connected with organizational changes, and often encounters characteristic obstacles of an internal nature, which must be challenged. The analysis of strategy monitoring processes revealed that schools adopt the most typical solutions, while the analysis of mistakes made in the strategy implementation process showed critical problems (human and methodological factors) which decrease the effectiveness of strategic management.It is the author's opinion that the above conclusions should be further discussed in order to find answers to many fundamental questions: why do schools fail to transfer their strategies to lower organizational levels? Can schools, without far-reaching organizational changes, effectively implement and monitor strategies? What mechanisms should be introduced to the management system so that the implementation of strategy management does not burden employees with additional responsibilities? This would certainly allow for the increase of the effectiveness of strategy implementation and schools' likelihood of enjoying a competitive edge.