Building Research Ethos from the Ground up Using McKinsey 7-S Framework: The Case of the Modern College of Business and Science

The aim of this paper is to document the experience of the Modern College of Business and Science (MCBS) in building its research ethos as a quality management case study. The new strategic plan of MCBS gives focus on Research and Consultancy as one of its five strategic perspectives. Motivated by its aspiration to contribute to the growth and sharing of knowledge, the college embarked on the task of developing a systemic and systematic approach to build the hard and soft elements of institutional research using the McKinsey 7-S Framework. On one hand, the hard elements of strategy, structure, and system were designed through a series of dialogue within the college’s academic community. On the other hand, the alignment of the soft elements of shared values, skills, style, and staff to the hard elements was emphasized in a series of workshops. The outcomes include: 1) Policies and guidelines; 2) Research Agenda; and 3) Mechanisms for results.