Mission Statements: Distinction Tool or Wasted Effort

2014 ◽  
pp. 494-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirk Plangger ◽  
Dianne Bevelander ◽  
Leyland Pitt ◽  
Colin Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Mission Statements

Unknown and Under-Researched: The Anatomy of Drinking Under Control Programs

2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 277-288
Author(s):  
Harald Klingemann ◽  
Justyna Klingemann
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Harm Reduction ◽  
Evaluation Studies ◽  
Mission Statements ◽  
Community Response ◽  
Limited Resources ◽  
Admission Criteria ◽  
Control Programs ◽  
Institutional Order

Abstract. Introduction: While alcohol treatment predominantly focuses on abstinence, drug treatment objectives include a variety of outcomes related to consumption and quality of life. Consequently harm reduction programs tackling psychoactive substances are well documented and accepted by practitioners, whereas harm reduction programs tackling alcohol are under-researched and met with resistance. Method: The paper is mainly based on key-person interviews with eight program providers conducted in Switzerland in 2009 and up-dated in 2015, and the analysis of reports and mission statements to establish an inventory and description of drinking under control programs (DUCPs). A recent twin program in Amsterdam and Essen was included to exemplify conditions impeding their implementation. Firstly, a typology based on the type of alcohol management, the provided support and admission criteria is developed, complemented by a detailed description of their functioning in practice. Secondly, the case studies are analyzed in terms of factors promoting and impeding the implementation of DUCPs and efforts of legitimize them and assess their success. Results: Residential and non-residential DUCPs show high diversity and pursue individualized approaches as the detailed case descriptions exemplify. Different modalities of proactively providing and including alcohol consumption are conceptualized in a wider framework of program objectives, including among others, quality of life and harm reduction. Typically DUCPs represent an effort to achieve public or institutional order. Their implementation and success are contingent upon their location, media response, type of alcohol management and the response of other substance-oriented stake holders in the treatment system. The legitimization of DUCPs is hampered by the lack of evaluation studies. DUCPs rely mostly – also because of limited resources – on rudimentary self-evaluations and attribute little importance to data collection exercises. Conclusions: Challenges for participants are underestimated and standard evaluation methodologies tend to be incompatible with the rationale and operational objectives of DUCPs. Program-sensitive multimethod approaches enabled by sufficient financing for monitoring and accompanying research is needed to improve the practice-oriented implementation of DUCPs. Barriers for these programs include assumptions that ‘alcohol-assisted’ help abandons hope for recovery and community response to DUCPs as locally unwanted institutions (‘not in my backyard’) fuelled by stigmatization.

A Unifying Principle for a Researcher Learning Safety: Reduce Uncertainty!

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camilla Kao ◽  
Russell Furr
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Mission Statement ◽  
Safety Information ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Mission Statements ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Physical And Chemical

Conveying safety information to researchers is challenging. A list of rules and best practices often is not remembered thoroughly even by individuals who want to remember everything. Researchers in science thinking according to principles: mathematical, physical, and chemical laws; biological paradigms. They use frameworks and logic, rather than memorization, to achieve the bulk of their work. Can safety be taught to researchers in a manner that matches with how they are trained to think? Is there a principle more defined than "Think safety!" that can help researchers make good decisions in situations that are complex, new, and demanding?<div><br></div><div>Effective trainings in other professions can arise from the use of a mission statement that participants internalize as a mental framework or model for future decision-making. We propose that mission statements incorporating the concept of <b>reducing uncertainty</b> could provide such a framework for learning safety. This essay briefly explains the definition of <b>uncertainty</b> in the context of health and safety, discusses the need for an individual to <b>personalize</b> a mission statement in order to internalize it, and connects the idea of <b>greater control</b> over a situation with less uncertainty with respect to safety. The principle of reducing uncertainty might also help <b>non-researchers</b> think about safety. People from all walks of life should be able to understand that more control over their situations provides more protection for them, their colleagues, and the environment.</div>

Leveraging the organizational mission statement to communicate identity, distinctiveness and purpose to primary and secondary stakeholders during COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorelei Ortiz
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Mission Statement ◽  
Mission Statements ◽  
Strategic Communication ◽  
Web Content ◽  
Organizational Mission ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Core Mission ◽  
Keyword Searches

PurposeThis study examines comprehensiveness and responsiveness of mission statements for the top 100 retailers on the 2020 National Retailers Federation list in order to (1) evaluate how effectively they communicate organizational identity, values and purpose, (2) underscore a distinctive commitment to stakeholders and (3) what extent these efforts are reflected in revised mission statements or addenda to meet global pandemic challenges.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs a 4-question metric to measure comprehensiveness and a two-pronged qualitative method of analysis consisting of keyword searches followed by content analysis.FindingsRetailer statements are considerably comprehensive in describing purpose and audience yet very few articulate stakeholder value, differentiate themselves as distinctive or substantively reaffirm their core mission and values. Retailers seem more invested in strategic communication around diversity, equity and inclusion, based on web content in their consumer, job seeker and investor touchpoints.Research limitations/implicationsCoding and interpreting language through content analysis methods may introduce some level of subjectivity, particularly when dealing with unstructured data. Implications for how organizations acclimated in order to survive and thrive, while maintaining focus on stakeholders and strategy. Examining organizational mission statements and their contexts yields perspective into how organizations define themselves and what they do during times of crisis.Originality/valueThis study provides insights into the content, structure and functions of the statements against a specific comprehensiveness metric and reveals patterns about the texts and their contexts during a pandemic and strong cultural and societal movements.

What Russian University Stands for: Analyzing Socially Embedded Vision and Values

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 491-506
Author(s):  
Valeria Chernyavskaya ◽  
Olga Kamshilova
Keyword(s):  
Collective Identity ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Mission Statements ◽  
Cultural Practice ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Analytical Methodology ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Core Mission ◽  
New Research ◽  
Linguistic Methods

Summary The present investigation is a response to the discourse analytical methodology expanded by corpus linguistic techniques. Within a discursive approach the university’s identity is seen as existing in and being constructed through discourse. The research interest is in how ideology and the obligation models set by the state construct the university’s self-image and university-based research as its core mission. The study is generally consistent with current trends in social constructivism where identity is considered as the process of identity construction rather than a rigid category. It is presumed that key factors are developed within a definite socio-cultural practice, which then shape the concept of collective identity. Detecting and analyzing such factors on the basis of Russian realities and modern Russian university is becoming a new research objective. The focus of the given article is on how certain values can be foregrounded in texts representing university strategies to the public. The research employs corpus linguistic methods in discourse analysis. The organization of the paper is as follows. First, it outlines the socio-political context in which the transformation of academic values and organizational principles of Russian national universities are embedded. Second, it discusses corpus findings obtained from an original research corpus which includes mission statements posted on the websites of Russian national research and federal universities. Conclusions concerning the university mission statements reflect ongoing transformations of the universities’ role in the society. The rhetoric of the statements is declarative and foregrounding new values. The linguistic data analysis shows their socially constructive nature as they build a framework for currently relevant uniformed ideas and concepts.

USING CORPUS LINGUISTICS TO DESCRIBE CORPORATIONS’ IDEOLOGIES

2006 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-24
Author(s):  
Renata Fox
Keyword(s):  
Text Analysis ◽  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Mission Statements ◽  
Fortune 500 ◽  
Quantitative Methodology ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Symbolic Universe

This article applies corpus linguistics to research the ideologies of Fortune 500 corporations as institutionalised through those corporations’ mission statements. The methodology used is both qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative methodology relates to the semantics of corporations’ ideologies. More precisely, it explains the ideas, beliefs, meanings, and concepts found in corporations’ mission statements, the relation between those ideas, beliefs, meanings, and concepts and society, and what makes those ideas, beliefs, meanings, and concepts meaningful. Quantitative methodology relates to the description and comparison of corporations’ ideologies based on a corpus-driven approach and computational text analysis of a corpus of corporations’ mission statements. Ultimately, through its ideology a corporation creates a symbolic universe: “a matrix of all social and individual meanings” that determines the significance of the corporation and its stakeholders.

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