Enscaling the mission statement as a procedure for organisational diagnosis

Abstract

In this article a description is given of how an organisation's mission statement was used as the first step of an organisational improvement intervention. From the mission statement a thirteen-item scale and twenty open-ended questions were developed. The scale was applied to a stratified sample of 664 employees while the questions were used in 107 focus groups. When the mission statement scale scores were analysed, significant differences were found which reflected varying perceptions between organisational levels and divisions of the extent to which the core values of the mission statement were being enacted. Through a content analysis of the focus group responses, majority themes were found which shed light on the origins of the different perceptions. In this way, substantive data, of use to the organisation, were obtained. The findings were submitted to the company's directors, to all managers, and to all shop stewards, in the form of a verbal presentation, which was videotaped, and a comprehensive written report. A summary report was made available to all survey participants. The video was shown on request. Lastly, working sessions were held with each divisional director and his executive team, whereafter various divisional task forces were established to follow through on the findings of the survey. Some of the broader trends have also been related to published research literature. This method of mission statement analysis holds promise as a diagnostic technique for organisational development.