This paper seeks to determine whether significant differences exist between secular and faith‐based hospitals in terms of specific mission statement components and mission‐related…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to determine whether significant differences exist between secular and faith‐based hospitals in terms of specific mission statement components and mission‐related performance variables.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 130 top managers from a sample of 515 Canadian hospitals responded to a comprehensive questionnaire investigating 23 mission statement components and seven mission performance outcome measures. Data were analyzed using frequency analysis, one‐way analysis of variance, MANOVA, chi‐squared and Mann‐Whitney U tests.
Findings
The analysis showed that differences in mission content exist between different types of hospitals, and that these differences form a pattern of sorts within each type. It was also found that faith‐based hospitals out‐perform their secular counterparts in many ways.
Research limitations/implications
The research and its findings are limited in their application to relatively large Canadian health care organizations and the responses/opinions given by managers from a hospital's senior echelons.
Practical implications
The results have implications for all health care organizations interested in improving the results in their mission performance scorecard. The findings both confirm the impact that mission statements can have on selected hospital performance indicators and demonstrate that faith‐based hospitals have been more diligent in taking advantage of them.
Originality/value
This is the first paper to show that specific and significant differences exist between the mission statements of secular and faith‐based hospitals and that those differences are associated with hospital performance. These findings will be of special interest to senior hospital administrators and “directors of mission” within faith‐based institutions.
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Chris Bart, Mark C. Baetz and S. Mark Pancer
The purpose of this paper is to explore how an employee volunteer program (EVP) as one aspect of responsible corporate citizenship (typically expressed in a mission statement) can…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how an employee volunteer program (EVP) as one aspect of responsible corporate citizenship (typically expressed in a mission statement) can influence the relationships among a firm, its employees and its community.
Design/methodology/approach
A pedagogical approach used in the educational sector known as “community service‐learning” or “service‐learning” was used as the basis for analyzing the experiences of 12 first‐time volunteering employees who described in a personal interview the motivations and outcomes associated with their participation in their EVP.
Findings
It was found that all three elements of service‐learning – that is, reciprocity, reflection, and development of responsible citizenship skills – were useful in understanding how an EVP can leverage human capital to benefit the firm, its employees and the community and make a firm's mission of responsible citizenship a reality.
Research limitations/implications
Despite the small sample size of 12 respondents, there were significant data in the comments from these respondents about the possible impact of an EVP experience in terms of various elements involved in service‐learning.
Practical implications
There are several corporate implications from the research which are related to various elements of service‐learning. For example, companies are encouraged to include in the creation and rollout of their EVP a reflection process which could also be connected to employee recognition programs, training programs and employee career development.
Originality/value
The paper presents a novel approach to assessing the motivations and possible outcomes associated with an EVP. It should be of interest to both academics and practitioners.
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A relationship between board/management “involvement” and “awareness” with organizational mission and their link to “employee commitment” and “organizational performance” was…
Abstract
A relationship between board/management “involvement” and “awareness” with organizational mission and their link to “employee commitment” and “organizational performance” was modeled by drawing on previous research. The model was tested with data from 339 large Canadian and US organizations. It was determined that “mission awareness” on the part of both the board and senior management is an important consideration in the determination of employees' commitment to the mission. However, the impact of board and management involvement with the mission is not identical. The results emphasize the strong and important role that the board performs when it is actively engaged in the development of the organization's mission.
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Chris Steyaert and Bart Van Looy
This book focuses on the concept and role of relational practices as a way to understand, conceive, and study processes of organization, and subscribes to a processual view of…
Abstract
This book focuses on the concept and role of relational practices as a way to understand, conceive, and study processes of organization, and subscribes to a processual view of organization that, since Weick's seminal book The Social Psychology of Organizing, has turned the study of organizations into one of organizing. More than 30 years later, the field of organizing has increasingly expanded Weick's interpretive framework of sense making, resulting in a rich palette of conceptual frameworks that vary between such diverse processual approaches as complexity theory, phenomenology, narration, dramaturgy, ethnomethodology, discourse (analysis), practice, actor-network theory, and radical process theory (Steyaert, 2007). These various theoretical approaches draw upon and give expression to a relational turn that has transformed conceptual thinking in philosophy, literature, and social sciences, and that increasingly inscribes the study of organization within an ontology of becoming.
Bhavesh S. Patel, Lorne D. Booker, Hazel Melanie Ramos and Chris Bart
This study aims to explore the relationship between mission statements and organisational performance in non-profit organisations. It also examines the role of organisational…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the relationship between mission statements and organisational performance in non-profit organisations. It also examines the role of organisational commitment in moderating that relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Invitations were sent to a network of non-profit organisations inviting them to complete an online survey. Usable responses were obtained from 117 respondents from 30 countries. Hierarchical regression was used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The findings suggest that mission statements have a significant positive relationship with organisational performance. Also, organisational commitment, particularly affective commitment, moderates the relationship between mission statements and organisational performance.
Research limitations/implications
The results confirm that the relationship between mission statements and organisational performance is complex. The study of intervening variables is a worthwhile program of research.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that non-profit organisations can improve performance by communicating their mission and building emotional commitment to their cause.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to examine the role of organisational commitment in influencing the relationship between mission statements and performance. This study contributes to our understanding of the impact of mission statements on performance in non-profit organisations.
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Bart L. MacCarthy, Michael Lewis, Chris Voss and Ram Narasimhan
The world is changing – economically, technologically, politically, and socially. As an academic discipline, operations management (OM) is, almost by definition, close to…
Abstract
Purpose
The world is changing – economically, technologically, politically, and socially. As an academic discipline, operations management (OM) is, almost by definition, close to practice. Are our OM research methods fit for purpose for the new age? This paper reflects on and develops the principal themes discussed in the “OM Methodology” Special Session at the 2011 EurOMA Conference in Cambridge, UK. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The emerging landscape in which future OM research will be conducted is discussed. The paper provides a range of perspectives on the research challenges facing the discipline with respect to what the authors research and how the authors research it. The range of methods open to us and their relative merits and challenges are debated.
Findings
The traditional research divide between quantitative modelling, often normative in outlook, and the more reflective modes of qualitative enquiry, with a wide spectrum of empirical work in between, is reflected in the different academic traditions, groupings, conferences, and publications across the discipline. Research should not be driven by methodological convenience but by the needs of a changing world. Rather than a sterile “quants versus qual” debate, the paper argues that a rich diversity of approaches can provide a reinforcing cycle to generate relevant, interesting and exciting research underpinned by robust and valid theory.
Originality/value
The paper presents detailed reflections from leading researchers on contemporary and future OM research, arguing that research approaches must evolve that reflect the new realities to further enhance OM as a theoretically sound and practically relevant discipline.