Mission Statements, Physical Space, and Strategy in Higher Education

Abstract

The effectiveness of higher education institutions has bases in institutional structures and cultures. However, structure and culture represent abstract concepts while institutions realize high performance in practice. Given their salience in higher education, mission statements and campus space bring structure and culture into the realm of practice. Moving from abstract to concrete, this paper shows how mission statements embody structure and culture and how physical space, in turn, enacts mission in day-to-day institutional life. By harnessing the mission-space linkage, strategy can access structure and culture for the purpose of increasing effectiveness.Key words mission statements . space . strategy . effectiveness . organizational structure . organizational culture Mission statements dictate the core activities of an organization, and physical space can define its operating territories. Mission and space are organizationally omnipresent and have notable relevance for both public and non-profit private higher education institutions. In this article, I use that relevance to establish a theoretical linkage between the two for the sake of strategic action. The first section discusses the cultural and structural bases of effectiveness in higher education, and the second shows how mission statements embody structure and culture, thus making them more concrete. The third section links mission statements and campus space. Because it impacts core institutional activities on a daily basis, I will suggest that space lends mission-and thus structure and culture-even greater tangibility. The final section draws upon the connections between mission statements and physical space to develop strategic models that seek to move institutions forward in practice. The effectiveness of colleges and universities has remained under discussion in the Innov High

At Attention: What Student Veteran Mission Statements Say About Public Flagships

“…To begin, the lack of clearly-demarcated student veteran services mission statements is troublesome: only 12 institutions, representing 24% of the sample, featured student veteran services mission statements on their institutional websites. Given the importance of how an institutional mission statement articulates the goals, priorities, and resources of a given institution (Conway, Mackay, & Yorke, 1994;Fugazzotto, 2009;Morphew & Hartley, 2006), student veteran services offices need to better communicate their purposes and functions to their prospective and current student veteran population.…”

“…These benefits are especially pertinent to student veterans and the institutional services they receive at public institutions, as mission statements articulated by public institutions reflect, rather than drive, the realities of an institution, as compared to the mission statements of private institutions which are much more aspirational in nature (Morphew & Hartley, 2006). Furthermore, mission statements can also help leadership dictate how physical space and resources-such as student veteran services offices-are organized, allotted, and used by faculty, staff, and students, with different types of institutions articulating different mission statements depending on the types of students served, programs offered, and community service provided (Fugazzotto, 2009). This connection between an institution's mission statement and the specific population it serves is further evidenced by the conflict experienced by community colleges in composing aspirational mission statements instead of student-centered, realistic mission statements (Lake & Mrozinski, 2011) and Albany State's student protest after the omission of its heritage as a historically-Black university in its new mission statement after its merger with Darton State College (Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 2016).…”

Community college mission influence on culture : an organizational analysis.

“…Velcoff and Ferrari's (2006) study exemplified the perceived differences that exist between the perceptions of mission between stakeholders on a college campus. Research has shown that most common uses of mission statements are to direct strategic planning, to provide common purpose and direction, and to guide leadership styles (Baetz & Bart, 1996;Fugazzotto, 2009;Hegeman, Davies, & Banning, 2007).…”

“…For leaders, the culture of an organization provides the context for which decisions about organizational change processes can be made (Malm, 2008). Culture plays a key role in decision-making, and organizations with agreement between mission and culture are most effective (Fjortoft & Smart, 1994;Fugazzotto, 2009;Locke & Guglielmino, 2006). Malm (2008) connected institutional leadership decisions about mission implementation to the importance of the recognition of institutional culture in the decision-making process.…”

“…Space often reflects organizational values (Fugazzotto, 2009) The use and development of space should be considered as a means by which organizational culture can be managed. In this case the intentional development of the Regional Post-Secondary Education Center had a positive impact on the unification of previously separate pieces of the institution and had a positive impact of the work of staff.…”