The Mission as a Driver for Strategy Formulation in Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

This study aims to identify whether and how Brazilian higher education institutions (HEIs) are using organizational mission statements as drivers of strategy. Based on the effectiveness of the mission model proposed by Pearce and David (1987), this paper presents a content analysis of the mission statements of ninety-one HEIs, based on information available on their websites. The results show that philosophy, type of service, and self-concept are the most frequent elements found, and that none of the ninety-one mission statements analyzed featured more than six out of the eight elements of the conceptual model. This denotes only a partial use of mission statements as strategy drivers in HEIs. Moreover, as a consequence of the specificities of the educational sector and of the Brazilian regulations, two new elements have been added to the original conceptual model (with more than 560 citations in Google Scholar): graduates' profile and contribution to the community, making the conceptual model more aligned with the specificities of HEIs. These results can be used by HEIs to improve the formulation of their mission statements and enhance their effective use as strategy drivers. RESUMOEste estudo tem como objetivo identificar se e como as instituições de ensino superior (IES) brasileiras estão utilizando a missão organizacional como direcionadora da estratégia. Com base no modelo de efetividade da missão proposto por Pearce e David (1987), foi realizada uma análise de conteúdo das missões de 91 IES, a partir de informações disponibilizadas em seus sites. Os resultados mostram que a filosofia da IES, o tipo de serviço e Disponível em: www.univali.br/periodicos ISSN: 1983-716X Revista Alcance -Eletrônica -vol. 25 -n. 2 -Mai./Ago. 2018 Palabras clave: Direccionador estratégico. Declaración de misión. Instituciones de enseñanza superior.

Analysis of the Institutional Mission and Constituent Strategy of the Federal Institutes of Education, Science and Technology in Brazil

“…The larger the word size, the greater its occurrence. Correlating this research with other studies, we observed that the words development and formation are referenced among those with the highest incidence in the study by Haberkamp, Hoppen and Diehl (2018). Observing the cloud of words prepared by the authors, even in lesser frequency, the most famous words in this study (promote, education, teaching and professional) have a proportion highlighted by their incidence.…”

“…We characterised the collected data as secondary data. The institutional mission statements are analysed from the perspective of the model by Pearce and David (1987) with a focus on the educational context outlined by Haberkamp, Hoppen and Diehl (2018) Based on Haberkamp, Hoppen and Diehl (2018), we included two new elements: graduates' profiles and the educational institution's contributions to the community/region. According to the authors, this addition is a reflection of the high number of words in the analysed mission statements.…”

“…The authors did not detect a significant difference for the analysed items: research type, size and educational focus. The research by Haberkamp, Hoppen and Diehl (2018) seeks to recognise how Brazilian higher education institutions in the Rio Grande do Sul use organisational mission statements as strategy drivers. We should mention that the study by Haberkamp, Hoppen and Diehl (2018) includes three Federal Institutes but not all of them.…”

“…Where Source: Pearce and David (1987) and Haberkamp, Hoppen and Diehl (2018) Haberkamp, Hoppen and Diehl (2018) state that "the subjectivity inherent in the coding process should be considered a limitation. Thus, even using the same data, other researchers may obtain different results from those presented here".…”

Missão, visão e valores organizacionais dos Institutos Federais De Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Brasil

“…De acordo com Abelman e Dalessandro ( 2008), na maioria das IES as declarações institucionais aparecem como uma declaração da missão ou da visão, ou ambas. Para Haberkamp et al (2018), a criação da declaração da missão é a primeira parte do processo de planejamento para estabelecer prioridades e metas, todavia, quando se trata de IES, os objetivos nem sempre aparecem de maneira clara.…”