mission statements

MISSION STATEMENT

Mission statements are used by organizations to explain their existence and communicate its intentions. .A company’s goals and identity run on its mission statement, thus having to determine the purpose of the mission statement for that organization and its significance.

Definition of a mission statement

Falsey defines a mission statement as something that tells us what a company does and what it is. (Falsey, 1989) Mission statements usually tell us the public what an organization is all about and what direction it is heading to and its purpose.

Gow writes that without a mission statement most independent schools feel insufficient and partial. Schools therefore pick mission statements that reflect the school’s policies and programs pointing them to the desirable future and present the purpose of the school. (Gow, 2009)

Rabow, M., Wrubel, J., & Remen, R. (2009) write that medical student’s definition of their individual mission statements encompassed presence, love and awe.(Rabow, M., Wrubel, J., & Remen, R. 2009). To them their mission statements were about how to deal with being doctors in the real world and providing the best care to patients as outlined in the Hippocratic Oath and how to grow as professionals.

Purpose of a mission statement

According to Gow (2009), The Commission on Independent Schools of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), accreditor of some 600 independent schools mission statements intends for schools to have mission statements to explain their existence and define each school’s attitude that differentiates it from the other.

He further states that most schools use mission statements to show their uniqueness, market the schools and attract new students. Each miss...

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...sion statement has to be unique, clear and confident enough to present and express each one’s beliefs and values. While words alone cannot define a company or firm, its values, characteristics, morals and ethics help define them.

Works Cited

Gow, P. (2009). What should mission statements do? Independent School, 69(1), 24-30.

Falsey, T. A. (1989). Corporate philosophies and mission statements: A survey and guide for corporate communicators and management. Westport, CT: Greenwood

Rabow, M., Wrubel, J., & Remen, R. (2009). Promise of professionalism: Personal mission statements among a national cohort of medical students. Annals of FamilyMedicine, 7(4), 336-342. DOI: 10.1370/afm.979

Williams, L. (2008). The mission statement: A corporate reporting tool with a past, present, and future. Journal of Business Communication, 45(2), 94-119. DOI: 10.1177/0021943607313989