Date of Award
2008
Document Type
Dissertation
Publication Status
Version of Record
Submission Date
October 2026
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Patterson, Patricia M.
Abstract
Mission statements are an important part of the strategic planning process. In the federal government they are required for cabinet departments. Research about publicsector mission statements has been limited, compared to research on private-sector mission statements. Mission statements are important as artifacts of organizational culture. They introduce and reinforce important organizational values and can be part of a system of control. Within organizational culture and as part of a system of control, mission statements may play a role in creating and maintaining certain power relationships. In this research I examine manifestations of organizational culture and power in cabinet-level federal agencies as expressed in the content and rhetoric of their mission statements. The research presented here examines the mission statements of federal departments and their affiliated agencies and offices. It seeks to identify the importance of mission statements outside of their role in the strategic planning process. The methodology used is Ethnographic Content Analysis (ECA). ECA allows for numerical and descriptive data. Numerically, the researcher creates and counts occurrences of relevant categories of analysis and then uses examples as descriptors. This dissertation describes the content of mission statements and compares it to features other researchers have identified as important for mission statements. In general, the federal mission statements studied here do not include many of the elements that previous research has identified as important for mission statements. Second, the research examines the presence in mission statements of values in general and, in particular, two specific groups of values: New Public Management and Democratic Constitutional values. Both types of values are found in federal mission statements, and the research shows that authors of mission statements are making a choice between the New Public and Democratic Constitutional sets of values. Next, this research looks for evidence of statements of power that are included within the mission statements. Borrowing French and Raven's five bases of interpersonal power for its rubric, this research finds evidence of all five bases of power in these organizational mission statements. Finally, this research looks for the intended audiences of the mission statements and finds that it is often unclear.
Extent
149 p.
Recommended Citation
Donohue, John J., "Rhetoric of Federal Mission Statements: Power, Values, and Audience" (2008). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009. 1555.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general_5/1555
Identifier
FA00000606
Comments
Includes bibliography.|Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008.|College for Design and Social Inquiry|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Includes bibliography.