The health care leader's written expression of mission and vision: A content analysis

• Main Author: McGowan, Marion A
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01.01.2015
• Subjects: Data Analysis; Data Collection; Definitions; Delivery Systems; Education philosophy; Educational Change; Educational leadership; Educational philosophy; Empowerment; Environment; Feedback (Response); Grounded Theory; Health education; Health Services; Hospitals; Individual Characteristics; Inhalants; Institutional Mission; Interrater Reliability; Leaders; Leadership Effectiveness; Mass Media; Opportunities; Organizational Effectiveness; Public administration; Qualitative Research; Reference Materials; Reliability; Research Design; Research Problems
• ISBN: 1339226677; 9781339226675

Visionary leaders galvanize support by showing confidence and establishing a collective identity with followers around a common vision. The mission and vision statements are considered essential tools in the visioning process to effectively articulate and communicate the mission and vision of a company. Still, little is known in terms of what constitutes strong vision and mission statements in health care organizations. The problem of significance is exemplified through the purported importance of effective mission and vision content and articulation as factors that influence leadership and ultimately organizational effectiveness. Recognizing these problems along with inconsistent use of mission and vision attributes and the paucity of health care studies, the aim of this study was to explore the presence of effective health care leader expressions of mission and vision statements. The study involved an exploration through a quantitative inquiry with computer-aided content analysis of a national sample of hospital mission, vision, and related statements. Differences in the presence of attributes were studied among varying organizational typologies and among the top performing health care organizations. Significant relationships existed between top performance rank and the presence of effective mission and vision content between religious compared to nonreligious affiliated hospitals, and with nonprofit hospitals compared to for-profit or nonfederal government hospitals. Hospitals residing in the Northeastern region had a significant relationship to the presence of effective vision attributes. No significant relationships existed regarding size or teaching status. Overall, hospitals within this sample of the United States demonstrated a low to moderate presence of subscribed attributes of effective articulation of a mission or vision. The researcher found that the majority of hospitals had a low presence of effective attributes when conveying written expressions of vision. This finding raises concern regarding the effectiveness of hospital leaders in articulating vision during a time of health care reform. In conclusion, this study (a) provided a general understanding of the presence of purportedly effective mission and vision content and articulation attributes, (b) produced valuable information for future visionary leadership studies, and (c) raised implications for hospital leaders in the situational context of health care.