Living Our Mission: A Study of University Mission Building

ABSTRACT

At the same time that organizational communication and management scholars are focusing attention on trends of spirituality in the workplace, faith-based organizations are taking up the question of how they might maintain a distinct spiritual identity. For these institutions, communicating mission becomes the defining feature of institutional identity. Explicitly religious organizations provide a venue for understanding the implications of incorporating spirituality in organizational discourse. This empirical study explores a mission-building conference and examines the ways in which communicating a spiritual mission simultaneously enriches and constrains both the individual members and the organizations as a whole.

Keywords:

• Mission
• Faith-Based Organization
• Spirituality
• Paradox

The author would like to thank Dr. Patrice Buzzanell and Dr. Lynn Harter along with the three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sarah Bonewits Feldner

Sarah Bonewits Feldner is an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at: Marquette University. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the National Communication Association annual convention in November 2004.