| The purpose of this study was to determine if leadership was related to the alignment of a departmental mission to that of the larger organization. It was leadership, through a nexus to the mission statement, which was studied. Specifically, alignment of WYMS radio station with the Milwaukee Public Schools' (MPS) mission was examined. Many leadership studies addressing mission have contended that the purpose of the organization---the reason for the organization's existence---must be addressed within its mission statement. This case study applied Peter Senge's (1990) governance-based leadership theory to an educational entity. Senge (1999) described development of a vision-based governance system as a consensus-building process. In The Fifth Discipline, Senge (1990) presented governing ideas as the rubric for organization. The components of the governance-based model included leaders, vision, purpose, mission, and core values.; Data collection was designed to reveal answers to the research questions and implications pertaining to broader goals and missions. Specifically, case study research techniques, including document retrieval, direct observation, and interviews, were implemented. Data collected, using case study methodology, were analyzed with respect to leadership theory to examine the decision-making process as the leaders saw it.; The findings uncovered three recurring issues to the leaders: alignment, property (bandwidth frequency), and budgetary concerns. Interestingly, the school board (the foundation of the model) identified different issues of concern. The issues articulated most frequently included concerns about constituencies, accountability, and alignment. Although WYMS and the educational institution appeared to have similar written mission statements, it became evident that, at least in the area of programming, the radio station aligned neither to its own mission nor to that of the larger organization. Thus, WYMS operations were not consistent with the organizational ideals expressed by MPS leadership, thereby creating problems for an organization in need of unity and alignment to its mission rather than diversion. In turn, MPS was not holistic or systemic in its approach as a learning organization. To illustrate, the MPS school board accepted a separate mission statement for WYMS in the early 1990s. An urban educational institution may have many problems, such as poverty, student attrition, low graduation rates, violence, and teacher retention, to name a few, but the focus still remains on educating Milwaukee's public school population. The radio station's practiced mission did not accomplish this. |
