Visions and missions: A case study of organizational change and diversity in higher education

Research on organizational change in general and organizational change in higher education specifically has been accruing over past decades with little theoretical agreement and few case examples for practitioners. At the same time, studies of diversity have suffered from a dearth of common terms and little theoretical grounding. This study uses an inductive (grounded theory) case study approach to examine one college's intentional change around issues of diversity over the past 30 years, asking the basic questions "what changed?" and "how did these changes occur?" Data was collected through 37 interviews with individuals involved in change at the school, as well as through archival sources. The study's results are twofold: a detailed chronology and history of organizational change around issues of diversity at the school over the past three decades and a theoretical framework to explain this change. This latter result includes the role of the school's "vision of diversity" and corresponding mission statement in driving change forward while balancing political conflict and power struggles over the appropriateness of the mission and its implementation. Specifically, the vision and mission are said to guide change, attract and maintain support for change, inspire others during change and affect revenue. The vision and mission can only perform these functions, however, with stakeholder alignment and strong financial foundations. These results integrate the current literature on organizational visions and missions, while adding the concept of power to both bodies of literature. In addition to these theoretical contributions, practical implications of the study inform organizational leaders, organizational actors involved in change and consultants.