Organisational Mission Statements: A Postmodernist Perspective on the Management of the IS/IT Function

Abstract

The mission statement embodies certain beliefs about the management culture of the organisation which can be examined and placed within underlying theoretical contexts. This paper examines postmodernism in this respect which, in addition to forming a critique of modernist approaches, posits alternative views about philosophy, organisation and subsequently IS/IT theory. The study applies an ethnographic case research methodology where data was collected from sixty interviewees employed within a multinational financial services group. In this way, the organisational mission statement was used as a vehicle for analysing the contribution of postmodern approaches to the management of the IS/IT function. The influential Ashridge Model was adopted to map the findings of the study which suggest three propositions for postmodernism in providing i cultural context, ii a textual or 'deconstructive' analysis and iii an ethnographic empathy for further IS/IT research.