University mission statement A mission statement is an organization's state¬ ment of purpose and commitments to each of its major stakeholder groups. Does your university have a mission statement? If so, find and study it. If not, try to compose one so that it addresses the following questions.

REQUIRED

(a) What stakeholder groups does your university's mission statement specifi¬ cally identify? Who do you think are the university's stakeholders?

(b) Who is the university's customer? (Be careful, this is a tricky question. Legiti¬ mate arguments can be made for each of the following: students, students' parents or sponsors, high school guidance counselors, and prospective em¬ ployers.)

(c) Some universities identify either alumni or faculty as the university's cus¬ tomer. Explain why you agree or disagree with specifying alumni or faculty as the university's customer.

The Organization as a System of Activities 59

(d) Has your university developed specific and measurable performance goals relating to each stakeholder group? If so, what do you think of them? If not, what should they be?

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