Do Personnel Policies Matter for Organizational Mission Coherence? A Public School Test

Abstract

Public administration theory suggests that building mission coherence within an organization is important for its effectiveness. Personnel policies may influence the capacity to foster mission coherence. Through hiring or dismissal, managers could compose a staff of workers who match with the organizational mission and abide by its associated norms and values. Policies that limit the manager’s influence over personnel may have the opposite effect. This article empirically tests this link between personnel policies and mission coherence within the U.S. public schools system. Ordinary least squares regression is used to analyze a nationally representative sample of nearly 6,500 schools. Results indicate that schools where administrators have greater influence over hiring decisions or face fewer formal barriers against dismissing teachers tend to have teachers who report greater mission coherence. Implications for theory and practice as well as study limitations are also discussed.

Keywords

person–organization fit organizational mission personnel management education policy

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