Meaning is always invested in the context of what you might be examining. Likewise, when you look at – or invest anything in – any organisation for any reason the key piece of information you need to know is its 'purpose'. All too often an organisation's/operation's/project's is ambiguous and this is particularly true for musingplaces. With the inevitability of changing personnel and changing circumstances often the imperative is to develop a 'purpose' that is somewhat elastic. However, with the 'elasticity' there is often a loss clarity of purpose.
The Royal Society of the 19th C kept it purpose and in the context of tracing their intellectual heritage back to the Enlightenment typically stated it's 'purposefulness' as "the generation of new knowledge" ... full stop!
In the 21st C beyond the shadow of 'The Enlightenment' as laudable such a purpose might be it arguably needs some contextual adjustment to pass a contemporaneous relevance test. So, if one looks at the words relatively carefully a musingplace's purpose might currently be better expressed as:
- The generation of new knowledge;
- The facilitation of new experiences; and
- The development of new understandings;
If the subject of the 'strategic thinking process' is somewhere like the QVMAG such a purpose – purpose sometimes being expressed as a mission – is relevant given that there will be a range of 'objectives' attached to the process and concept.
If the subject of the thinking is to do with something like a 'cultural unit' then this 'purposefulness' could/would still apply even if there might be some discussion about the order in which the elements are expressed. Nonetheless, ranking purposes is somewhat pointless.
Very often 'purpose' becomes obscure and unclear. As a consequence 'woolly and ambiguous' statements are put up as Statements of Purpose. The outcome is generally a situation where the 'woollyness' trickles down throughout all aspects of the operation.
BEYOND PURPOSE
Once 'purpose' is established, and articulated, the foundations are there to establish a set of objectives/aspirations by which an operation's performance and outcomes can be measured and assessed. Objectives and aspirations will undoubtedly shift over time while an operation's purpose may remain stable.
By way of example, mistakenly, it often thought that the 'purpose' of a gold mine is to make as profit. That may well be an objective but the 'purpose' can only be to mine gold and profit making may or may not be the objective depending upon the context of the operation.
Once 'objectives' have been established it follows that there'll be rationales for each and every one and quite probably an overarching rationale or set of rationales. Consequently, strategies to fit the circumstance can be devised or found.
Public Administration and Accountability 101
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