On Writing Strategies Of Successful Mission Statement In Light Of Illocutionary Force Concept

The present paper aims to provide practical and measurable strategies of writing successful mission statements for companies. Unlike previous research, the issue is addressed with illocutionary force concept. In the study, mission statements of Fortune Global 500 are collected and analyzed in both quantitative and qualitative way.Mission statement states the company's core value and ambition in a short statement. It provides guide to decision-making, rules to employees'behavior and a short cut to introduce the company. Without that, the company will be like a train rolling without track. According to Searle's classification, this thesis analyzes the 500 mission statements one by one and identifies that mission statements shall be considered as commissives. The evidence comes from illocutionary point, direction of fit, and sincerity condition of these mission statements. All of the three differentiating factors distinguish mission statement from other categories. In short, mission statement is a promise that a company makes to its stakeholders (the supposed hearer of speech act). Based on this argument, adjustment is made to Searle'felicity conditions for commissives to establish the Mission Statement Evaluation Model. This model is used as the analysis instrument to evaluate and select felicitous mission statements. While observing top 54 statements selected by the model, special illocutionary force indicating devices (IFIDs) are spotted, such as present tense, infinitives, and the indicative mood. These IFIDs enhance the illocutionary force of mission statement. Grounded on the IFIDs, writing strategies like the use of infinitives and first person plural pronouns are summed up.The thesis emphasizes on the procedure of discursion and theoretical foundation of some of the strategies. The author keeps most of the analysis on the procedure of how these strategies are proposed, and hopes this perspective can not only provide new data to the research of illocutionary act, but also pioneer a new dimension to the analysis of mission statement.