What's in a name? A survey looks at how systems define sponsorship and mission effectiveness functions

In late 1986 the Sisters of Mercy Health System-St. Louis surveyed selected Catholic healthcare systems to determine what works when defining sponsorship and mission effectiveness functions and positions. Additionally, it attempted to ascertain how the systems' age, growth pattern, and maturity affected their definition of the corporate and institutional roles of sponsorship or mission effectiveness. Fifteen of eighteen healthcare systems responded to the survey. The systems ranged in age from six months to 14 years. In 14 systems the sponsorship, mission, or mission effectiveness functions were corporate positions; the 15th considered this function consultative. The positions covered 21 "primary responsibility areas," among them ethics, human resources, planning, ministry development, canonical issues, and legal affairs. The primary responsibilities of the positions increased and gradually leveled off as the system matured. The survey indicated that the 15 systems needed about six years to develop and implement the sponsorship, mission, or mission effectiveness functions. The initial activity focused on sponsorship. The implementation phase seemed to reach a new level of maturity when mission effectiveness concerns became a priority. This evolution assumed a mature understanding and ownership of the sponsors' values and spirit.