Effective Mission Statement
Transcript of Effective Mission Statement
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Organizations legitimize themselves by performing some function that is valued by society.
Amission statement defines the basic reason for the existence of that organization. Such astatement reflects the corporate philosophy, identity, character, and image of an
organization. It may be defined explicitly or could be deduced from the managements
actions, decisions, or the chief executives press statements. When explicitly defined it
provides enlightenment to the insiders and outsiders on what the organization stand for. Inorder to be effective, a mission statement should possess the following seven
characteristics.
1. It should be feasible A mission should always aim high but it should not be an
impossible statement. It should be realistic and achievable its followers must find it to be
credible. But feasibility depends on the resources available to work towards a mission. Inthe sixties, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had a mission
to land on the moon. It was a feasible mission that was ultimately realized.
2. It should be precise. A mission statement should not be so narrow as to restrict the
organizations activities nor should it be too broad to make itself meaningless. For instance,
Manufacturing bicycles is a narrow mission statement since it severely limits the
organizations activities, while mobility business is too broad a term, as it does not definethe reasonable contour within which the organization could operate.
3. It should be clear. A mission should be clear enough to lead to action. It should not be ahighsounding set of platitudes meant for publicity purposes. Many organizations do adopt
such statements but probably they do so for emphasizing their identity and character. For
example, Asian Paints stresses leadership through excellence, while India Today see itselfas the complete news magazine. The Administrative Staff College of India considers
itself as the college for practicing managers and Bajaj Auto believes in Providing, value
for money, for years. To be useful, a mission statement should be clear enough to lead to
action. The ITCs stated corporate philosophy of aligning its organizational activities withnational priorities helps it in choosing areas for diversification like the hotel, paper and
agroindustry.
4. It should be motivating. A mission statement should be motivating for members of the
organization and of society, and they should feel it worthwhile working for such an
organization or being its customers. A bank, which lays great emphasis on customerservice, is likely to motivate its employees to serve its customers well and to attract clients.
Customer service, therefore is an important purpose for a banking institution.
5. It should be distinctive. A mission statement, which is indiscriminate, is likely to have
little impact. If all scooter manufacturers defined their mission in a similar fashion, there
would not be much of a difference among them. But if one defines it as providing scooters
that would provide value for money, for years it will create an important distinction in thepublic mind.
6. It should indicate major components ofstrategy. A mission statement along with theorganizational purpose should indicate the major components of the strategy to be adopted.
The chief executive of Indal expressed his intentions by saying that his company begins
its fifth decade of committed entrepreneurship with the promise of a highly diversified
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company retaining aluminum as its mainline business, but with an active presence in the
chemical, electronics and industrial equipment business. This statement indicates that the
company is likely to follow a combination of stability, growth and diversification strategiesin the future.
7. It should indicate how objectives are to be accomplished. Besides indicating the broadstrategies to be adopted a mission statement should also provide clues regarding the
manner in which the objectives are to be accomplished. The Centre for Development of
Telematics (CDOT) had set its first three yearsmission (198487) as developing, designing,and engineering a large digital exchange suitable for Indian conditions and its second
mission (198790) as developing the technological prerequisites for an integrated systems
digital network of the future. These mission statements specially deal with the objectives to
be achieved within a given time period.
COMPONENTS OF AN EFFECTIVE MISSION STATEMENT
Mission statements can and do vary in length, content, format and specificity. Most
practitioners and academicians of strategic management consider an effectively
written mission statement to exhibit nine characteristics or mission statement
components. Since a mission statement is often the most visible and public part of the
strategic management process, it is important that it include most, if not all, of these
essential components. Components and corresponding questions that a mission
statement should answer are given here.
1. Customers: Who are the enterprise's customers?
2.Products or services: What are the firm's major products or services?
3.Markets: Where does the firm compete?
4. Technology: What is the firm's basic technology?5. Concern for survival, growth, and profitability: What is the firm's commitment
towards economic objectives?
6.Philosophy: What are the basic beliefs, core values, aspirations and philosophical
priorities of the firm?
7.Self-concept: What are the firm's major strengths and competitive advantages?
8. Concern for public image: What is the firm's public image?
9. Concern for employees: What is the firm's attitude/orientation towards employees?
A mission statement is a statement of the purpose of a company ororganization. Themission statement should guide the actions of the organization, spell out its overall goal,
provide a path, and guide decision-making. It provides "the framework or context withinwhich the company's strategies are formulated."[1]
[edit] Contents
Effective mission statements commonly clarify the organization's purpose.
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Commercial mission statements often include the following information:
Purpose and aim(s) of the organization
The organization's primary stakeholders: clients/customers, shareholders,congregation, etc.
How the organization provides value to these stakeholders, for example by offeringspecific types of products and/or services
According to Bart (1997), the commercial mission statement consists of 3 essential
components:
Key market who is your target client/customer? (generalize if needed)
Contribution what product or service do you provide to that client?
Distinction what makes your product or service unique, so that the client would
choose you?
Examples of mission statements that clearly include the 3 essential components:
McDonalds - "To provide the fast food customer food prepared in the same high-quality manner world-wide that is tasty, reasonably-priced & delivered consistently
in a low-key dcor and friendly atmosphere."[citation needed]
Key Market: The fast food customer world-wide
Contribution: tasty and reasonably-priced food prepared in a high-qualitymanner
Distinction: delivered consistently (world-wide) in a low-key dcor andfriendly atmosphere.
Courtyard by Marriott - "To provide economy and quality minded travelers with apremier, moderate priced lodging facility which is consistently perceived as clean,
comfortable, well-maintained, and attractive, staffed by friendly, attentive and
efficient people"[citation needed]
Key Market: economy and quality minded travelers
Contribution: moderate priced lodging
Distinction: consistently perceived as clean, comfortable, well-maintained,and attractive, staffed by friendly, attentive and efficient people
The mission statement can be used to resolve trade-offs between different businessstakeholders. Stakeholders include: managers & executives, non-management employees,
shareholders, board of directors, customers, suppliers, distributors, creditors/bankers,
governments (local, state, federal, etc.), labour unions, competitors,NGOs, and the
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community or general public. By definition, stakeholders affect or are affected by the
organization's decisions and activities.
Characteristics of Business Objectives
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Kara Page
Kara Page has been a freelance writer and editor since 2007. She maintains several blogs
on travel, music, food and more. She is also a contributing writer for Suite101 and has
articles published on eHow and Answerbag. Page holds a Bachelor of Music Educationdegree from the University of North Texas.
By Kara Page, eHow Contributor
A company with clearly defined goals andobjectives is on the path to success.
Having strong objectives is vital to the success of any business, yet many employers and
employees do not fully understand how to create and comprehend a good objective. An an
effective business objective contains several characteristics that serve to make it as specificas possible.
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Characteristics of an Effective Work
Team
The Customer
Write all business objectives with a clear understanding of who the businessserves. This can be a demographic or a general description of people who
need a certain service or product. For example, a company that sells
outdoors goods is targeting a customer group of hikers, bikers, athletes andother outdoors enthusiasts.
The Need
A business objective must also focus on what customers need. This could bespecific or somewhat general, depending on the customer. For example,
customers of a fast food restaurant are looking for cheap, convenient meals,while customers of an electronics repair shop might be looking for repair or
spare parts on any number of gadgets.
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The Solution
If a customer needs something, it's up to the business the provide thesolution. In the previous example, the fast food restaurant meets the needs
of its customers by providing a variety of prepackaged meals at a relativelylow price.
Specific
In order to better serve customers and increase sales and growth, businessobjectives must be both quantitative and specific to a time frame. For
example, "attract more customers" is a general, non-specific objective that
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does not clearly state what must be done. However, "double our patronage
within one year" is highly specific and gives all employees a clear goal.
Give employees with exact numbers on where the company is and explainthe measurement metric. Re-evaluate those numbers at the deadline to
determine whether the goal has been met.
Flexible
Because unforeseen circumstances happen and must be accounted for,business objectives should be both flexible and realistic. They must also be
brief and written in simple language so that everyone, from employees to
partners, can clearly understand what must be done.
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