Effective Mission Statement

7/31/2019 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

X

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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Effective Mission Statement

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