Management Mission, Vision, & Values
Every organization to be successful needs to be guided by a clear strategy. Vision, mission, and values form the ground for building the strategic foundation of the organization. They direct and guide the purpose, principles and values that govern the activities of the organization and communicate this purpose of the organization internally and externally.
Successful organizations ensure that their goals and objectives are always in synergy with their vision, mission and values and consider this as the basis for all strategic planning and decision making.
By developing clear and meaningful mission and vision statements, organizations can powerfully communicate their intentions and inspire people within and outside the organization to ensure that they understand the objectives of the organization, and align their expectations and goals toward a common sense of purpose.
Importance of Mission, Vision, and Values
Vision and mission statements play an important role in strategy development by:
Providing means to create and weigh various strategic plans and alternatives.
Laying down the fundamentals of an organizations identity and defining its purpose for existence.
Providing an understanding of its business directions.
By identifying and understanding how values, mission, and vision interact with one another, an organization can create a well-designed and successful strategic plan leading
to competitive advantage.
An organizational mission is a statement specifying the kind of business it wants to undertake. It puts forward the vision of management based on internal and external
environments, capabilities, and the nature of customers of the organization.
A mission statement therefore:
Communicates the organizations reason for being.
Reveals a company's philosophy, as well as its purpose.
Specifies how it aims to serve its key stakeholders.
Defines the current and future business in terms of product, markets, customer, etc.
Is often longer than vision statements and sometimes also includes a summation
of the firms values.
Following are the mission statements of some of the most successful companies.
Microsoft
At Microsoft, our mission is to enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential. We consider our mission statement a commitment to our customers. We deliver on that commitment by striving to create technology that is accessible to everyoneof all ages and abilities. Microsoft is one of the industry leaders in accessibility innovation and in building products that are safer and easier to use.
Coke
Our Roadmap starts with our mission, which is enduring. It declares our purpose as a company and serves as the standard against which we weigh our actions and decisions.
To refresh the world...
To inspire moments of optimism and happiness...
To create value and make a difference
A vision is a clear, comprehensive snapshot of an organization at some point in the future. It defines the companys direction and entails what the organization needs to be like, to be successful in future.
It is of strategic importance to an organization to create a clear and effective vision. A clear vision helps to define the values of the organization and guides the conduct of all employees. A strong vision also leads to improved productivity and efficiency.
A Vision Statement is:
A future-oriented declaration of the organizations purpose and aspirations.
Lays out the organizations purpose for being.
A clear vision helps in aligning everyone towards the same state of objective, providing a basis for goal congruence.
For example, the Vision Statement of PepsiCo is as follows: "At PepsiCo, we're committed to achieving business and financial success while leaving a positive imprint on society delivering what we call Performance with Purpose."