Remember that every organisation has a purpose · a reason for being. Businesses seek to provide profits for their shareholders, hospitals seek to care for health of patients, universities seek to discover and disseminate new knowledge, and government agencies seek to help the public.
1.5.1 Mission
Every organisation also has a mission, so what is mission? Mission is –
1.5
Reading 1.2
Edwards, JS and Kidd, J (2001) ÂKnowledge management when „the times they are a-changing‰Ê.
Questions for discussion:
1. The authors mention processes, knowledge, and learning are the three elements in KM. In most of the business organisations today (e.g. the one you are working with) how is KM perceived? Is it linked to processes or learning?
2. How do you think learning in alliances is feasible?
3. What should be the best catalyst for learning? Top? Bottom?
Source: Proceedings on 2nd European Conference on Knowledge Management (Bled School of Management, Bled, Slovenia, 8-9 November 2001) <Conferences@mcil.co.uk>
“A view of how it will achieve its purpose, or an overall statement of its business direction”.
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• A broad ÂphilosophicalÊ statement that ties an organisation to certain activities and to economic, social, ethical or political ends.
• It represents a general framework within which the organisation operates, and may contain statements of Âwhat we believe inÊ, Âwho we areÊ, or Âwhat we doÊ at a very general level, or statements of an inspirational nature such as ÂTo be the WorldÊs Number One AirlineÊ.
• OrganisationÊs character, identity and reason for existence.
• In fact, many organisations have very detailed mission statements drawn up by their top management.
• Mission is still a relatively neglected area of management, and there seems to be no clear agreement on what it encompasses.
• Some management thinkers view mission as an esoteric and somewhat irrelevant preoccupation that haunts senior managers, whereas others see it as the bedrock of an organisationÊs strength, identity and success · its personality and character (Campbell and Young 1991b).
• Purpose and mission are related but they are not the same things. To illustrate the difference between purpose and mission, consider two watch manufacturing companies · Timex and Rolex. Both have the same purpose · to make money by selling watches · but they have very different missions. Timex emphasizes low-cost, reliable watches that can be purchased anywhere. But Rolex sells high-quality fashion watches for high prices only through selected stores.
Despite the diversity of opinion about mission, there are two broad approaches to describe mission:
1. according to business strategy
− mission is a strategic tool that defines the businessÊs commercial rationale and target market.
− is linked to strategy but at a higher level.
− It exists to answer two fundamental questions: ÂWhat is our business?Ê and ÂWhat should it beÊ? According to Levitt (1960) most companies tend to define their businesses either wrongly or too narrowly.
2. according to philosophy and ethics.
− mission as the cultural ÂglueÊ enabling an organisation to function as a collective unit.
− This cultural glue includes strong norms and values that influence the way in which people behave, how they work together, and how they pursue the goals of the organisation (Campbell and Yeung 1991b).
− Mission in this form is more like a business philosophy helping employees perceive and interpret events in the same way and speak a common
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language. The example of Shui OnÊs mission statement is a good reflection of the organisational culture, values, beliefs, business ethics and social responsibilities.
However, it is important for an organisation to define its business mission correctly so that it may focus on Âcustomer needÊ rather than on production technology. Such a mission statement should include a clear description of what are the current and the future expectation of the company. This is expressed as a broad description of the products, markets and geographical coverage of the business today and within a reasonable short time frame, commonly three to five years. The statement of business scope is informative not only for what it includes but also for what it leaves out. Examples of such mission statements are given below
At IBM, we strive to lead in the creation, development and manufacture of the industryÊs most advanced information technologies, including computer systems, software networking systems, storage devices and microelectronics. We translate these advanced technologies into value for our customers through our professional solutions and services businesses worldwide. (Mission statement of IBM.)
Activity 1.3
Visit the website at <http://www.shuion.com.hk/eng/group/gcms .htm> in which you will find a very comprehensive mission statement.
The corporate mission statement is usually a good reflection of the corporate culture, values, beliefs, business ethics and social responsibilities. The Shui On website clearly lays out the groupÊs corporate mission, which may be summarized as:
Profit · to achieve sufficient profit to provide an attractive return to our shareholders and to finance future growth.
Customers· to provide our clients with quality service and products.
Our people · to provide an environment whereby our people can excel, grow and develop with the company.
Management philosophy · to provide an environment that encourages and rewards merit and team effort.
Corporate culture · to cultivate a set of shared beliefs on which all our policies and actions are based.
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Both these approaches to defining mission are apparently incomplete and need to be synthesized to provide a holistic framework. This is because mission is about culture and strategy. In fact, a mission exists when strategy and culture are mutually supportive (Campbell and Yeung 1991a). In fact within this holistic framework, purpose becomes part of mission, which is divided into four interrelated elements:
purpose, strategy, behaviour standards and values (Figure 1.2).
1 Purpose, as stated above, addresses why an organisation exists. For whose benefit is all this effort being put in?
2 Strategy provides the commercial logic for the organisation. It considers the nature of the business, the desired positioning versus other companies, and the source of competitive advantage. Purpose and strategy alone are empty intellectual thoughts unless they can be converted into action, and into the policy and behaviour guidelines that help people decide what to do on a day-to-day basis.
3 Thus, behaviour standards are the norms and rules of Âthe way we do things around hereÊ (Campbell and Yeung 1991a, 1991b). As an example of how an organisationÊs purpose and strategy could be successfully converted into tangible behaviour standards and actions, consider British Airways. It promotes itself as the ÂworldÊs favourite airlineÊ and declares its aim as ÂTo be the best and most successful company in the airline industryÊ. The strategy to achieve this is based on providing good value for money, overall service that is superior to its competitors and friendly, professional managers who are in tune with the staff. These strategic objectives are translated into policies and behaviour guidelines such as the need for in-flight services to be at least as good as those of competing airlines on the same route, and the requirement that managers and employees should be helpful and friendly at all times. By translating purpose and strategy into actionable policies and standards, top management at British Airways was able to dramatically change the airlineÊs performance. Central to this effort was the training and behaviour change connected with the slogan ÂPutting People FirstÊ.
Purpose
MISSION
Behaviour Standards
Strategy Values
Figure 1.2: A holistic model of an organisationÊs mission
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4 Finally, values are the beliefs and moral principles that lie behind the behaviour standards or the organisationÊs culture. In many organisations, corporate values are not explicit and can only be understood by perceiving the philosophical rationale that lies behind management behaviour. For instance, in British Airways, there is a good business reason for Putting People FirstÊ, but there is also a moral reason; we are all people and life would be better for all of us if we take a little more care of each other. This moral rationale was put high on the agenda when 35,000 British Airways staff were trained on the Putting People First programmes.
Mission provides a rationale for action. It links behaviour standards with purpose in two ways:
1 the strategy link explains that certain behaviour will help make the organisation successful; and
2 the values link explains that certain behaviour is morally the right way to behave.
A strong mission exists when the four elements reinforce each other. This can be easily seen by looking at the links between the strategy and the value system and whether both can be acted out through the same behavioural standards.
1.5.2 Vision
Another term that is often used to guide an organisationÊs strategy is vision. A vision is required when an organisation wants to change itself in some radical way.
In the past, organisations that have been most successful in changing their performance radically, are those that have been successful in convincing their employees about the Âneed for changeÊ and provide them with a vision of what the organisation needs to become. By expressing the vision statement, this forces management to think clearly about the purpose of their change programme and about the extent of the change that needs to be effected.
• Represents a view of a realistic, credible, attractive future for the organisation · a condition that is better in some important ways than what exists at present (Campbell and Yeung 1991a).
• Describes how the company is going to operate and outlines the kind of results it must achieve (Hammer and Champy 1993, 154).
A vision statement describes the image of an organisationÊs possible and desirable future state.
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• It is both a qualitative and a quantitative statement, which a company can use again and again, before and during change, as a reminder of the objectives for change, as a yardstick for measuring progress of the change, and as a prod to keep the change action going.
• A powerful vision statement contains three elements:
− Focus on operations
− Contain measurable objectives and metrics
− It should change the basis for competition in the industry (Hammer and Champy 1993, 156)
o Example of a simple and powerful vision statement