Page 41 - DCOM506_DMGT502_STRATEGIC_MANAGEMENT

Unit 3: Defining Mission, Goals and Objectives

Missions have one or more of the five distinct and identifiable components: Notes
1. Customers
2. Products or services
3. Markets

4. Concern for growth
5. Philosophy

Notes It's more important to communicate the mission statement to employees than to
customers. Your mission statement doesn't have to be clever or catchy–just accurate.

Once a mission statement has been set, every organisation needs to periodically review and
possibly revise it to make sure it accurately reflects its goals and the business and economic
climates evolve.

Task Discuss about a time when you lost track when you lost vision/mission of
your team/department/organisation. What negative repercussions did it have?

3.2 Importance of Mission Statement

The purpose of the mission statement is to communicate to all the stakeholders inside and
outside the organisation what the company stands for and where it is headed. It is important to
develop a mission statement for the following reasons:
1. It helps to ensure unanimity of purpose within the organisation.

2. It provides a basis or standard for allocating organisational resources.
3. It establishes a general tone or organisational climate.
4. It serves as a focal point for individuals to identify with the organisation’s purpose and
direction.

5. It facilitates the translation of objectives into tasks assigned to responsible people within
the organisation.
6. It specifies organisational purpose and then helps to translate this purpose into objectives
in such a way that cost, time and performance parameters can be assessed and controlled.
Developing a comprehensive mission statement is also important because divergent views
among managers can be revealed and resolved through the process.
According to Pearce (1982), vision and mission statements have the following value:
1. They provide managers with a unity of direction that transcends individual, parochial and
transitory needs.
2. They promote a sense of shared expectations among all levels and generations of
employees.
3. They consolidate values over time and across individuals and interest groups.

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