The mission of an organization usually reflects the following aspect. Approaches to mission formation. If your company's mission suits others, your company doesn't stand for anything special.

That is, the mission is understood as a statement that reveals the meaning of the organization’s existence, in which the difference between this organization and similar ones is manifested.

Typically, defining the mission of an organization aims to solve the following problems:

• identify the area of ​​active actions of the organization and cut off development paths that lead to nowhere;
• determine the basic principles of competition;
• develop a common basis for developing the organization's goals;
• develop a concept of activity that inspires employees of the organization.

Mission Goals is a vision of what the organization should be or what it should stand for. They must reflect the interests of all groups of influence or various groups people in one way or another connected with the activities of the organization and involved in the process of its functioning (owners, managers, employees and workers, consumers, suppliers, banks, government agencies, local authorities management, public organizations and etc.).

When developing a mission, the following groups of factors are taken into account:

1. The history of the emergence and development of the organization, its traditions, achievements and failures, the established image.
2. The existing style of behavior and mode of action of owners and managers.
3. Resources, i.e. everything that an organization can control: cash cash, recognized product brands, unique technologies, employee talent, etc.
4. , representing the totality of all factors that affect the organization's ability to achieve its goals using the chosen strategies.
5. Distinctive advantages that the organization has.

For example, the mission of the Marriott Hotel Company is stated as follows: “We strive to be the best in the world in providing stays and food for our customers by encouraging our staff to provide exceptional customer service and respect the interests of shareholders.”

Following the above rules is very difficult task. This is one of the main reasons that not all organizations have clearly defined missions, and some simply do not have them.

Organizational goals

The main starting point for the formation of organizational goals - and innovation. It is in these areas that the organization’s values ​​are located for which the consumer is willing to pay. If the organization is unable to good level today and tomorrow to satisfy consumer demands, then it will not have any profit. In other areas of activity (production, personnel, etc.), goals are valuable only to the extent that they improve the organization's ability to satisfy customer needs and implement innovations.

There are six types of goals:

1. Achieving certain indicator values market share.
2. Innovation goals. Without developing and providing new services, an organization can very quickly be knocked out of the competition by competitors. An example of this type of goal would be: 50% of sales should be generated by products and services introduced in the last five years.
3. Resource goals characterize the organization’s desire to attract the most valuable resources: qualified employees, capital, modern equipment. These goals are of a marketing nature. Thus, organizations compete to attract the most capable university graduates, retailers compete for the best location retail outlets. As a result, achieving such results creates the prerequisites for performing other tasks.
4. Goals to improve performance. When personnel, capital and production and technical potential are not used effectively enough, then consumer needs will not be satisfied enough, or this will be achieved through excessive expenditure of resources.
5. Social goals are aimed at reducing the negative impact on the natural environment, helping society solve employment problems, in the field of education, etc.
6. Goals to achieve a certain profit can only be established after previous goals have been formulated. is something that can help attract capital and encourage owners to share risk. Profit is therefore best viewed as a restrictive goal. Minimum profitability is necessary for the survival and development of a business.

Organizational and marketing performance indicators

Determining activity goals and their assessment are directly related to the selection of appropriate ones.

Very often this indicator is considered. In doing so, it is assumed that profit maximization- This the main objective activities of the organization.

The following arguments are usually given in defense of this point of view:

1. Profit maximization is the formal goal for which an organization exists. Those who have invested capital are not interested in specific projects, but in profit.
2. Profit is the ultimate reward for efficient work and creating value for consumers.
3. Profit is a simple and understandable criterion for assessing the effectiveness of business decisions. This main criterion choosing the best solutions.

When profit maximization is considered as the main and only goal of an organization’s activities, then this approach should be considered simplified from both a theoretical and a practical point of view. The organization strives to achieve satisfactory rather than maximum profit. Often this profit value acts as a limiting goal when formulating consumer and innovation-oriented goals.

Profit maximization as an evaluation criterion when considering alternative strategies can be used as a first approximation in finding better solutions. At the subsequent stage of analysis, other criteria must be taken into account.

Selecting a criterion for the effectiveness of a non-profit organization

First of all, it should be noted that Along with organizations that live off their profits, there are also non-profit organizations. Choosing a school or a hospital as a criterion for the effectiveness of its activities contradicts the very idea of ​​creating similar organizations. However, profit can be one of the indicators of the effectiveness of the self-supporting component in the activities of non-profit organizations.

Below we will talk only about organizations that live from their production and economic activities, which will be called companies.

Despite the predominant use of profit indicators to assess business success, they have certain disadvantages. Firstly, in practice, managers can quite easily and simply manipulate profit indicators in order to obtain falsified results. A variety of and, moreover, completely legal methods of depreciation accounting for inventory valuation, accounting for research and development costs, translation foreign currency and in particular, the many options for recording new acquisitions can turn losses on individual accounting items into large reported profits and vice versa.

Of course, companies that care about creating and maintaining a favorable image first of all proclaim missions that have a social connotation and have a high attractive force for all groups of the company and, above all, for its managers and employees. Without this, it is difficult to use such an important management tool as (corporate culture). True, there is an opinion that the goals of the mission belong to the category of so-called declared goals, “working for the public,” and among the hidden, undeclared goals there is necessarily the goal of making a profit.

This contradiction can be overcome to a certain extent if the company’s goals are linked to the goals of the company. Since the marketing plan directly sets the objectives of selling certain products in selected markets, the goal of such activities is to achieve the planned indicators of sales volume, profit, and market share. At the same time, the priorities and values ​​of these indicators depend on the development goals of the company as a whole. Thus, the profit indicator naturally fits into the goals of the marketing plan, and achieving its specific results contributes to the fulfillment of the company’s more general goals.

Today, a company is required to be able to choose a multi-purpose perspective and satisfy the needs of the most different groups interests. The main task of the company's management is to reconcile these disparate and largely contradictory interests. In a well-balanced company, reconciling these interests is usually not difficult. One reason is that pressure groups generally do not seek to maximize their interests; instead, they simply hope to obtain an outcome that satisfies them. In fact, leaders operate in a zone of tolerance. Tolerance zone is an area of ​​effective functioning within which the company satisfies the interests of all its key influence groups.

The second most important indicator after profit for many companies this is growth, turnover or value of assets. Some executives believe that there is a relationship between company size and marginal profitability. Until the company becomes one of the leading players, they say, it will be vulnerable to stronger competitors. Others point to the connection between company size and executive pay.

Therefore, the multidimensional, rather than focused on 1-2 indicators, nature of determining the goals of the company’s activities is becoming increasingly widespread. As a result of this methodological reorientation, a multi-criteria approach to assessing the performance of companies is becoming increasingly common. Thus, Forbes magazine uses a 500 ranking system best companies USA, including the following evaluation criteria: the average level of profitability over the last 5 years (their total market value and return on invested capital), sales growth rates, stock returns, as well as absolute values ​​of sales volumes, net income and profit share in price for the last year.

Mission is the main goal of the organization, the meaning of its existence. Mission is one of the fundamental concepts strategic management. Different scientists have given different mission statements.

Mission is the meaning of the company’s existence from the standpoint of meeting customer needs, realizing competitive advantages, and motivating the company’s employees.”

Mission is the main thing common goal organization - a clearly expressed reason for its existence. Goals are developed to achieve this mission.”

Mission is the philosophy and purpose, the meaning of existence of an organization.

Usually the mission is formulated in two versions. Short version The mission statement consists of 1-2 short sentences - a brand slogan of the organization, aimed primarily at shaping the image of the organization in society.

The second - extended version of the mission is most often formulated for internal use and should detail all the necessary aspects of the mission, including:

• -the purpose of the organization’s functioning;
• -area of ​​activity of the organization;
• -philosophy of the organization;
• -methods of achieving goals;
• -methods of interaction between the organization and society ( social politics organizations).

A correctly defined mission, although it always has a common philosophical meaning, nevertheless, it necessarily carries something that makes it unique in its kind, characterizing exactly the organization in which it was developed.

Mission is a central, but not the only element of the hierarchy of organizational goals. The concept of “mission” is closely related to the concepts of “vision”, “values”, “goals”, “performance indicators”, “target indicators”, “ key factors success", "competence". All these concepts are formulated on the basis of the mission.

A mission is seen as a stated statement as to what or why an organization exists, i.e. mission is understood as a statement that reveals the meaning of the organization’s existence, in which the difference between this organization and similar ones is manifested.

Typically, defining the mission of an organization aims to solve the following problems:

• - identify the area of ​​active actions of the organization and cut off development paths that lead to nowhere;
• -define the basic principles of competition;
• -develop a common basis for developing the goals of the organization;
• -develop a concept of activity that inspires employees of the organization.

Mission goals are a vision of what an organization should be or stand for. They should reflect the interests of all groups of influence or various groups of people, one way or another connected with the activities of the organization and involved in the process of its functioning (owners, managers, employees and workers, consumers, suppliers, banks, government agencies, local governments, public organizations, etc.).

When developing a mission, the following groups of factors are taken into account:

• 1. The history of the emergence and development of the organization, its traditions, achievements and failures, the established image.
• 2. The existing style of behavior and method of action of owners and managers.
• 3. Resources, i.e. everything that an organization can control: cash, recognized product brands, unique technologies, employee talent, etc.
• 4. The environment, which represents the totality of all factors that affect the organization's ability to achieve its goals through the chosen strategies.
• 5. Distinctive advantages that the organization has.

For example, the mission of the Marriott hotel company is stated as follows: “We strive to be the best in the world in providing stays and food for our customers by encouraging our staff to provide exceptional customer service and respect the interests of shareholders.”

Following the above rules is a very difficult task. This is one of the main reasons that not all organizations have clearly defined missions, and some simply do not have them.

The mission of an enterprise as a formulated statement is usually developed by its senior management. Often the mission is formulated by the founder of the organization. However, it is not always possible to say that the enterprise has a mission, even if it is formulated and written down in the form of a so-called mission statement. In order to really consider that the enterprise has a mission, it is necessary that the statements formulated in the mission statement are shared, if not by all, then by the majority of the enterprise’s employees. Therefore, the formation of a mission is by no means only the development of mission provisions, but the communication of these provisions to employees and the acceptance of these provisions by the latter. An enterprise acquires a mission when the members of the enterprise agree with it and follow its provisions in their activities.

One of the first (1933) to formulate and use the mission of the corporation was the founder of Matsushita Electric, Konosuke Matsushita. It included:

• -Serving Society: Producing high quality goods and services at reasonable prices, contributing to the well-being and happiness of people around the world.
• -Fairness and Honesty: Adhere to fairness and fairness in business and personal life.
• -Collective work for the common good: join forces and strive to achieve common goals based on mutual trust and recognition of individual independence.
• -Continuous self-improvement: strive to improve corporate and personal commitments to fulfill the firm's mission of achieving lasting peace and prosperity.

A vision is an image of an organization in the future, which may include how it will achieve that outcome. If the mission is formulated in in general terms, then the vision must be extremely specific. For example, “to be the first company in the industry” is a vision, but not a mission.

The fundamental difference between a mission and a vision is that a mission reveals a course of action, shows how certain goals or visions are achieved. Vision, in turn, is a picture of the future, how ideal the state of affairs seems to be to which the company strives.

Vision is rather subject to change, as new ideals and new ideas emerge over time. The mission is a relatively constant element, although it can also be adjusted taking into account changes in various factors.

The mission is the first step in reducing the uncertainty of ideas about the company, first of all, among the owners, management and staff, and then among all those who have and would like to do business with it. This is a strategic management tool, a way to distinguish a given company from competitors, a way for consumers to recognize its products.

There are three types of mission:

Mission-destination - a narrow but specific understanding and designation of the type of activity, the nature of products and services and the range of their consumers; the first idea of ​​the reason for the emergence and meaning of existence of the enterprise.

Mission orientation is a broad, detailed idea of ​​the value system adhered to by the management and personnel of the company, which, at least in general outline allows us to judge the behavior of the company, its relationships with consumers and partners.

Mission-policy is the concentration of main goals and a clearer idea of ​​the company’s behavior for the near future and for the future, i.e. “vision” of the future state of the company.

Analyzing various interpretations missions, you can see that the meaning of all of them is similar. Based on these definitions, the following generalization can be made: a mission is a short paragraph, usually one sentence, that contains the raison d'être and main long-term goal of an organization. The mission period must be foreseeable and long enough (usually up to 5 years) so that the current generation of employees can see the results of their work. The organization's mission statement should imply continuous development in the short and long term.

The main groups of people whose interests influence the activities of the organization, and, therefore, must be taken into account when determining its purpose, are:

• -owners of the organization - they are interested in the organization, since it provides them with a certain stable income. If in this period time there is no income, then the owners have a certain long-term interest associated with this organization.
• -employees of the organization - since it gives them the opportunity to satisfy their needs both at the lower level (salary, working conditions, job security, etc.) and at higher levels (personal development, career, power and influence, etc.).
• -consumers - giving the organization their resources (most often money) in exchange for a product offered to them by the organization, and satisfying their needs with the help of this product.
• - business partners - they are interested in connections with representatives of this organization, as well as any assistance within the framework of this cooperation
• -local community - interest is shown in the jobs that the organization provides to residents of this region(cities, districts, regions), in infrastructure development, in protection environment. The company may be a city-forming enterprise, in which case the interest of the local community in the organization increases significantly.
• -trade unions - their interest is manifested in assistance in resolving labor disputes.
• - the state - receiving from the organization part of the wealth it creates to ensure public well-being and development, the fruits of which, along with other members of society, are enjoyed by the organization.

The mission of the organization should, to a greater or lesser extent, reflect the interests of all of the above entities. The degree to which the interests of each of them are manifested in the mission fundamentally depends on the size of the organization, what business it is in, where it is located, etc. The most consistent and specific influence on the mission of an organization, regardless of what the organization is, is the interests of owners, employees and customers. Therefore, the mission of the organization must be formulated in such a way that it necessarily reflects a combination of the interests of these three groups of people.

Strategic planning is characterized in the same way as planning, with the only difference being that the decision-making process is based on a clearly formulated strategy and strategic goals for the functioning and development of the organization. As a process, strategic planning can be built into a certain technological chain, schematically presented in Fig. 4.1.

Rice. 4.1 - Technology of the strategic planning process

Strategic planning begins with development mission of the organization.

Mission - This is the purpose and raison d'être of an organization for its owners and employees, customers and business partners, the environment and society as a whole. The mission reveals the difference between an organization and similar ones, and this difference is then formed and implemented in the strategy of its functioning and development.

The mission must reflect the following characteristics organizations:

Targets, i.e. what the organization’s activities are aimed at and what it strives for in its long-term perspective;

The scope of activity and the market in which the organization sells its product;

The philosophy of an organization, expressed in its adopted values ​​and beliefs.

These characteristics shape the organization's image, its organizational culture and its ability to survive in a competitive environment.

The mission gives subjects of internal and external environment a general idea of ​​the organization, what it strives for, what means it is ready to use; promotes the internal unity of the organization and the formation of its corporate spirit; creates an opportunity for more effective management organization, since it is the basis for establishing its goals and strategy, distributing its resources; reveals to employees of the organization the meaning and content of their activities.

Below is one example of the mission statement of the American company Sun Banks.

“The company's mission is to promote the economic development and well-being of the communities it serves by providing citizens and businesses with quality banking services in a manner and to an extent consistent with the highest professional and ethical standards of providing fair and appropriate returns to the company's shareholders and fair treatment of the company's employees."

But how can the mission of the department of higher education be formulated? educational institution, graduating managers: “Our mission is to fill the gap in the training of management personnel for enterprises producing products or working in the service sector, formed by the change in management functions in developing system market - competitive relations, by introducing educational technologies that ensure continuous creative and practical development, which guarantee that graduates receive decent work and adequate financial remuneration, as well as creating an infrastructure for continuous business education and management consulting, in which not only employees of the department, students and its graduates will find satisfaction, as well as a society of business people.”

Many managers do not burden themselves with developing and formulating the organization's mission, considering it obvious to themselves. Often the mission is understood as the need to make a profit, which is rather an internal problem of organizations. Henry Ford, who well understood the importance of profit, defined the mission of the Ford company as providing low-cost transportation to society, believing that with such a statement, profit would hardly pass by.

At one time the American railways were unable to maintain high competitiveness and profitability because the management of these companies defined their mission in terms of rail rather than transport transportation.

A completely opposite example of mission formation in the transportation business is associated with the name of one of the Yale University students. The mission of the organization, formulated by him in the 60s. V diploma work, sounded like ensuring the delivery of small parcels and parcels throughout the country within 24 hours. Since such a mission could only be achieved through the creation of airlines, the cost of transportation increased 40 times.

Was it possible to hope in the future for successful business with such a mission statement and directly compete with such powerful companies at that time as UPS and the American Postal Service? However, the author of that “strange” work, Frederick W. Smith, in the mission he formulated, intuitively foresaw the needs of society for fast delivery small parcels. Behind short period after he created the Federal Express Corporation, it brought in $600 million a year, and the president in the first year of managing this company had a salary of $58 million. in year

The mission of an organization must be commensurate with its size. For small businesses, it should be realistic and it will not be a mistake if the small organization's mission as a supplier fits into the mission of the larger parent company.

The formulation of the mission, and, consequently, strategic behavior, is greatly influenced by the value orientations of top management (theoretical, economic, political, social, aesthetic and religious). A well-known specialist in the field of strategic planning, I. Ansof, states: “...behavior is not free from the influence of value orientations; both individuals and organizations exhibit preferences for certain types of strategic behavior, even if this means a loss in terms of results."

"Work for the sake of better life, better world for everyone" - this is the slogan of the Japanese corporation Omron. “We don’t sell our products, we satisfy the needs of society.” However, it must be remembered that behind the shiny facade of the company, from the eyes of the uninitiated, lie such priorities as survival, growth and development in the name of the main motivating factor - profit.

Mission is also identified with such a concept as “corporate credo”. Credo means belief, views, foundations of worldview. The corporate credo consists of the main strategic goal and value system of the corporation, which includes the interests of the main communication groups of external and internal environment, which include consumers whose needs the organization seeks to satisfy through the production and marketing of its products and services, suppliers of all types of resources, shareholders and investors; employees of the organization, contact audiences, including the entire society as the general public.

In addition, the mission can be interpreted in a broad and narrow sense.

Mission to broadly understood - this is the formulated philosophy, purpose and raison d'être of the organization. The philosophy determines the values ​​and principles of behavior of the team in production, economic, financial, economic, sales, communication and other activities in selected markets.

Purpose allows you to formulate the type of organization (commercial, non-profit, state or municipal unitary) and develop specific activities that the management system plans to implement to implement philosophical ideas and plans into the reality of market relations in a long-term period of existence of at least five years.

Mission in a narrow sense- this is the formulated reason for the creation and activities of the organization. In other words, the mission is considered as a statement that reveals the meaning of the organization’s existence and contains characteristics that distinguish this organization from similar ones positioned in the same market of consumers of products and services.

The difference between these interpretations is that in the first case, although the general philosophical meaning is reflected, they are more specifically characterized distinctive features organization, the degree of its uniqueness in industry and territorial markets in comparison with competitors.

Defining the mission of the enterprise is the first stage of developing a marketing plan. There are many concepts of an organization's mission.

The mission of an organization expresses the philosophy and meaning of its existence. It usually details the status, declares the principles of work and provides the most important characteristics organizations. In management theory, the mission is considered as a very important statement of management, reflecting social meaningful intentions organization, as well as giving an idea of ​​the scope of activity, key goals and operating principles, and markets that are the focus of the organization’s interests.

An organization's mission sets the direction for its employees, clients, investors, and suppliers. The mission makes the enterprise a firm and equips it with the principles of strategic behavior, includes a vision of the future state of the organization, its business and the main orientation for achieving success, as well as entrepreneurial culture, policies, and ethical principles of management. The mission is a comprehensive goal, it includes both internal (for example, increasing productivity) and external (for example, related to competition) guidelines for the organization's activities, thus expressing the essence of the success that the organization must achieve.

O.S. Vikhansky defined the mission of an organization as “a formulated statement regarding why or for what reason an organization exists, i.e. the mission is understood as a statement that reveals the meaning of the organization’s existence, in which the difference between this organization and similar ones is manifested.” A correctly defined mission, although it always has a general philosophical meaning, nevertheless, necessarily carries something that makes it unique in its kind, characterizing exactly the organization in which it was developed.

Mission is the reason for the existence of an enterprise. The mission is determined in the process of strategic planning; it is the main strategy of the enterprise, in accordance with which all other activities are built. Its adoption allows you to clearly define the purpose of the activity of this enterprise and does not give managers the opportunity to focus on personal interests. The mission of the organization is public benefit that the organization intends to bring (or is already bringing) to others.

A clearly formulated mission shared by all employees of the enterprise:

• - defines the goals of the enterprise: it becomes clear why it was created. This allows you to concentrate on achieving the main goal without wasting your energy and resources;
• - encourages employees to working together towards achieving this goal. The loyalty of employees to the organization increases, a strong team is formed that shares the views and principles of the organization. An employee begins to work not only for a salary, but also “for an idea”;
• - helps in planning: the mission serves as a starting point for the development of strategic and tactical plans; thus, conflicting goals are eliminated, conflicts and resource losses are eliminated;
• - allows you to differentiate yourself favorably from competitors: the formation of a mission is a good reason to think again and decide how your company differs (of course, in better side) from competing companies.

Mission management functions include:

• 1. Combining the goals, experience and knowledge of people so that, on the one hand, they work effectively, and on the other, they do it with desire and pleasure. This feature is called group projection.
• 2. Combining individual forms of perception and evaluation of various acts, technologies and other features of knowledge production (products, services...). This function is called forward synchronous adaptation.
• 3. Management of the development of concepts, strategies, common systems and regulatory principles labor activity, projects of new decision-making technologies for business communication between representatives of different knowledge cultures. This function is to ensure functional equivalence.
• 4. Activation of creative, rationalization, initiative activities of employees. This function is called cognitive activation.
• 5. Activation of emotional, social, behavioral, and leadership potentials of employees. This function is personal mobilization.
• 6. Internationalization, corporatization and globalization of organizational relations and personnel development. This function is called interpersonal stabilization.

If the enterprise does not have a clearly formulated mission, then this entails:

• - inconsistency: if the enterprise does not have a unified direction of development, a situation often arises when various projects and programs turn out to be uncoordinated and come into conflict with each other;
• - difficulties in planning: if you do not know in which direction your enterprise should develop, it is difficult for you to make any plans, since there is no benchmark to which to strive;
• - formation of a negative image (inside and outside the enterprise). If no one can explain to customers, partners and employees why the company operates in the market, this undermines its authority. As a result, this can lead to a gradual cooling of relationships with partners and clients. Employees, not understanding why they work, begin to experience dissatisfaction and a desire to change jobs.

The mission helps determine what the enterprise actually does: what is its essence, scale, prospects and directions of growth, differences from competitors. At the same time, it focuses attention on the consumer, and not on the product (service), since the mission of the organization is most often determined taking into account consumer interests, requests, and needs that are satisfied by the organization. The role of the organization's mission is that it establishes a connection, orients in a single direction the interests and expectations of those people who perceive the organization from the inside, and those who perceive it from the outside. The mission allows you to orient or even subordinate the interests of people “internal” in relation to the organization to the interests of “external” people. By defining what the organization was created for, the mission gives people's actions meaning and purposefulness, allowing them to better see and understand not only what they should do, but also why they carry out their activities.

There are several main tasks that the organization’s mission is intended to solve:

• 1) make explicit why the firm exists and establish a basis for defining and ensuring consistency of its goals;
• 2) determine what this organization differs from others operating in the same market;
• 3) create a criterion for assessing the need to perform all actions carried out at the enterprise;
• 4) coordinate the interests of all persons associated with the company (owners, management, staff, clients, suppliers, etc.);
• 5) contribute to the creation of a corporate spirit, including expanding the meaning and content of their activities for employees.

The mission is necessary for employees to justify their daily “going” to work, so that the employee compares his personal interests with the interests of the organization in which he works; managers at all levels to facilitate employee management; customers to realize that the company does not just make money, but tries to satisfy their needs and takes care of them.

Mission - behind this word there is something sublime in meaning.

What place does the company's mission occupy in the structure of corporate philosophy? Why and how to formulate a Mission? Examples of company missions...

Company mission in corporate culture

In most projects, the formulation of the Mission almost always becomes the first point. And we recommend starting with it.

Mission is a fundamental element of corporate philosophy. The mission reflects the purpose of the company's existence. The mission is important as an expression of the values ​​of the people who establish the organization. This is a kind of message to all individuals and groups, stakeholders who are interested in or associated with the activities of the organization.

Who are the stakeholders?

Stakeholder(English) stackholder), interested party, involved party - individual or an entity having rights, shares, claims or interests in relation to the company.

These groups (stakeholders) are:

• owners of the organization
• employees of the organization
• clients of the organization
• business partners of the organization
• local communities, government
• society as a whole

Company's mission. Why formulate?

The mission gives subjects of the external environment a general idea of ​​the organization, its goals, means, and philosophy. Helps consolidate a certain image - an external function.

Contributes to the formation of unity within the organization and the creation of a corporate spirit, creates the opportunity for more effective management of the organization - an internal function.

Ideally, the Mission should reflect the following points:

• who are your clients (for whom does your organization work);
• what value does your organization bring to the world;
• what products and/or services you offer (what needs does your organization satisfy and in what ways);
• what values ​​are you guided by when making decisions?
• what you are striving for in the future (what you want your organization to be like in many years).

The need for clarity and “transparency” of the Mission is that it provides the basis for creating a holistic image of the company. Its goals and ways of behaving in the market.

Particular difficulties in formulating a Mission are often encountered by companies with complex structure capital and management. Especially in Russia and with state interests. After all, it is necessary to reflect the interests of all interested groups. And you will have to answer for the wording. So, most often, it turns out to be an indistinct slogan.

Examples of company missions. Analysis of the company's mission

As part of this, we analyze the Missions of various companies: what is the value message, in whose interests the formulation works, etc. If training is carried out before developing the Mission of the company itself, it is easier for managers to select wording later.

All examples given are taken from open sources at different times. Therefore, some of the wording may be outdated.

Ford Motor Company Ltd UK: “Our mission is to continually improve the quality of our products and services to meet the needs of our customers, allowing us to prosper in business and provide good returns to our shareholders and company owners.”

British Telecom UK: “Provide telecommunications and information Services and world class products. Develop and use our networks in our country and abroad in such a way that we can:

• Meet the requirements of our customers,
• To support the growth of group profits represented by our shareholders,
• Make an appropriate contribution to the communities in which we do business.”

Philips: “Improve people’s quality of life through the timely implementation of the latest technologies.”

United Nations (UN): “Maintaining and strengthening peace, security throughout the world and developing cooperation between states.”

A small practical task

How do you think a company whose Mission says something like this will behave in the market and in relation to employees? “…extracting maximum profit from available resources in the interests of shareholders..”?

Development of the company mission

It is important that the Mission must be formulated by the owner of the company or a group of major shareholders. It is not recommended to entrust this work to hired managers. Would you trust a nanny (even with a higher education) to determine the future of your children?

At a superficial glance, the process of developing a Mission is quite simple. Awareness and formulation. Development of the Mission (formulation of the first option) can take about 3 hours.

Before formulating the Mission, we work for a long time with the owner of the company, clarifying life values. This helps to “tune in” to the personality of the founder/owner. In the future, this helps to offer him correct formulations.

It becomes more difficult when it is necessary to formulate a Mission within a group of founders/owners. In this case, it is often necessary to re-coordinate the vision of an already established business.

In most cases, the development of the Mission occurs according to the following algorithm:

1. formulating the meaning of the company’s existence;
2. formulating “messages” to each group of stakeholders;
3. combining all formulations in one to three succinct sentences, taking into account the meanings of all phrases.

What should be the company's mission?

Clear message— the answer to the question “Why does the company exist/what do we give to our consumers/why do we…”.

Focus— whose interests does this Mission represent? To whom is it mostly addressed (who are the stakeholders)?

On the other hand, if you have a diversified company, an umbrella brand or big variety target audiences, the direction can be “softened”. So that everyone can find something of their own in the Mission, but there is no clear emphasis on anyone’s interests.

Reflection of values- what are our fundamental values/what we do not accept.

Of course, the text of the Mission (if we consider materials reflecting corporate philosophy) is not a substitute for Values. But from the point of view of the entire corporate culture, the Mission is a value of the highest order, the quintessence of values.

Motivational potential- nevertheless, the text should be inspiring, giving the opportunity to join and find the meaning of participation.

How to write a company mission and implement it?

The task of broadcasting the Mission is solved in several ways. In some cases, company executives are involved in the development of the Mission (as a rule, by this time we have the first draft from the owner). The tasks that are solved are broadcasting and involving management. This occurs during an organizational session or series of sessions. In some cases, participants actually make constructive adjustments.

Sometimes employees are involved in formulating the Mission - in small companies, where “nepotism” or the immersion of everyone in a single ideology is important.

It is important not to write a Mission, but to make it “live” and involve employees. In many companies, studying the Mission becomes part of onboarding training. The company's values ​​must also be linked to the Mission. And the Values ​​provide the basis for the formulation of corporate competencies, according to which employees are assessed and provided Feedback. In this way, the behavior of employees is adjusted in the paradigm of the company’s Mission.

To formulate or not to formulate? The question is, rather, to live or not to live in accordance with the Mission.

Well, in conclusion (at the very end of the page) a small gift for the lazy...

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