Contemporary organizational and HRM studies Assignment Help
Discuss whether you think mission statements and official goal statements provide organizations with genuine legitimacy?
This essay discuses the role of mission statements in creating proper system in organizations. Drucker (1974), emphasis that, “A business is not defined by its name, statuses, or articles of incorporation. It is defined by the business mission. Only a clear definition of the mission and purpose of the organization makes possible clear and realistic business objectives”. Hence the importance and role of clear mission statements is clearly depicted here. The missions statements can focus, motivate, direct, unify and stimulate business into superior performance. Moreover he further emphasized that the most important cause of business frustration is that business missions are not given enough thought. In my view mission statements are the tools that give organizations a sense of direction, and guide them in proper operations and functions. However this tool may also be manipulated for personal motives or self-interests of people involved in the organization (Bartkus et al., 2000).
Vizeu and Matitz (2012) point out that sometimes corporate mission statement are used as manipulative tools for communication with an aim of organizational legitimacy. Organizations try to show their legality by manipulating mission statements in their personal interest. On the other hand Habermas’ (1985) claim that these mission statements represent a powerful tool for improving a corporation´s social image and as a consequence may induce social consent. Hence an organization can effectively use mission statement to improve its image in the society. He further explained that mission statement help an organization in manipulating meaning of their fundamental purpose. Proper, efficient and effective mission statements are a tool to improve social image in the society and can help in improving the general perception. Peter Drucker, “the father of modern management” also claimed that mission statement is synonyms to the overall business being carried out. It is a way of establishing proper objectives and also a way of formulating proper strategies. Fundamentally it is “the reason of being”. Since all the organizations do have a reason of being, hence they must have proper mission statements which will provide them with genuine legality. Since business missions set the priorities and then also assign the work properly, hence they are the starting point for any task. Organizations that do not give required attention to vision and mission suffer in the end, because they do not have a proper sense of direction Vizeu and Matitz (2012).
These mission statements help an organization in standing firm; it acts as a basic structure and helps an organization in working properly. Ideally all the planning and strategies in an organization must be complementing and supporting the mission Drucker (1974). This mean that the fundamental strategic planning should be in line with the mission statement, or in other words vision and mission must align each other Habermas’ (1985). A proposal of a competitive strategic business positioning is reflected based on organization’s mission and goals. Considering a simple case where a simple task is to be accomplished in a group. The group first of all must clearly jot down all the objectives or expectations that it wants to accomplish in the end. By identifying the objectives, giving responsibility o each individual member becomes much easier. In a similar large-scale perspective, the same thing is observed, the journey of a business against the intense wave of competition with its rivals and other external elements should architecture a well defined and clear goals and mission statements. Obviously, with the presence of an official mission statements made by the management of a certain organization reflects the organization’s legitimacy in the external environment Drucker (1974).
There are nine important components of effective mission statements, which include customers, products/ services, markets, technology, concern for survival, philosophy, self-concept, concern for public image and concern for employees (David, 2011). Here philosophy means basic values and ethical aspirations. Concern for public image means that whether firm is responsive to social and environmental concerns. For example the mission statement of “Pfizer” is “to contribute to the economic strength of society and function as a good corporate citizen on a local, state, and national basis in all countries in which we do business”. Similarly if we consider “Dow Chemical” statement it says “to share the world’s obligation for the protection of the environment”. Above mentioned two examples show that missions statements do provide an organization with genuine legitimacy.
Similarly if we consider “PepsiCo mission statement” it says, “We aspire to make PepsiCo the world’s premier consumer Products Company, focused on convenient foods and beverages. We seek to produce healthy financial rewards for the investors as we provide opportunities for growth and enrichment to our employees, our business partners and the communities in which we operate. And in everything we do, we strive to act with honesty, openness, fairness and integrity. Hence it again supports my claim that yes mission statements can be an effective tool for creating legality for the business.
The formal origin of mission statements is unknown, as per literature it was introduced in twentieth century; however exact origin of term “mission statement” is not known (Bartkus et al., 2000). It is widely used in strategic planning and has great impact in business world. They help an organization in understanding what actually matters and then organization can use its resources in the relevant direction. Corporate mission statements are an important tool for management (Ireland & Hitt, 1992). These statements give an organization a sense of direction and also improve employee morale by motivating them. These statements are used by managers to properly understand the goals and objectives. And after understanding them they can also communicate it to all the employees through these statements. Effective communication is very important, as everyone must be working in one direction. It gives an organization a chance to communicate a desirable image of the company (Bart, 1997; Williams, 2008). Koselleck’s (1985, 2002) gave an analysis and showed that mission statements are used by “a social group as linguistic resources for theoretical adjustment”, which is obtained by set of shared meanings Habermas’ (1985).
The past literature shows that different studies showed different results about mission statements (Bartkus, Glassman, & McAfee, 2000). As mentioned above on one hand they are thought to be a way of direction that guides an organization in every possible way. They are associated with the function of providing focus and direction, a managerial concern with encouraging performance in line with the Statement, insofar as the mission statement serves as a source of inspiration (Bart, 1997).
Mostly in organizations, the mission statement hangs on the wall. Although it was written with good intentions, it has long been forgotten Drucker (1974). The statement has become something which is never considered again. Whenever employees and managers are detached from the company’s mission statement, employee engagement suffers. Those leaders who have been most successful during this economy have been those that have been able to rally their troops around a common cause and refocus them on the core of the business. Those who are most successful use their mission statement. The mission statement provides an organization with some practical benefits and they actually act as a communicative tool (Bartkus et al., 2000). Furthermore apart from acting as a strategic guide, they also give clear identity to organizations (Leuthesser & Kohli, 1997). It is very important to align the employees with the mission statement of the organization, otherwise mission statements will not be an effective tool for the business.
Drucker (1974), in reality mission statements are reflection of management of the company; they can manage and control the involvement of stakeholders. The commitment is also reflected in various ways. Corporate mission statement is use of communication resource as a tool which provides corporations with an appropriate message according to its socially decodable meaning. Hence the benefits are that they provide a compelling sense of fundamental purpose which is given to everyone. “The use of mission concept within the corporate world was made for a discursive purpose” and the intent was to strategically align everything. The mission statement, as a communicative tool, represents a powerful mechanism for performing systematic communicative distortion Habermas’ (1985).
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