What is purpose and mission. A modern approach to the company's mission

Introduction

An organization is a consciously coordinated social entity with defined boundaries that functions on an ongoing basis to achieve common goals. Management of an organization is based on the basic elements of management theory, which are the goals of creating an organization, strategic plans, etc. Among these elements, managers especially highlight the mission of the organization, because, being an integral part of the goals, the mission influences all areas of management and determines its methods and techniques and priorities. The mission is an expression of its philosophy and meaning of existence. The mission usually declares the status of the enterprise, the principles of its work, and the intentions of management. It is aimed at the future and should not depend on the current state of the organization. A clear definition of the mission is the first step towards planning and determines all further work to systematically develop the organization's plans.

Thus, the relevance of the chosen topic is beyond doubt.

One of the first (in 1933) to formulate and use the mission of the corporation was the founder of Matsushita Electric, Konosuke Matsushita. The mission of the organization, its essence and content are described by such researchers in the field of management as Meskon M.Kh., Albert M., Khedouri F.P. Drucker et al.

The purpose of this work is to study and characterize the mission of the organization.

Job objectives:

Give the concept of mission.

Determine the features of mission formation.

Give examples of the mission of the most famous foreign and Russian campaigns.

The work used: educational and methodological literature on management courses, articles by Russian and foreign authors, Internet resources.

. Mission of the organization

Mission (from the Latin missio - parcel, order) is a succinct, brief and clear definition of the reasons for the existence and main directions of the organization’s activities, which characterizes the company’s position in society and motivates its employees.

In the most general and at the same time in the most in-depth understanding, 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 the organization from the outside. Moreover, 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 and exists 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 actions. There is a broad and narrow understanding of mission.

In a broad sense, mission is the philosophy and purpose, the meaning of existence of an organization.

An organization's philosophy defines the values, beliefs and principles by which the organization intends to conduct its activities. Purpose defines the activities that an organization intends to carry out and what type of organization it intends to be. The philosophy of an organization rarely changes. As for the second part of the mission, it may vary depending on the depth of possible changes in the organization and in the environment of its functioning.

In a narrow sense, a mission is a formulated statement regarding what or for what reason 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.

Let us give a number of definitions given by foreign and Russian scientists in the field of strategic management of an organization.

P. Drucker said that there is only one reasonable definition of the goal of entrepreneurship - creating a client, and in this he saw the mission of any organization, since if an organization takes on the mission of creating a client, it will also receive the profit necessary for its survival, if we exclude the bad management in carrying out this mission.

In Meskon’s textbook “Fundamentals of Management,” the authors give the following definition of an organization’s mission: “A mission is the main overall goal of an organization - a clearly expressed reason for its existence,” without defining a mission, all decisions in an organization would be made only on the basis of the individual values of leaders. The mission defines the status of the firm and provides direction and guidance for defining goals and strategies at various organizational levels.

In D. Husby’s textbook “Strategic Management,” mission is defined as “the general goal of an organization, characterizing what the organization is, why it exists and what its unique place is. Choosing such a goal means answering the basic question: “What are we doing?”

L. Gitelman “Transformative Management”: “mission is a strategic (general) goal that expresses the meaning of existence, the generally recognized purpose of the organization. This is the role the business wants to play in society.”

I. Mazur, A. Shapiro “Restructuring of enterprises and companies”: “the mission (purpose) of the organization is the answer to the question of what the company’s activities are and what it intends to do.”

Analyzing different interpretations of the mission, you can see that the meaning of all of them is similar. Based on these definitions, the following generalization can be made. An organization's mission statement is a short paragraph, usually one sentence, that states the organization's raison d'être and main long-term goal. At the same time, on the one hand, the mission statement is quite specific, on the other hand, it does not imply the completion of the task within a certain time interval. The organization's mission statement should imply continuous development in the short and long term.

A correctly defined mission, although it always has a general philosophical meaning, nevertheless necessarily contains something that makes it unique in its kind, characterizing precisely the organization in which it was developed. Next we will talk about the mission in a narrow sense.

The mission reflects the business strategy. Business strategy is a coordinated set of decisions that have a decisive impact on the activities of a company (enterprise) and have long-term and difficult-to-reversible consequences. These include, for example, decisions to change the profile of the enterprise, measures of its specialization and diversification of production (in particular, in order to prevent possible risks), to change the ownership structure (primarily the structure of share capital), the choice of permanent suppliers of resources and sales areas products, as well as other strategic aspects of the functioning of a business (firm, enterprise) - in contrast to tactical current decisions such as hiring workers, one-time purchases of raw materials, responding to changes in prices on the market, etc.

Accordingly, the following main derivative concepts are distinguished:

strategic economic zone - a set of segments of the market for goods or services, selected by an enterprise (business);

strategic resource zone - a set of segments of the resource market or services provided to an enterprise, chosen by an enterprise (business) as a zone of business interest for the implementation of the strategy;

strategic planning is the process of forming, adjusting and implementing an enterprise strategy;

strategic management is an enterprise management system based on strategic planning, supplemented by a mechanism for coordinating current decisions (tactical and operational) with strategic ones, as well as a mechanism for adjusting and monitoring the implementation of the strategy.

When strategically planning the activities of an enterprise (firm), economic and mathematical models are used, as well as methods of statistical analysis and forecasting. Among the latest highest place belongs to regression analysis, time series analysis, the mechanism for the formation and statistical analysis of expert assessments.

Establishing the organization's mission and its strategic goals is the prerogative of the organization's top management (Fig. 1).

Figure 1 - Levels of company management

Such a presentation of the organization's goal structure also shows the extent to which goals at a higher level influence goals at a lower level.

The differences between the mission of an enterprise and its goals can be defined in the following aspects:

Temporal aspect. A mission has no time criteria, but goals have deadlines by which they must be achieved.

Focusing. The mission is aimed at the environment external to the enterprise, such as achieving recognition or becoming a leader in the industry, etc. Goals, on the contrary, most often relate to internal aspects of the enterprise and are expressed in terms of the use of available resources to achieve specific internal indicators.

Specificity. The mission is expressed in terms that have a common relative character, related to the image of the enterprise, its corporate style, etc. Goals are typically expressed in terms of specific outcomes.

Measurability. The measurability of the mission is expressed in qualitative scales, while goals, as a rule, are quantitative in nature. The goals of an enterprise are usually very specific.

Basic requirements that must be taken into account when developing enterprise goals. The goals should be:

clear, precise and without the possibility of double interpretation;

formulated in terms of future states of the enterprise;

comply with enterprise strategy, policies, plans and procedures;

correspond to the competence of the personnel or also assume an increase in the competence of the enterprise’s employees;

The goal principle in the activities of an organization arises as a reflection of the goals and interests of various groups of people, one way or another connected with the activities of the organization and involved in the process of its functioning.

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

) shareholders (owners) of the organization who create, operate and develop the organization;

) personnel - employees of the organization who, with their labor, directly support the activities of the organization, the creation and sale of products and services, attracting resources from outside, who receive compensation from the organization for their work and solve their problems with the help of compensation;

) buyers (clients) of an organization who give it their resources (usually money) in exchange for products or services offered to them by the organization, and satisfy their needs with the help of these products (services);

) business partners of an organization who provide commercial and non-commercial services to the organization and receive similar services from the organization;

) a local community that is in interaction with the organization, having a multifaceted content, associated primarily with the formation of social and ecological environment habitat of the organization, as well as society as a whole, represented by state (municipal) institutions, interacting with the organization in political, legal, economic and other spheres, receiving from the organization part of the wealth it creates to ensure social well-being and development, the fruits of which, along with other members The organization also uses the society.

The mission of the organization, to one degree or another, should reflect the interests of all the above-mentioned subjects. The most powerful, even decisive, influence on the mission of any organization is exerted by the interests of owners, employees and customers (buyers). Therefore, the mission of the organization must be formulated in such a way that it necessarily contains a combination of the interests of these three groups of people. The mission can serve as a criterion by which members of the organization and outside observers can evaluate how successfully the organization is performing, i.e. determine its effectiveness.

According to F. Kotler, the mission should be developed taking into account the following factors:

the history of the organization, during which a philosophy was developed, a profile and style of activity, a place in the market, etc. were formed;

the existing style of behavior and method of action of owners and management personnel;

state of the organization's environment;

the resources it can bring to bear to achieve its goals;

distinctive features that the organization has;

A well-stated mission statement clarifies what the organization is and what it strives to be, and sets the organization apart from others like it. To do this, the transcript accompanying the mission must reflect:

target guidelines of the organization, reflecting what problems the organization’s activities are aimed at solving, and what the organization strives for in its activities in the long term;

the sphere of activity of the organization, reflecting what product the organization offers to customers, and in what market the organization sells its product;

the philosophy of the organization, which is manifested in the values and beliefs that are accepted in the organization;

capabilities and methods of carrying out the activities of the organization, reflecting what the strength of the organization is, what its capabilities are for survival in the long term, in what way and with the help of what technology the organization carries out its work, what know-how and advanced technology are available for this.

Along with the above characteristics of the organization, when forming a mission, it is important to reflect the image that the organization has in the content and form of the mission statement. Many companies develop formal company mission statements that provide ready-made answers to these questions.

The mission may include the following:

Proclamation of beliefs and values.

The types of products or services that the business will sell (or the customer needs that the business will satisfy).

Markets in which the company will operate:

ways to enter the market;

technologies that the enterprise will use;

growth policy and financing.

A clearly formulated mission inspires and encourages action, enables the company’s employees to take initiative, and forms the main prerequisites for the success of the company’s activities under various influences on it from the external and internal environment.

The mission gives general idea about what the organization is, what it strives for, what means it is ready to use in its activities - for the information of those who deal with it in the external environment.

The mission contributes to the formation of the internal environment of the organization, its “single spirit”, which is manifested in the following:

makes the mission clear to employees common goal, the purpose of the organization's existence. As a result, employees have the opportunity to focus their actions in a single direction;

the mission helps employees to recognize themselves as members of the organization not only formally, but also in spirit;

the mission helps to establish a certain psychological climate in the organization, since through it the philosophy of the organization, as well as the values and principles underlying the existence of the organization, are communicated to people.

So, why is the mission formulated, what does it provide for the organization’s activities?

Firstly, the mission gives a general idea of what the organization is, what it strives for, what means it is ready to use in its activities - for the information of those who deal with it in the external environment.

Secondly, the mission contributes to the formation of the internal environment of the organization, its “single spirit”. This manifests itself in the following:

) The mission makes clear to employees the overall goal, the purpose of the organization's existence. As a result, employees have the opportunity to focus their actions in a single direction;

) The mission helps employees to recognize themselves as members of the organization not only formally, but also in spirit.

) The mission helps to establish a certain psychological climate in the organization, since through it the philosophy of the organization, as well as the values and principles underlying the existence of the organization, are communicated to people.

Thirdly, the mission creates the opportunity for more effective management of the organization due to the fact that it is the basis for establishing the goals of the organization and helps to develop a strategy for its activities, establishing the direction and acceptable boundaries of its existence. In addition, the mission provides performance standards and expands the meaning and content of his work for the employee, allowing him to apply a wider range of motivational techniques.

At the same time, certain problems may arise with the formulation of the mission. Goal shifts most often occur at the mission level. An organization replaces its legalized or officially recognized purpose with another for which it was not created and should not work for this purpose. The easiest and most common form of bias occurs when an organization changes the priority of ends and means so that the means become the end and vice versa. Often the target becomes the organization itself. However, an organization is a tool; it is created to serve goals. But in the process of functioning of an organization, groups of people are formed who are more interested in preserving the organization as such than in realizing its goals.

Thus, the mission creates the opportunity for more effective management of the organization due to the fact that it is the basis for establishing the goals of the organization and helps to develop a strategy for its activities, establishing the direction and acceptable boundaries of its existence. In addition, the mission provides performance standards and expands the meaning and content of his work for the employee, allowing him to apply a wider range of motivational techniques.

2. Examples of company missions

mission strategic management

Let us give examples of the missions of large global companies that have long proven themselves to be successful, growing organizations in the world market. Nike's mission statement: "Nike has the truth, and it's not just about sneakers; the truth is where these products will take you."

Xerox's mission: "From the copier to the office of the future."

Ford's Mission Statement: "Delight our customers by producing quality cars and trucks, developing new products, reducing time to market for new models, improving the productivity of all our plants and manufacturing processes, and building relationships with our employees and unions." , dealers and suppliers."

Epson's mission: “To provide our shareholders with the safety of their investments and growing returns.”

Reyter's mission is: "Providing services to those who seek to improve the management of their company is our sole business; customer satisfaction is our primary goal."

Apple Computer's mission: "To offer the best technology for personal computers and pass them on to as many people as possible.”

McDonald's mission: "Fast, quality customer service with a standard set of products."

Despite the fact that Russian companies are just beginning to realize the importance of the mission for the functioning of organizations, many companies still have a mission statement. Thus, the mission of Alfa-Bank is as follows: “Alfa-Bank carries out all types of banking operations, helping you better navigate the world of finance, manage money effectively and provide the convenience of banking services.”

The mission of the Radian company: “providing the region with modern engineering and technical means of security from leading companies in the world, comprehensive solutions that combine: security and fire alarms, video surveillance systems and restrictions on access to premises, as well as air conditioning and lighting.”

The mission of "Systems and Technologies" is the development, production and provision of consumers with high-tech equipment produced on the latest, modernized installations, taking into account the diverse requirements of customers, providing highly qualified services for installation, testing and commissioning of equipment in the field of the energy complex.”

Gazprom's mission: “maximum efficient and balanced gas supply to Russian consumers, fulfillment of long-term gas export contracts with a high degree of reliability.”

Aeroflot mission: “the most complete and safe provision of one of the fundamental human freedoms - freedom of movement.”

More examples of missions of a number of Russian companies in the following areas:

OrganizationMission Jewelry and art companyProduction and sale of products from precious metals and stones available to a wide range of consumers with varying incomes. Company that produces equipment for offices. Our goal is to solve problems. We help solve administrative, scientific and human problems, creating comfort and taking care of your working conditions. Investment company We are ready to invest capital in any area that operates profitably and has the potential for further growth. State-owned enterprise with a scientific and technical orientation. Our activities are aimed at preserving and developing scientific and technical potential. industries, maintaining a high level of development, creating new jobs and a production culture that preserves and protects environment An example of the mission of an online store We want to make shopping on the Internet the fastest, easiest and most enjoyable way to acquire what you need - that is, to become a place where you can find everything you want to buy in real time

Summary. The mission of the organization determines the most complete meanings and objectives of the organization's existence. It finds a place for the combination of interests of all people associated with the organization. The mission is being developed for a long time

Conclusion

Thus, the mission is the meaning of the organization’s existence, which expresses the difference between this organization and others, its social role. Key elements, which make up the mission of the organization.

Determination of all areas of activity in which she plans to work.

Strategic goals that the organization sets, defining key indicators that the organization seeks to achieve in the future.

Personnel competence and competitive advantages. The mission establishes the essence of corporate values. Such values include special knowledge and skills.

Circle of influence. The mission establishes groups of individuals and organizations, cooperation with which contributes to the development of the organization.

Main activities of the organization.

The main competitive advantages that the organization plans to achieve in the future.

Tasks that the organization’s mission contributes to solving.

Express what the organization exists for.

Determine how the organization differs from other organizations operating in the same market.

Determine the criterion for evaluating actions.

Coordinate the interests of all persons associated with the organization.

Contribute to the creation of a favorable corporate atmosphere.

Creating a mission statement establishes why a particular organization exists. The main condition for formulating a mission is understanding and acceptance by the company’s personnel. In this regard, it is advisable to involve company employees in the mission development process.

Factors taken into account when creating a mission: the state of the external and internal environment of the organization; history of the organization; the resources that the organization uses to achieve its goals; existing style of activity; distinctive features organizations.

List of sources used

1.Vikhansky O.S. Strategic management. Textbook / O.S. Vikhansky. - M.: Gardariki, 2005. - 296 p.

2.Goldstein G.Ya. Fundamentals of Management: Tutorial/ G.Ya. Goldstein. - Taganrog: TRTU Publishing House, 2003. - 230 p.

.Drucker P. Management / P. Drucker, J.A. Maciarello. - M.: LLC “I.D. Williams", 2010. - 704 p.

.Zamedlina E.A. Fundamentals of management / E.A. Slow down. - M.: Allel, 2011. - 54 p.

.Kotler F. Marketing from A to Z. 80 concepts that every manager should know / F. Kotler - M.: Alpina Publisher, 2012. - 216 p.

.Mazur I. Restructuring of enterprises and companies / I. Mazur, A. Shapiro. - M.: Business, 2000. - 586 p.

.Management: educational and methodological complex / Compiled by: G.P. Semenova, S.V. Short. - St. Petersburg: Publishing house of North-West Technical University, 2009. - 277 p.

.Meskon M. Fundamentals of management. Textbook / M. Meskon, M. Albert, F. Khedouri. - M.: Williams, 2007. - 672 p.

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PLAN

1 Concept of mission

2 Approaches to mission formation

3 Functions of the mission and its significance

4 Mission as an attribute open system

5 Mission development

Bibliography

1. Mission concept

Over the past ten years, the term “mission” has become perhaps the most fashionable in the vocabulary of European and American managers.

The ongoing numerous debates about the need for a mission and the benefits from it are purely philosophical in nature, and are similar to discussions about the need for strategic management and even consulting in general. Mission is one of the most controversial concepts in modern management. Some gurus-consultants say that a mission is something without which any organization cannot become successful.

Others, such as Jack Trout and Steve Ryvkin, in their much-acclaimed book The Power of Simplicity: A Guide to Successful Business Strategies, write bluntly: “Organizational missions are nothing more than unnecessary confusion, and the hype around corporate missions and visions is very similar to the crowd's admiration for the new. dress naked king. Most organizations' mission statements have little or no impact on their business."

Still others propose, for the needs of strategic analysis and planning, to use the concept of a business idea instead of a mission (V.S. Efremov). Still others say that the need to formulate their own mission arises in no more than 20% of business organizations (A.I. Prigozhin, President of the Association of Management and Organizational Development Consultants).

A mission is a necessary but not sufficient condition for business prosperity. A mission is not a panacea, not a philosopher’s stone, but just a management workhorse.

Currently, 90% of companies in developed countries have formulated their mission. More recently and Russian entrepreneurs the development of the mission was treated only as a theory, something incomprehensible and unimportant, but everything in the world is changing. This also applies to changing the concept of “mission”, its role and necessity in the organization and prosperity of a business.

Therefore, the mission of the company, like many basic concepts of modern management, is one of the important management tools, and does not have a single generally accepted definition, which, in turn, may be even better: there are no templates, there are unlimited possibilities.

There are quite a few interpretations of this concept. Here are some of them:

“Mission is a strategic (general) goal that expresses the meaning of existence, the generally accepted purpose of the organization. This is the role that an enterprise wants to play in society” (L. Gitelman “Transformative Management”).

“The mission (purpose) of an organization is the answer to the question of what the company’s activities are and what it intends to do” (I. Mazur, A. Shapiro “Restructuring of enterprises and companies”).

“In the case of a broad understanding, the mission is considered as a statement of philosophy and purpose” (O. Vikhansky, A. Naumov “Management”).

“Mission = vision + credo.” (H. Wissema “Strategic management and entrepreneurship”).

The general goal, the meaning of existence, purpose, role, philosophy, foresight, credo - the list of concepts with which the company's Mission is associated can be continued.

Thus, we can say that Mission is a business concept that reflects the purpose of the business, its main goal. In contrast to the vision, the mission characterizes only the “present” of the organization: the type, scale of activity, differences from competitors, leaving the prospects for business development without attention.

The mission details the status of the enterprise and provides guidance for the development of goals and strategies at various organizational levels.

The modern market, economic conditions, competition mercilessly dictate their conditions, and for those companies whose goal is to conduct their business thoroughly, seriously and for a long time, the mission is an opportunity to organize more effective management. A mission statement in the form of a quality statement makes clear the overall purpose of the company's purpose and existence. It is no coincidence that the mission is the basis for developing strategies and directions for the company's development. In addition, the mission as a long-term goal of the company allows you to wisely distribute efforts and resources to ensure long-term business performance. Thus, the mission allows you to determine the direction, meaning and content of the staff’s activities and makes it possible to demonstrate their individual abilities, enables employees to realize their place in the company, quickly and clearly define their role and concentrate their efforts in accordance with the goals of the company. Thus, the mission contributes to the creation of a favorable climate in the company, since it expresses the principles and value guidelines of the company, accepted by both management and employees.

Who needs a mission? Firstly, the company’s employees need a mission to understand the sense of involvement and importance of the work they do, because the mission determines the meaning of the company’s activities.

Secondly, the mission is necessary for managers at all levels to facilitate personnel management.

Thirdly, the mission is developed for customers in order to perceive and realize that the company does not just make money, but takes into account and makes efforts to meet the needs of its consumers and cares about them.

Main mission components:

Products or services that an enterprise produces, e.g. range of satisfied needs.

Applied management technologies and functions, i.e. way to meet consumer needs.

Competitive advantages.

Business philosophy.

Characteristics of the main components that determine the content of the organization's mission are given in Table. 1

Table 1 - Components of the organization's mission

Components	Content
Products or services	What are the products or services produced by the business? Businesses often achieve market advantage by integrating product benefits with additional competitive capabilities, such as having a larger market share, a strong distribution network, or a positive image.
Categories of target consumers	Who are the target consumers of the enterprise? The enterprise's activities may be aimed at government agencies, industrial consumers, a narrow stratum of the population with high incomes, or the population as a whole.
Technology	Is the company focused on using the latest or traditional technologies?
Competitive advantages	What are the distinctive features and strategic advantages of the enterprise compared to its competitors? Such advantages may lie in a unique product, technology, reputation among consumers or geographical location.
Philosophy	What are the company's core values, aspirations and ethical principles? The philosophy of an enterprise can be manifested, for example, in whether it puts the interests of its employees or clients first, etc.

The mission must be closely linked to the expectations of the so-called contact groups. Any company has certain obligations to these groups, the principles of relationships with which form the basis of the organization's philosophy. Each group has its own interests, which may conflict with each other:

large owners - growth of their wealth, business stability as a guarantee of income, increase in the value of assets;

minority shareholders - immediate return on investments, ensuring their return;

employees - respect for their values on the part of the company, stability and sustainability, job security and wages;

consumers - the opportunity to purchase quality goods or services at reasonable prices, their safety, after-sales service;

partners, suppliers and competitors - the company’s fulfillment of obligations and its correct behavior in the market;

society as a whole - tax revenue, job creation, social security, reducing environmental impact, creating a stable socio-economic environment.

The mission (the main idea) and the entrepreneurial philosophy are necessary to establish the strategic goals of the company, as well as to gain the trust of consumers and other contact groups, so as not to cause a conflict of their interests.

2. Approaches to mission formation

There are two approaches to understanding the mission:

In a broad sense, mission is the philosophy and purpose of an organization. With this approach, the mission is defined in general terms without strict reference to the range of products produced, a group of consumers, etc.

Example: Mission of the development bureau:

“Our activities are aimed at preserving and developing the scientific and technical potential of the industry, maintaining a high level of development, creating new jobs and a production culture that preserves and protects the environment.”

A broad approach to the formation of a mission orients the enterprise towards achieving strategic advantages by creating opportunities to produce a wide range of products (services); simultaneous coverage of many market segments and consumer groups; flexibility of maneuvering in managing the organization.

With a narrow approach, the Mission is considered as a statement that reveals the meaning of the organization’s existence, in which the difference between this organization and similar ones is manifested.

Example: Mission of the concern (AVPK) “Sukhoi”:

« Aviation complex"Sukhoi strives to produce competitive and high-quality military and civil aircraft, primarily of the Su and Be brands, to meet the needs of the global market and the demands of domestic government orders."

Any organization is created in order to carry out some tasks. If we are talking about a commercial structure, then its main goal is to make a profit; if we are talking about a charitable organization, then it is created in order to help those who require protection and guardianship. However, in order for employees and management to more clearly understand what and why they are doing, a mission is needed. We will tell you in this article what it is and how to correctly create a mission and goals.

The mission and goals of an organization are the program provisions on which all its activities are based. Mission is the most general description what the company was created for, what problem it is designed to solve. It is worth noting that making a profit cannot be the company’s mission - it must be broader and show how the company can be useful to society. There is no contradiction in this, because, after all, only by being somehow useful and in demand can a company expect that its products will be bought, and therefore make a profit. In order to better understand what a mission is, here are examples of missions of well-known companies:

Lukoil's mission is to use the energy of nature for the benefit of people

McDonalds - providing fast and quality service using standard products

Microsoft's mission is to help people and businesses achieve their full potential through digital technologies.

Walt Disney Studios mission is to make people happy.

It is worth making a clear distinction between concepts such as the mission and purpose of the organization. If the mission is the most general description of the reason for the existence of the organization, then the goal is a clear description of the tasks that must be completed in order to make the mission a reality. can be short- and long-term, and also change during its activities, while the mission remains unchanged throughout the entire period of the company’s activities. Thus, the mission and goals of the enterprise represent a single whole philosophical core of its activities - the mission answers the question “why is our company needed?”, and the goals answer the question “what needs to be done in order to implement the mission and, accordingly, justify its existence ?. Only with such a core will the company carry out its activities efficiently and methodically.

Certain requirements are put forward for the mission and goals:

A company's mission is its statement to society; accordingly, it should be created with an eye to an external audience - consumers, competitors, regulators. The mission must necessarily show that the company is useful, moreover, necessary for society.

The company's goals, on the contrary, are aimed inward - at employees, and outline to them what the company should achieve with their help in the short and long term. Therefore, if the mission may be somewhat vague, then the goals should be as clear and understandable as possible - this way they will be easier to perceive by employees, and therefore more quickly and efficiently implemented.

Unfortunately, the leaders of most companies have not yet realized that a well-written mission and goals of the organization will help them make their work simpler and more effective, and most importantly, result-oriented, which is why only some companies in the CIS countries have goals and, especially, missions. I would like to hope that over time they will understand that mission and goals are not just nice words, but an important tool for doing business.

We hope that this article helped our readers understand what the mission and goals of the organization are and how important they are for its success. Good luck in your business!

This article outlines the main elements of a unique technique described in detail by the author in Practical guide to create the mission of the organization.

For now, many managers view the company’s mission as a kind of decoration of the corporate façade, although not necessary. But times are changing...

For what?

More and more people are asking the question: “Why?” Why do they go to work? Why do they earn money? Why do they live on this planet?

“Loss of meaning in life is the main problem modern society, all the rest follow from it,” asserted outstanding psychologist Victor Frankl.

Humanity is growing up and realizing that modern man lives in conditions of civilized slavery. The value system of the consumer society imposed on him turns him into a slave of corporations promoting their goods. Conducting most life at work, people fall under the control of the corporate machine, which imposes its goals on them, strictly regulates their activities and stimulates activity with “carrots and sticks”. A huge number of people produce what they can do without and acquire what they do not need, depleting the planet's resources and aimlessly wasting their most valuable resource - the time allotted to them to live.

The era of mindless consumption and irresponsible capitalism is ending. We are living in a period of paradigm shift and will undoubtedly become participants in profound, global shifts in the life of society. The question “Why?” becomes more acute and takes over consciousness more of people.

It is from the need of people to understand the meaning of their life and work that the need arises to determine the meaning of the organization’s activities. After all, employees working together must have some common meaning as the basis for their coordinated actions. They all build one “temple”. But which one?

What is a mission?

The organization answers the question “Why?” a mission statement, communicating what purpose it serves and what it wants to change in the outside world.

Why does the organization exist? It is generally accepted that to make money for shareholders. But this point of view puts the cart before the horse. After all, in order to receive money, you need to do something useful for people. This is what you need to think about first. People knew about this back in the days of the Old Testament, where it is said: “Do what people need, and you will find your daily bread, clothing and a roof over your head.”

When thinking about the mission, you need to remember that the company is part of a global social system, and therefore the meaning of its activities must be sought in the values that it creates for humanity, for the country, for the economic sector or for the local community. Making a profit, although one of the most important goals of a business, cannot be the meaning of its existence. The meaning lies outside the company, in the changes it makes in the world around it.

In connection with the above considerations, the most meaningful and precise definition mission, in our opinion, is the following.

Mission is the purpose of the company, the meaning of its activities for society, the ideal to which it strives.

Can a company exist without a mission? Without a doubt. After all, most companies either have a formal mission statement or don’t have one at all.

But this means that the employees of such companies do not have a common goal that unites everyone and do not understand the meaning of their work. For them, the company is just a place to make money. Their dreams, hobbies, real life, are outside of their work. From the point of view of business interests, this means that the company uses the potential of human resources by no more than 10%, since each employee gives the company exactly as much energy and intellectual capital as is needed for formal implementation job responsibilities, and leaves most of his potential for what is really important to him. These losses of human energy are the main reason for the low efficiency of most companies and, at the same time, a colossal resource for increasing labor productivity and business profitability.

Leaders and company executives who have managed to captivate people with their dreams, show them the meaning of their work and life, achieve high employee engagement and discover previously inaccessible reserves of human energy. The boiler of business, once fueled by coal, is switching to nuclear fuel. This result is achieved by answering a simple and at the same time very difficult question: "For what?". The answer to this should be given by the company's mission.

A practical guide to creating an organization's mission contains texts from more than a hundred missions of Russian and foreign companies.

What should the mission contain?

The “science of happiness” - positive psychology - states that a person feels happy when he reaches new heights of excellence in his work and has a high, alluring goal in front of him. At the same time, a person’s life is filled with meaning, and work is perceived as a reward, since it contributes to the achievement of the goal and at the same time develops his skill, pushing the boundaries of the possible, increasing his power over the world of ideas and things.

If there is skill and passion in a company's mission, then from this alloy the keys to the happiness of the organization's employees can be forged. Let's see what this alloy is formed from.

Determine the value that the company creates for society, indicate where its excellence is demonstrated;
Identify the company by defining its distinctive features; The mission statement should clearly communicate who “we” are, how we are different from others, and what makes us proud to belong to the organization.
Install high level goals, determine the changes that the company seeks to make in the world around it; A passionate desire to make the world a better place provides an inexhaustible source of energy to move an organization towards an inspiring goal.
The mission should be short and expressive so that every employee of the company can remember and pronounce it.

A short mission statement is absolutely necessary, but it has its drawbacks, since it is extremely difficult to express in a few words the ideas that the organization seeks to convey to the outside world. Therefore, we recommend writing a detailed mission statement in addition to a short statement. This allows you to combine contradictory requirements - brevity and meaningfulness of the message.

What should not be in a mission?

The mission must not contain any of the following:

Strive for high profitability;
Provide shareholders with large dividends;
Increase the value of the company;
Become a market leader.

Talking about profit as the highest purpose of a company's existence is like saying that the purpose of human life is to breathe. Profit is a necessary condition for the prosperous existence of a company (like breathing for a person), but the meaning of its activities is not this at all, but rather the satisfaction of some significant social needs, the service of which, in essence, brings profit to the company.

Profitability and the other desires listed here can be, and most often are, strategic goals for many companies. But they don't define purpose company, the value it creates for society as part of the global system.

How to evaluate the mission text?

The mission must meet certain requirements, and therefore evaluation based on the principle of “like or dislike” is completely insufficient.

Our assessment method includes four criteria:

Brevity and expressiveness of the mission text;
Clarity in defining the value of what the company does for society;
Uniqueness – the presence of distinct features that identify the company;
Ambition - having an inspiring goal of the highest level.

The mission is assessed on each of these criteria on a 10-point scale.

The weights of the criteria are different:

Brevity -1;
Value – 2;
Uniqueness – 3;
Ambitiousness – 4.

The greatest weight is assigned to the criterion of ambition, since the main purpose of the mission, in our opinion, is to indicate the highest goal of the company, its ideal.

Uniqueness is also a high priority, since the mission must clearly identify the company, showing who “we” are and what makes us special.

If you add up the mission scores for all criteria, taking into account their weights, then the maximum possible number of points is 100.

Here are examples of assessing the missions of some well-known companies.

Example brevity and expressiveness can be achieved by the mission of IKEA, which received the highest rating from our experts according to this criterion - 10 points:

We strive to change for the better daily life ordinary people

Good example description values gives Disneyland mission (10 points):

We work to ensure that adults and children spend more time together.

The complete lack of value is demonstrated by the mission statement of Dean Foods, a company that produces dairy and soy products (0 points):

Increase capitalization in the long term in accordance with the laws of the jurisdiction in which the company operates and high ethical standards.

Of course, a company's capitalization is important for its shareholders. But the company exists not only for them. Once again, this puts the cart before the horse – for a company’s value to grow, it must do something what people need. This is what should be mentioned in the mission statement, because the main objective is outside the company.

Let's see how the property is expressed in the mission uniqueness. The following mission statement clearly identifies the Otis Elevator Company, a leader in the elevator industry (10 points):

Provide all customers with the means to move people and goods up, down and sideways over limited distances with a reliability that no other company can provide

And here is an example of a completely inexpressive mission statement belonging to the American bank Sunbanks (1 point):

Contribute economic development and improving the welfare of society and enterprises that are clients of the company, by providing enterprises and citizens with banking services that comply with professional standards, achieving and obtaining the desired profit by the shareholders of the enterprise, good attitude to the employees of the enterprise.

Instead of an inspiring goal given short description what any of the hundreds of thousands of banks in the world do. How unique this is!

Example ambitious Microsoft's mission can serve as goal setting (10 points):

A computer in every home, on every desktop, plus top-notch software

At the end of the 70s of the last century, when the company was just starting its activities, this was an audacious goal. The company subsequently changed its mission statement as the original goal became a dream come true.

The final mission score is obtained by adding the scores for each of the four criteria: brevity, value, uniqueness, ambitiousness, multiplied by weighting factors.

To conduct the assessment, it is necessary to form a group of experts, which should preferably include not only employees, but also shareholders, suppliers and clients with whom there are close relationships. The more experts there are, the more stable the assessment results. But even evaluating a small group of about 10 people can be helpful in thinking about what could be improved in the mission statement.

A practical guide to creating an organization's mission includes detailed description mission assessment methods, as well as a rating table of missions of more than a hundred Russian and foreign companies, assessed by experts of the consulting company iTeam.

In the second part of the article, we will provide a “road map” that will help you find the purpose of the company and introduce you to the methodology for developing a mission text.

Literature

Frankl V. Man in Search of Meaning: Collection / Trans. from English and German D. A. Leontyev, M. P. Papusha, E. V. Eidman. - M.: Progress, 1990. - 368 p.: ill. - ISBN 5-01-001606-0.
Csikeszentmihalyi Mihalyi. Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. Moscow. Alpina non-fiction. 2011.
Jeff Sutherland. SCRUM A revolutionary method of project management. Moscow, Mann, Ivanov and Ferber, 2015.

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 statement should reflect the following characteristics of the organization:

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 of the organization, since it is the basis for establishing its goals and strategy, and 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 welfare of the communities served by the Company by providing citizens and businesses with quality banking services in a manner and to an extent that meets 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 the developing system of 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, American railroads were unable to maintain high competitiveness and profitability because the management of these companies defined their mission in terms of rail rather than 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. in the thesis, it 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 the rapid delivery of 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 a 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 the external and internal environments, 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 in a broad sense- 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, the distinctive features of the organization and the degree of its uniqueness in industry and territorial markets in comparison with competitors are more specifically characterized.

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