Characteristics of Mission Statement

Every organization has mission either defined explicitly or may be deduced from the actions of its top management. For a large organization, where its members do not have face-to-face contact, explicit mission statement is desirable as it serves the purpose of communicating to the members about the corporate philosophy, identity, character, and image which govern their behavior in the organization. Further, section of the society dealing with the organization knows well in advance as how to, interact with the organization. Therefore, while framing the mission statement, following points should be taken into consideration so that it serves the purpose for which it is prepared:

Features of a good Mission Statement

• Mission should be clear, both in terms of intentions and words used;
• It should be feasible, neither too high to be unachievable, nor too low to de-motivate the people for work.
• It should be precise but self-explanatory, neither too narrow so as to restrict the organization’s activities, nor too broad to make itself meaningless.
• It should be distinctive, both in terms of the organization’s contributions to the society and how these contributions can be made.

Objectives: Objectives are more precise as compared to mission and used to specify the end results which an organization wants to achieve. However, there are two problems in giving the precise definition of objectives. First, goals and objectives are used inter-changeably, though there are some differences between the two. Second, the end results, expressed as objectives, may be time-specific or without this specification. Therefore, objectives are defined in different ways. For example, McFarland has defined objectives in quite broad term which is as follows: “Objectives are aims, or purposes that organizations wish over varying periods of time.” Terry and Franklin have also used the term goal in defining an objective. They view that: “A managerial objective is the intended goal that prescribes definite scope and suggests direction to the planning efforts of a manager. We can define objective as the intended end result that an organization desires to achieve over varying periods of fume. Because of time variation, objectives may be specified in different ways in which long-term objectives are supported by short-term objectives.