Mission Statement

Mission Statement

Pros/Positives/Advantages

1) Decision Making Easier

 Serves as a basis for the business objectives and targets.
 Decisions are made easier by enabling options to be compared against mission statement.

2) Communication and Motivation

 The MS puts corporate aims into words that can inspire
 It gives everyone a sense of common purpose
 Can inspire effort and ensure all depts work together. This ensures that each department does not move in conflicting decisions

3.Attract Publicity

 Can act as a useful device in order to attract publicity for the business in a positive manner.
 Used in marketing plans, may lead to an attraction from potential investors and new customers.

4. Starting Point

 In hierarchy of objectives, it is a starting point in establishing corporate aims and objectives.
 Only to be seen as a brief statement of the business

Negatives/Disadvantages

1. Decision Making Easier

 The most appropriate of financially viable decisions may not be made. Limits usefulness as a decision making aid.
 The mission statement cannot sum up all the driving forces behind a whole complex organisation.

2. Communication and Motivation

 The MS may be ignored by senior management, which may cause workers to become cynical about the statement.
 Management may not implement the MS on a regular basis and this may cause the employees to become disillusioned with the statement and it losses its impact.

OR  The Mission Statement could be ignored  Staff may not be motivated to read MS. They may be focusing on their individual roles within the business.

3. Attract Publicity  Mission statements are often seen as a marketing ploy rather than meaningful statements of intent.

4. Not Quantifiable

 Mission statements can be too vague.
MS could be too brief to be meaningful
 Too vague – misinterpreted- and as a result the firms and its staff don’t have common focus.
It needs to be used in conjunction with SMART objectives