Ackoff's Mission Statement And Its Characteristics
Ackoff (1986) proposes that a good mission statement have five characteristics:
• It will contain a formulation of objectives that enables progress towards them to be measured,
• It differentiates the company from its competitors,
• It defines the business that the company wants to be in, not necessarily is in,
• It is relevant to all stakeholders in the firm, not just shareholders and managers,
• It is exciting and inspiring.
As noted by Thompson (2002, p.94) the principal purpose of these statements is communication, both internally and externally and a major benefit for organisations is the thinking they are forced to do in order to establish sound statements. It is essential that the mission or indeed the vision is more than a plaque on a wall in the foyer; employees have to make the words mean something through their actions. For a mission statement to be a living document, employees must feel that the organisation actually means what it is saying in the mission and vision statements and must develop a sense of ownership, commitment and purpose in its implementation. Critically there must be an element of trust, for without it the desired outcomes will not be achieved. Employees should be …show more content…
Writing mission statements is one of those tasks that people argue is a good idea because it will help us to build consensus on what our collective purpose is, to better understand where we are going as an organization, and to guide decision-making as we move forward.* The truth is, mission statements rarely do any of that. I was recently in a meeting with a development consultant who was a real pro. He pointed out, correctly, that no one in the room could recite or even summarize what was in our own mission statement. If people don't even know what's in the mission statement, it can hardly accomplish any of those
• It will contain a formulation of objectives that enables progress towards them to be measured,
• It differentiates the company from its competitors,
• It defines the business that the company wants to be in, not necessarily is in,
• It is relevant to all stakeholders in the firm, not just shareholders and managers,
• It is exciting and inspiring.
As noted by Thompson (2002, p.94) the principal purpose of these statements is communication, both internally and externally and a major benefit for organisations is the thinking they are forced to do in order to establish sound statements. It is essential that the mission or indeed the vision is more than a plaque on a wall in the foyer; employees have to make the words mean something through their actions. For a mission statement to be a living document, employees must feel that the organisation actually means what it is saying in the mission and vision statements and must develop a sense of ownership, commitment and purpose in its implementation. Critically there must be an element of trust, for without it the desired outcomes will not be achieved. Employees should be …show more content…
Writing mission statements is one of those tasks that people argue is a good idea because it will help us to build consensus on what our collective purpose is, to better understand where we are going as an organization, and to guide decision-making as we move forward.* The truth is, mission statements rarely do any of that. I was recently in a meeting with a development consultant who was a real pro. He pointed out, correctly, that no one in the room could recite or even summarize what was in our own mission statement. If people don't even know what's in the mission statement, it can hardly accomplish any of those