Tkays

The success of an organization or an individual depends greatly on planning for the future and the actions taken to materialize the plans. In the case of Organizations it is necessary to share these plans with its members and this is normally achieved by coining suitable vision and mission statements. However mere coining of the vision and mission statements and displaying it in the premises of the organization will not alone guarantee its success. It is equally important for the management at all levels in the organization to ensure that these statements are well understood by its members and all its policies, procedures and actions are aligned with it.

The vision statements are normally written in a simple but an inspirational manner so that the members could comprehend it and contribute towards its achievement.  A vision statement defines what an organization wants to achieve over a period of time whereas the mission statement defines the present state or purpose of the organization. The bigger the organization the more important it is to have the vision and mission conveyed to its members and ensure that measures are implemented to align them towards achieving the organization’s vision.  Vision and mission statements also play a key role in justifying the organizational changes and in change management. For an organization which is undergoing a major change, it is very vital to communicate the vision and mission to its members as it not only helps to clarify their roles in the organization but also encourage them to align themselves in the best possible manner to cope with the change and move forward.

It is very important for the top management to ensure that the organization’s missions are strategically aligned with its vision not only at the top-level but also for the missions at all levels of the organization. When the missions of an organization are strategically aligned with its vision, it provides a direction to the organization and its members.  Able leadership coupled with effective management methods are necessary to lead the organization to achieve its vision. Mission in an organization is journey it undertakes to reach its destination – which is the Vision. Each member of an organization may have their own short term and long term goals in accordance with their vision for their future. If the individual visions of the personnel occupying key influential management positions, do not align with the organization, it may have a very negative impact on the organization’s performance and this impact could be very severe if these individuals try and wangle the organization’s missions to achieve their individual goals which are unaligned with the vision of the organization. Therefore utmost care should be taken while selecting anyone for such roles and this aspect has to be given due weightage while reviewing their performance periodically.

It is important that vision and mission of the organization is embedded in its culture and is constantly communicated to its members by the Management.  Having a clear vision and mission statement would not only strengthen the organizational processes but also improve the camaraderie among the members through a shared unified sense of purpose. It is the responsibility of the management to strategically plan and implement suitable measures to ensure the alignment of the members with the Vision and Mission of the organization. When such an alignment is positive it increases the productivity of the organization and any kind of negative alignment leads to troubles and failures. Efforts should be made by the management to identify the members who are not supportive towards the achievement of the shared vision and mission and necessary corrective actions are to be taken to either realign such negative members with the organization’s vision or to de-link them from the organization so that the energy of all its positive members are not wasted.