Business organizations use the term Mission with the idea of establishing a specific north towards which all organizational efforts are directed. There is really no other way to interpret the fact.
The concept of Mission, on the other hand, is taken from its typically tactical scope (mostly used in military endeavors) and placed on a higher dimension. Today, when a business organization refers to its Mission, it must be understood that it is referring to the Greater Objective, the Fundamental Purpose of its operations.
It is always something very interesting and constructive to ask why, that is, what motivates the business world to resort to the use of a term like this and what justification exists to give it a greater dimension than it originally had?
The government sciences (the Administration among them, of course), have very easily accommodated themselves to the logic of asking why not? before Why ?. The Administration has reached truly dangerous extremes in its syncretism under premises of this type.
If the reader meditates for a moment, they will realize that the concept of Mission, as it is usually interpreted today, does not meet the conditions to be incorporated into the deep needs of organizational work. Let's see this: What is the interpretation of Mission that is usually provided? What is the first that comes to mind?… If you are involved in the “contemporary dynamics of managerial thinking”, you will have remembered that Mission is understood as answer to the question, what business are we in? That is the concept of Mission that, at least, all Strategic Planning approaches handle.
On the other hand, when one analyzes the missions formally established by business organizations, one finds some “answers” or “explanations” to the question, What Business are we in? that frankly conclude by confusing more. Mission statements in many organizations are impractical, vague and tedious guidelines; They seem to be the product of the "obligation" to establish something rather than the need to do so.
Mission statements are published and displayed in prominent places in the Organization, are presented with all protocol and constitute a source of managerial pride; a pride similar to that of the father who participates in the baptismal act of his first child.
However, behind the establishment of the Mission in most business organizations, there is nothing more than a formality. The Mission seldom represents a practical contribution to organizational work and almost never a contribution to the competitive profile of the Business. The Mission concludes by being a “wall reminder”, something that one must know, or at least something that one must remember.
In many other cases behind this effort to formally establish the Company's Mission, there is a serious problem. I have always wondered how defining what Business are we in can become a profound question?
It seems to me that just asking the question shows a complete lack of location. If an organization has reached the point of not knowing in which Business it is involved, then it has a much bigger problem than the mere lack of a Mission. If the Organization does not know what Business it is in, then it does not know what it is doing.
And it is that this logic responds to a simple precept: the basic Mission of an Organization is its own Business.
Business is a function, it is a task; its etymological definition refers to "any activity that generates some kind of utility, interest or benefit for those who practice it." The Business is perfected in organizations through the Production and Sales functions; These are the two functions that explain the Business in an Organization, since nothing represents so much “utility, interest or profit” as the act of producing something that is later sold.
Organizations can consider a number of other objectives or purposes, but none of them have the importance of producing and selling. Without the fulfillment of these two functions, the Organization does not exist, it is unable to survive.
On the other hand, every Organization produces and sells something, there is not a single one that does not do it, and in this way the precept of affirming that every Organization is supported by a Business is fulfilled.
If the concept of Mission is to be understood as the Final Purpose or the Fundamental Purpose pursued by the Organization, then there is no way to prevent the Mission from actually being constituted by the Business itself, that is, WHAT we produce and WHAT we sell.
Now, I understand that it is not an easy matter to define what is produced and especially what is sold, especially in mega-organizations that support more than one Business, but if this is the fact to define it is worth calling it by name and last name. And since it is presumed that nobody produces something that is not going to sell, the definition of the Mission will have to emerge as an answer to the question “What do we want to Sell?
When an organization establishes its Mission through answers to the question, what do we want to sell? , you are building a web of practical and useful considerations.
Now, when an Organization is very clear about what it wants to sell (because in fact it is already doing it), then the very formulation of the Mission becomes unnecessary. It is in these organizations that the Strategy prevails over the Plan. These are the organizations that are at a higher stage in their competitive profile. While other organizations are defining their Mission, these organizations are carrying it out.
An organization with a high competitive profile never asks what business am I in? Because it knows it. It is focused. You are trying to maximize the interest of your own business to the detriment of the competitor. For these organizations, the concept of Mission is eminently tactical, it is similar to the one that prevails in military logic: the mission is a task that must be accomplished, here and now. In this logic there is no room for any mission like those that adorn walls in many business organizations.
And the Strategos, as the man behind the Strategy only knows one Mission: Sell, outsell the competitor, sell at the competitor's expense. This is the essence of competitive logic. So simple, so cruel, so real.
