It is important for every company to understand that when they are looking to come up with great strategic planning so that they can not only stay ahead in the competition, but also meet their all organizational goals and objectives successfully. The things can vary in this regard as per organizational goals and objectives, but overall strategic direction will remain the same in terms of meeting success. In overall terms, someone may say that these statements are just formalities, and they do not provide any beneficial direction to the business, but in real terms, mission & vision statements are the ones, which drives the performance that how a company wants to lead its business to success, and what would be there focus (Papulova, 2014).

In this paper, the mission & vision statements of Saudi Electric Company will be compared as per some characteristics, which should be the part of mission & vision statements. These characteristics will define that how a company wants to work, which is their prime focus and how they will move forward in the future. The Saudi Electric Company’s mission & vision statement will also be analyzed in detail that what performance goals are set by them, and what characteristics are missing from their list, which should be aligned in their mission & vision statements so that they can meet success with great performance.

Compare the Mission and Vision Statements of SEC

            It is true that some companies may take it as a formality, but others keep it as their standard tool to align their strategic planning to meet their real business objectives. But it is also a fact that success of companies is not just based on mission & vision statements, rather how they actually developed these statements, what was their underlying rational to develop these statements, and what is the content, and how it will be implemented. The overall attitude towards these statements is also crucial to analyze with regards to individual as well as organizational attitudes. However, whatever the objectives are, and how they are going to be met; all these elements will be driven & guided by mission and vision statements (Braun, Wesche, Frey, & Weisweiler, 2012)

            To make a comparison of vision and mission statement of Saudi Electric Company with the characteristics mentioned on the page no. 83 of the book “Performance Management 3^rd Edition” written by Herman Aguinis. The mission and vision statements of SEC are given below:

Ø  The Vision Statement:

“We serve our customers and country by delivering world class power services” (Saudi Electic Company, 2019)

Ø  The Mission Statement:

“We power the Kingdom that energizes the World” (Saudi Electic Company, 2019)

            According to Aguinis (2013) in his book, the mission and vision statements should have some essential characteristics, which are important to make these statements successful, effective and aligned with strategic planning. It is said that when vision statement is given, it should show that what future aspirations are taken by the company. And when it comes to mission statement, it should provide summery that what is the most critical feature of their existence. Now, we have to analyze both statements based on these characteristics. When characteristics of mission statement are reviewed, it is apparent that SEC’s mission statement does provide reason for its existence, which is to power the Kingdom so that it can energize the world. It has offered its basic product in the mission statement, which is power (electricity). As far as characteristic is unique feature is concerned, SEC’s mission statement does not show any unique features in its offering. The mission statement is certainly brief and easy to understand for its employees, which also has self-concept of power generation. There is no timeline mentioned in the mission statement, and technology is also not mentioned for the development of product. Overall, it looks to be a brief mission statement with current focus (Aguinis, 2013, p. 83)

            Now, when vision statement is reviewed as per characteristics, it is clear that they have mentioned their future aspiration on long term basis, which are to serving their country & customers through world class power services. It has the characteristics of mention 2,3 important elements of its performance, which are to serve customers and country with world-class services in power sector, which means that they are ready to provide state of the art services, which are provided by the developed world also. Moreover, the vision statement is clear enough and easily understandable for everyone. It does not have any vague information, which may need any explanation. By mentioning the aspect of country, this vision statement has certainly included the characteristics of inspiration for employees that if they will work hard, they will be part of electrifying their country with great power services. Moreover, the goal given in vision statement is stretched enough as it is long term and ongoing goal to be achieved all the time (Aguinis, 2013, p. 83).

Gaps in the Vision & Mission Statements: After this comparison, it can be said that SEC’s mission statement has gaps in terms of providing technology & unique features of products, managerial philosophy, timeline etc. As far as vision statement is concerned, it does not have any viable gasp according to characteristics.The Individual, Team & Organizational Performance Link with Mission & Vision Statement

            It is important for vision and mission statements to be linked with individual, team as well as organizational performance in overall terms. The vision and mission statements should be aligned with strategic planning so that overall performance goals can be met with proper direction. The vision of the organization should come up with strategic direction which develops an organizational culture that is suitable for enhancing the performance on all levels (Allison, 2017). The SEC’s mission & vision statement do talk about overall performance linking it with individuals teams and organization by determining that world-class power services will be provide to the county and customers, so that it can remain bright to energize the world. All three performance elements are linked in overall terms in these statements. If organizations are not able to do so, it is hard for them to gain success as per strategic planning (Kofi Darbi, 2012)

            The overall characteristics like these statements are understandable, easy for employees to get them, come up with basic product/services offering brief, current, focused and inspiring elements. The content as well as readability of these statements is also important in so many ways. The organizational objectives get their foundation from the content of these statements, and if these are not readable and understandable, then it is hard to drive performance accordingly on all levels (Rajasekar, 2013). The vision and mission statements are essential to engage company’s employees in good performance mode. SEC has the vision of delivering world-class power services to country as well as customers, which is good enough direction to engage employees that if they will work for this goal, it means they will serve their country by doing so, which is a great motivating factor for them (Lavoie, 2017)

References

Aguinis, H. (2013). Performance Management (3rd Edition ed.). Pearson Education, Inc.

Allison, J. (2017). A VISION STATEMENT TAXONOMY: LINKING STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT, STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION, AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE. Global Journal of Management and Marketing, 1(2).

Braun, S., Wesche, J. S., Frey, D., & Weisweiler, S. (2012). Effectiveness of Mission Statements in Organizations – A Review. Journal of Management & Organization, 18(4), 430-444.

Kofi Darbi, W. P. (2012). Of Mission and Vision Statements and Their Potential Impact on Employee Behaviour and. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(14).

Lavoie, A. (2017). How to Engage Employees Through Your Company Vision Statement. Retrieved February 5, 2019, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/290803

Papulova, Z. (2014). The Significance of Vision and Mission Development for Enterprises in Slovak Republic. Journal of Economics, Business and Management, 2(1).

Rajasekar, J. (2013). A Comparative Analysis of Mission Statement Content and Readability. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 14(6).

Saudi Electic Company. (2019). Information About Company. Retrieved February 4, 2019, from https://www.se.com.sa/en-us/Pages/OurVisionAndMissionAndValues.aspx