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 3rd 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