IDENTIFY THE KEY ELEMENTS FOR DEVELOPING AN …

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IDENTIFY THE KEY ELEMENTS FOR DEVELOPING AN ORGANIZATION'S MISSION STATEMENT

CASE STUDY: NORTH KHORASAN UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES

Mohammad Ali Shahhoseini Assistant Professor, Faculty of Management, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Hamed Khorasani Toroghi (Corresponding author) MSc of Executive Management of Business Administration, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Sajad Yazdani Ahmad Abadi MSc student of Executive Management of Business Administration, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Amir Bahador Panahi MSc student of Human Resource Management, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Abstract The mission statement is a concise, accurate and appropriate sentence that introduce the organization's purpose. A good mission statement can bring many benefits to the organization. It is proposed several elements to develop a mission statement. These elements Have similarities and differences. Every organization and business philosophy, values, and goals are unique. So it must set mission statement with consider this items. In this study, 25 different elements were extracted from the past studies. Then the questionnaires were distributed to employees of North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences And the necessity and importance of each of these elements in the development of university mission statement were analyzed . Friedman tests showed that these elements do not have the same priority. Finally, using One-Sample Test, most important elements were identify and introduced to prepare the University's mission. Key word: Mission Statement, Strategy, university of Medical Sciences

Introduction:

The mission is the answer to the question, "why we exist?" (Mirvis et al, 2010). The mission statement is a document that expresses the organization's reason for existing and distinguishes it from other organizations. The organization's mission reflects the organization's values, beliefs and guidelines for its business and indicates how to behave with stakeholders (employees, customers, shareholders, suppliers, government and society) (kemp & Dwyer, 2003).

Although there is not sufficient evidence to establish the relationship between mission statement quality and financial performance of the organization, but organizational mission consists of elements and components that are important and can create advantages and benefits (Bartkus et al, 2006). Generally mission statement provides two advantages. 1) The mission is a critical factor for strategy formulation. 2) By creating team spirit and unity within the organization to perform the strategy (Sidhu, 2003). kemp and Dwyer (2003) also believe that having an appropriate mission statement is a prerequisite for planning, implementing and evaluating strategies. (Klemm et al, 1991).

Ando Campbell indicates in his comprehensive research on British companies that big and successful companies have disestablished sense of competition among stakeholders and have established coexistence approach among them. (Klemm et al, 1991).

Bartkus and others (2004) in their research on Japanese, American and European firms, found out that motivation of employees is one of the main goals for mission statement formulation (Forbes & Seena , 2006).

Alavi and Karami studied 150 small and medium enterprises in science and technology park and found out that, those enterprises with a written mission statement perform better than other (Alavi & Karami, 2009).

Haghighi and Others evaluated the empirical relationship between features of the organization's mission statement and organizational performance measured in 300 active food companies and concluded that there is a significant positive correlation between each mission statement feature(flexibility, completeness, applicability, being real and distinct)with organizational performance(Haghighi & Others, 2009).

A lot of researches have been done about the content of a proper mission statement and researchers have proposed various elements and components for developing a mission statement. Since every organization and business has unique goals, values and reason, it should formulate its mission statement according to these items. So the organization mission and organization characteristics would fit and it would experience the advantages of a good mission (Which will be described in more detail).A look at studies done in Iran about mission formulation indicates that most of the studies are general and there is no study about a specific organization or industry. In this study we try to collect a group of elements which are suggested for mission statement formulation then identify more important elements in a big governmental organization (North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences)by distributing questionnaire.

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Theoretical basis and Literature review Mission, describes organization's goal or its reason for existing (Braison, 2008). David describes

mission statement as an evidence that distinguishes an organization from other similar organizations. Allison says that mission statement is a document that describes,what an organization is? Why does it exist? What is it? And who does it serve. (Emamian & Zamanian, 2006).

Sattari and others define a mission statement as: A statement is a formal piece of writing about an organization's goal that directs activities of the organization. Defines the overall goals of the organization and is a guide for leaders decision (Sattari et al, 2011).

Having an appropriate mission for the organization provides many benefits that can include: -Creating the reason of being and directing the organization(Bartkus et al, 2000; Desmidt and others, 2008 & Desmidt and others, 2011).A mission statement matches long-term and short-term goals. Different stakeholders realize that what does the organization do and where it go by reading mission of the organization from organizations are realizing that reading the mission of the organization. - Creating a control mechanism (Bartkus et al, 2000 & Desmidt et al, 2008) Mission statement of the organization helps it to move in its way and not to enter in marginal businesses. -To help decide in organization (Bartkus et all, 2000; Desmidt et all, 2008 & Biloslavo and Lynn, 2006). By limiting possible options, mission Statement can accelerate decision making. - To inspire and motivate staff (Bartkus et al, 2000; Desmidt et al, 2008 & Desmidt et al, 2011). Mission statement gives meaning to things. Helps staff to understand the purpose and philosophy of their efforts and works better. - Attention to the demands of different stakeholders (Desmidt et al, 2008) Mission statement goes for all stakeholders (employees, customers, shareholders, suppliers, government, and society) and note that their needs are considered. - It helps to humanitarian efforts in a common direction and that makes all employees and managers in different organizational levels, to have common expectations and values and these values are reinforced over time (Haghighi et al, 2010).

Solener (2001) have listed the following duties for the organization's mission: - Clarification of objectives. -Reduction of activity against the organization's purpose. -Correspondence between the views of the leaders of the organizations with its strategies. -Introducing the values, vision and purpose and overall objectives of the organization, to people, institutions and other organizations. - Introducing the values and abilities of the company to influence customers, suppliers and employees (Nasehi Far, 2008).

Also developing a mission statement in some of strategic planning models like Godastayn model, Duncan and colleagues, Pyglz and Roger is introduced as one of the basic steps of strategic planning (Khatami & Mahdi Zadeh, 2008).

A good mission statement should have attributes including: -The definition of organization dreams, as it desired by organization -Limitation of risky elements and extension of mission to promote and develop creativity. -Distinguishing the organization from other organizations. -Provide a framework for evaluating current and future activities. -Clear and understandable for all organization members (McGinnis, 1981).

One aspect of the mission statement is that there is little agreement on its content and features and each strategic management scholars and experts due to his opinion has considered certain components for mission statement (Bartkus et al, 2000). Barrett and Hapfr have proposed 23 elements for the development of organizations' mission, then the questionnaire was distributed among hospitals in Canada, 19 of the most important elements in 7 groups are as follows: Defining business, stakeholders, heeding the competition, the causes of the organization, suppliers, market and technology, and the survival (Barrett & Hapfr, 2004: 99). Campbell and Yeung defined 4 major issue as the main elements of institutional mission: Organization reason of being, strategy (distinctive competencies of the company to compete), shared values , standards of employee behavior (Campbell & Yeung, 1991). David analyzed 1,000 top manufacturing and servicing American companies and suggests the below 9 elements for writing the organization mission: Customers, products or services, geographical scope, technology, the survival, reason of being, self-image, attention to public impression and attention to staff (David, 1989). Batz introduced 10 elements including values, financial targets, beliefs, organization reason of being, the definition of success, organizational priorities, market orientation, relations with stakeholders, competition basis, and the products position (Yazhou & Jian ,2011). Nasehi Far and Pour Hosseini, by review of previous studies have identified and explained 9 most suggested elements: describe a vision, describe the values, beliefs and reason of being, certain non-financial targets, goods and services,

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satisfy customers' needs, to meet the needs of employees, to meet the need for suppliers to meet community

needs, to satisfy shareholders needs (Nasehi Far & Pour Hosseini, 2008).

Barrett (1999) introduced a model consists of several elements based on previous studies, in order to

develop an organization mission statement. These elements include: the reason of being, values, distinctive

capabilities, favorable competitive position, competitive strategy, specific behavior standards, the company's

overall objectives, a clear purpose, specific financial goals, specific non-financial targets, target customers,

presented products / services, unique identity, a favorable public image, business opportunities, defined

technology, the survival, attention to employees needs, attention to suppliers, attention to the society, attention

to the stakeholders, a vision statement (Yazhou & Jian ,2011).

In this study we have tried to collect set elements that have been proposed by various scholars and then

identify the importance and necessity of each of them in North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences to

develop a mission statement. Due to the university's duty, issues such as meeting suppliers or the shareholders

needs which have been raised in many studies, are not considered in this study. Thus, by removing some

elements and combining similar elements that are presented differently we found the following 25 elements:

Table 1 - Proposed elements for the development of a mission statement

Behavior

Competitive

Competitive

Distinctive

Expressed values

standards for staff

Strategy

position

competencies

and beliefs.

Provided services

Types of customers / clients

Certain nonfinancial targets

Certain financial An interesting and

targets

clear cause

The survival, growth and profitability

Important technologies

Geographic area for providing services

Meeting the needs of customers / clients

Expressed confidence

Quality of service provided

Provide a favorable public

impression

To meet society's needs

Take the government into

account

Meet the needs of staff

Important

University's reason of being

Provide information about

the current

resources for acquiring competitive

Tend to be better than others

Interest to innovation

position

advantage

The research hypothesis Suggested elements are equally important for the development of university mission statement.

Based on the above hypothesis the main research question is as follows: What elements are more important and necessary for arranging University's mission statement?

For this purpose after studying literature review, 25 items were extracted for writing a mission statement and questions were presented using a five-point Likert scale to find out the necessity of each element in development of a mission statement in North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences. To investigate the hypothesis, the Friedman test was used. This test checks the similarity of priority (rating) of dependent variables used by people (Momeni & Faal-e- Ghayumi, 2010). For determining the more important elements population mean test (t) was used. Research Methodology This study is descriptive, and is a survey research.

Our Statistical population is managers and experts of University of Medical Sciences. The community consists of 120 staff. Since there was access to all staff, without sampling, questionnaires were distributed among the people. In total, 114 questionnaires were received and analyzed.

In order to determine the questionnaire validity some management professors in Tehran University were asked to review the questionnaire. The validity was verified.

To determine reliability, the questionnaire was distributed among 30 members of the organization, the Cronbach's alpha for this sample was 0.96, indicating high reliability of the questionnaire. Data Analysis

Null & Alternate Hypothesis is formulated by Friedman test as: The null hypothesis (H0): The priority of these 25 items is the same in formulation of mission statement. Hypothesis one (H1): At least two priorities differ. Data analyzed by SPSS software showed that the sig (significance level) is smaller than 5%. So H0 is rejected and the claim of level (priority) similarity of these 25 items is not accepted. The following table shows the priority given by the Friedman test in descending order:

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Table 2: Prioritize the proposed elements based on Friedman's test

proposed elements

Mean Rank

1 To meet society's needs

18.4

2 Interest to innovation

16.2

3 Expressed values and beliefs

16

4 Expressed confidence

15.78

5 Quality of service provided

15.43

6 Behavior standards for staff

14.81

7 Provided services

14.6

8 Meeting the needs of customers / clients 13.76

9 Distinctive competencies

13.72

10 Important technologies

13.44

11 Provide a favorable public impression 11.83

12 Meet the needs of staff

13 Competitive position

14 Tend to be better than others

15 Take the government into account

16 An interesting and clear cause

17

Provide information about the current position

18 University's reason of being

19 Competitive Strategy

20 The survival, growth and profitability

21 Certain non-financial targets

22 Certain financial targets

23 Types of customers / clients

24 Geographic area for providing services

25

Important resources for acquiring competitive advantage

11.79 11.75 11.59 11.54 11.38

11.21

10.72 10.25 10.15 9.64 9.58 9.19 9.16

8.79

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As the mission statement should be brief, it is not possible to use all elements in developing University's mission so in order to determine the more important elements we use a t-test.

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Table 3: Importance mean value of each proposed element

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proposed elements

mean

test value=3 sig. (1-tailed)

1 To meet society's needs

2 Expressed values and beliefs.

3 Interest to innovation

4 Expressed confidence

5 Quality of service provided

6 Behavior standards for staff

7 Provided services

8

Meeting the needs of customers / clients

9 Distinctive competencies

10 Important technologies

11 An interesting and clear cause

12

Provide a favorable public impression

13 Competitive position

14 Meet the needs of staff

15 Take the government into account

3.823 3.4956 3.4779 3.4513 3.4425 3.2743 3.2743

0 . 0325 0.2525 0.02 0.0004 0.3672 0.0005

3.1947 0.0001

3.177 0 3.1593 0.0035 2.9646 0

2.9558 0.0175

2.9381 0 2.9381 0.067

2.9204 0.001

16 Tend to be better than others

2.8938 0.267

17

Provide information about the current position

18 Competitive Strategy 19 Certain non-financial targets

20 University's reason of being

2.823 0.208

2.7611 0 2.6814 0.305 2.6637 0

21

The survival, growth and profitability

2.6549 0

22 Certain financial targets

2.6106 0.1415

23 Types of customers / clients

24

Important resources for acquiring competitive advantage

25

Geographic area for providing services

2.6018 0 2.5929 0.041 2.5398 0.0015

In the third column of Table 3, a significant amount (sig) is shown. For all variables (elements) that significant amount is less than 0.05, it can be understood that their mean, has a significant difference with 3 (Momeni & Faal-e- Ghayumi, 2010).

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So except these elements: the innovation, behavior standards for staff, meeting the needs of staff, tend to be better than other universities, specific non-financial and financial targets, the other 19 means have a significant difference with number 3.

Using the above analysis, 8 out of 10 elements that their mean are higher than number 3, are indicated as important and necessary in the formulation of the mission in North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences. These elements include the following priority order:

To meet society's needs, presenting values and beliefs of the university, Expressed confidence, quality of service, the services provided by the university, meeting the needs of customers / clients in university, Distinctive competencies, key technologies in university.

Discussion and conclusion The findings show that proposed elements for development of the mission statement of the University

of North Khorasan are not equally important. So that the following eight elements: To meet society's needs, presenting values and beliefs of the university, Expressed confidence , quality of service, the services provided by the university, meeting the needs of customers / clients in university, Distinctive competencies, key technologies in university are considered more important by experts and managers of this large governmental organization. The differences of this study with previous researches are: 1) Nasehi Farr and Pourhosseini did a comprehensive review of previous researches, they identified the elements that are more accepted as important by theorists and presented them as an ideal model for developing a mission statement in IT companies (in and out the country).In this study, the essential elements for the development of a mission statement in the university are determined by organization's leaders and experts. So we can be sure that the eight proposed elements are totally proportional to organizational goals. 2) Kemp & Dwyer (2003) examined the components of mission statements of 50 international aviation companies. In their study, they identified 9 elements in David's investigation as the elements of developing a mission statement .That some of these 9 elements (such as survival, growth, profitability and the geographical area of services) were among the last priorities in the formulation of the mission in University of Medical Sciences. 3) In another study, 10 elements: reason of being, values, goals, geographical area, survival, meeting the needs of stakeholders, behavior standards, meeting the needs of staff, the excellence and meeting the needs of society are indicated as a method for measuring the mission statement of non-profit organizations(Yazhou & Jian, 2011) Four elements including the values, meeting the needs of stakeholders, behavior standards, and meeting staff needs is among the 10 first preference in University of Medical Sciences.

Suggestions for future research: 1) Analysis of the mission statements of other universities. 2) Conduct a similar study in a service organization and compare the findings with current research. 3) Identify and compare key elements in developing a mission statement in manufacturing and service companies.

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