Mission Vision Ethics

Mission

A mission statement is a brief description of a company's fundamental purpose. It answers the question, "Why does our business exist?"

The mission statement articulates the company's purpose both for those in the organization and for the public.

Mission statements are as varied as the companies they describe as you'll see from the examples given below.

However, all mission statements will "broadly describe an organization's present capabilities, customer focus, activities, and business makeup"

Why Having a Mission Statement Is Important

Every business should have a mission statement, both as a way of ensuring that everyone in the organization is "on the same page" and to serve as a baseline for effective business planning.

The mission statement definition itself is often the result of group consensus efforts; writing a mission statement is viewed as a valuable team building exercise.

Because mission statements are part of a company's public face, they are also often used in a company's marketing. Businesses always include them on their websites, for instance, often in the 'About Us' section.

Sometimes a company's mission statement even becomes the core of a business's advertising, such as when the B.C. Credit Unions used the slogan "people before profits" as the basis of their marketing campaign.

What's the Difference Between a Mission Statement & a Vision Statement?

A mission statement focuses on a company’s present state while a vision statement focuses on a company’s future.

Think of it this way; a mission statement answers the question "Who are we?" and the vision statement answers the question "Where are we going?"

The Downside of Mission Statements

Properly crafted, a mission statement can lend a strategic focus to an organization and motivate employees to work together towards a common goal.

Unfortunately, mission statements often consist of the latest buzzwords or business jargon and/or have unrealistic or unattainable goals, all of which can negatively affect employee morale.

Having a coherent, realistic mission statement is fundamental to engaging your employees and fulfilling your corporate goals.

Ways to achieve this include:

    Having employee input/feedback on crafting the mission statement

    Explicitly recognizing the talents and contributions of employees in the mission statement.

Examples of Mission Statements

Amazon: "To be Earth's most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online."

Apple: "Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and​ internet offerings."

Virgin Atlantic Airways: "... to embrace the human spirit and let it fly."

Tata Motors: "A USD 42 billion organisation, Tata Motors Limited is a leading global automobile manufacturer with a portfolio that covers a wide range of cars, sports vehicles, buses, trucks and defence vehicles. Our marque can be found on and off-road in over 175 countries around the globe."

Walmart: "Walmart helps people around the world save money and live better - anytime and anywhere - in retail stores, online and through their mobile devices. "

Costco (a Walmart competitor) has a very similar mission statement, "to continually provide our members with quality goods and services at the lowest possible prices", which is enshrined in its code of ethics.

The IRS: Provide America's taxpayers top quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and enforce the law with integrity and fairness to all.

The Canada Revenue Agency: "To administer tax, benefits, and related programs, and to ensure compliance on behalf of governments across Canada, thereby contributing to the ongoing economic and social well-being of Canadians."

VISION

What Is a Vision Statement?

A vision statement is like a photograph of your future business, which gives your business shape and direction.

A vision statement provides the direction and describes what the founder wants the organization to achieve in the future; it’s more about the “what” of a business. It is different from a mission statement, which describes the purpose of an organization and more about the “how” of a business.

If you were to take a photo of your future business now, what would it look like? What do you want your business to be recognized for one day?

You need to have a crystal clear vision when you start out, otherwise you can get easily lost in deciding the best way forward. When you are making strategic decisions for your business and even daily operation decisions, your vision statement will give you the inspiration and targeted direction you need.

The Importance of a Vision Statement

Without a vision statement, your business will lack motivation to keep going.

If you don’t aim for anything, you might not hit anything. The more specific and clear you are, the better your chances are at seeing your vision turn into reality.

The importance of a vision statement cannot be overlooked; not only does it provide long term direction and guidance, but it also gives you the inspiration and the necessary energy to keep going when you feel lost.

Always keep your vision statement alive by revisiting it regularly and communicating your vision with other members of the team, to inspire and motivate them as well.

How to Craft an Inspiring Vision Statement

1. Dream big and use clear language

An inspiring vision statement should inform a clear direction and priorities for the organization, while challenging all the team members to grow together. Based on our expert sources’ advice, we’ve got some great tips for you:

    Imagine how you want the business to be like in five to ten years.

    Infuse the business’ values in the statement.

    Make sure that the statement is implying a clear focus for the business.

    Write your vision statement in the present tense.

    Use clear and concise language.

    Ensure the statement is easily understood.

There are many different types of vision statements and there is no wrong or right way to do it. The most important thing is to resonate with it. It will always inspire you and give you a clear targeted direction.

2. Get inspirations from the successful companies.

Here is a shortlisted 20 good examples for the new startups:

Short vision statements made up of a few words only:

Disney. To make people happy.

Ikea. To create a better every day life for the many people.

Microsoft. Empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

Nike. Bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world. (*If you have a body, you are an athlete.)

Ford. People working together as a lean, global enterprise to make people’s lives better through automotive and mobility leadership.

Avon. To be the company that best understands and satisfies the product, service and self-fulfillment needs of women—globally.

Honda – in 1970. We will destroy Yamaha.

Nike – in 1960s. Crush Adidas.

Philip Morris – in 1950s. Become Mentally Stronger!

Grab a FREE Lifehack Guide to train yourself to be mentally strong and take charge of life! Become Stronger. Knock off RJR as the number one tobacco  company in the world.

Stanford University – in the past. To become the Harvard of the West.

Apple. To produce high-quality, low cost, easy to use products that incorporate high technology for the individual.

Sony. To be a company that inspires and fulfills your curiosity.

Facebook. To give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.

Walmart. To give customers a wide assortment of their favorite products, Every Day Low Prices, guaranteed satisfaction, friendly service, convenient hours (24 hours, 7 days a week) and a great online shopping experience.

Coca Cola. To achieve sustainable growth, we have established a vision with clear goals:

    Profit: Maximizing return to share owners while being mindful of our overall responsibilities.

    People: Being a great place to work where people are inspired to be the best they can be.

    Portfolio: Bringing to the world a portfolio of beverage brands that anticipate and satisfy peoples; desires and needs.

    Partners: Nurturing a winning network of partners and building mutual loyalty.

    Planet: Being a responsible global citizen that makes a difference.

Heinz. Our VISION, quite simply, is to be: “The World’s Premier Food Company, Offering Nutritious, Superior Tasting Foods To People Everywhere.” Being the premier food company does not mean being the biggest but it does mean being the best in terms of consumer value, customer service, employee talent, and consistent and predictable growth.

The Bottom Line

Remember, always keep your vision statement up-to-date to direct your company’s actions.

Remember, once you reach your vision, it needs to be changed. General Motors overtook Ford as #1 automotive company in the world because once Ford’s goal was reached, they never updated it.

Keep your vision statement alive and visibly in front of you, revisit it and let it help direct your actions and activities. This is the fun part: this is where you get to dream really big and allow your imagination to fly as high as you want.

Don’t hold back, let your creative juices flow and give yourself permission to explore what is possible for your business.

Ethics

Business Ethics means conformance to accepted professional high standards of conduct.

Most businesses prepare, document, and publish their company policies derived from their basic beliefs and philosophies. ,

Integrity and Company Values

Some companies publish theirs, and some don't.

However, with today's onslaught of major accounting practice frauds that have obliterated employee pension funds and investor monies, it has become increasingly more important for legitimate companies to state their positions relative to ethics.

Companies that do, at least get categorized as having "good intentions"... those that don't seem to fall in the other category, in general, of not having "good intentions"

Business ethics examples cross many subject areas. Companies based these on broad principles of integrity and fairness regarding issues such as

    accounting practices,

    product quality,

    customer satisfaction,

    employee wages and benefits, and

    local community and environmental responsibilities, etc.

Some reasons to define your Company Values are:

    define accepted / acceptable behaviors

    promote high standards of practice

    provide a benchmark for employees to use for self-measurement

    as an indication of company maturity

A solid ethics statement, documented as the Company Values Statement, creates team commitment and understanding relative to how the company desires to operate, and gets you categorized as having "good intentions". It enables your team to operationally focus accordingly, and it enables others who read it to understand how the top of the organization visualizes the ethics of the company.

Workplace Business Ethics

How do we apply business ethics in the workplace?

Business ethics examples include what we think about using company equipment and information that we have access to as we perform our duties:

    What we think about making copies of personal (non-business) documents on company provided equipment.

    What we think about faxing personal (non-business) documents on company provided equipment.

    What we think about making personal (non-business) telephone calls on company provided equipment.

    What we think about sending personal (non-business) electronic mail messages on company provided computers and Internet network connections.

These and other non-business usages and actions can drag company profitability.

Other applications of Business Ethics in the workplace might be:

    Do you copy software to take home for personal use?

    Do you properly dispose of classified information regardless of media type?

    Do you "shoulder-surf" when a colleague enters his or her password or view sensitive data?

    Do you ask those who "tailgate" upon entrance to the controlled-access office building to see their ID?

Business Ethics Policies

Just as we have federal, state, and local laws, and business ethics that govern our actions on the big playing field, we should have company policies that can be seen as the rules that govern our internal game plans.

For company roles,

    we have coaches to interpret the policies and develop standards

    team players to implement the rules through practices and procedures

    referees to act as auditors.

Within each policy, include business ethics examples so the employees understand the policy.

Most companies formally prepare, document, and publish corporate policies that provide guidance in conducting business, serving the customer, and valuing people. Business ethics examples of some corporate policies might be:

    Business Ethics

    Business Continuity

    Equal Employment Opportunity

    Export Compliance

    Information Security

    Software Compliance

    Etc.

A Code of Ethics (Company Values) go lock step with employee handbooks and other internal and marketing documents. They portray the culture and ethics that define the expected behaviors of the company and its employees. They should be the fundamental principles by which the company conducts its business.

Some policies and details can usually be found within your Employee Handbook. They emphasize specific topics like...

    Open Door

    Sexual Harassment

    Substance Abuse

    Violence in the Workplace

    Employee Code of Conduct.

    Clean Desk

    Information Handling

    Acceptable Internet Usage

    Acceptable E-mail Usage.

Employees need to review and understand company's policies and procedures to ensure they follow the company's game plan.

Below is a business ethics examples for a company ethic policy.

"Integrity begins with the judgments and decisions that each of us make as individuals. How do we define personal integrity?

First, it means living the highest standards of conduct, complying fully with the letter, spirit, and intent of the laws, regulations, and ethical principles that govern us, while complying with company policies, even when we may not agree with them. In a worldwide enterprise, legitimate differences of opinion may arise as to the appropriateness of the corporate policies across our global operations.

While such differences are understandable, and can lead to a healthy discussion of choices, they do not excuse us from observing the existing policies. We always welcome to voice our concerns and to request exceptions for special circumstances through appropriate leadership when warranted. It is important that we use our judgment not only to consider the precise meaning of our stated values or policies, but also the spirit and intended purpose of them as we make these choices.

Second, it means we have a responsibility to voice concerns when we believe you or fellow employees act contrary to existing policies.

Collectively, we are the corporation, and the actions of one individual can damage the reputation of all. When someone compromises the principles of ethics or policies, we should either inform them directly, or use other available channels to voice our concerns.

As the best option, we usually choose to discuss the situation with a manager. Alternatively, we can bring our concerns to functional experts such as Legal, Audit, Security, or Human Resources.

We are dedicated to complying fully with the letter, spirit, and intent of the laws, regulations, and ethical principles that govern us. We will protect all confidential information we receive from our customers or business partners."

Below is a business ethics examples for law compliance policy.

"To enable compliance with the law, one must be familiar with the law.

For most employees, advice or training from experts would be required to understand the law as it pertains to one’s job responsibilities. Common sense, one’s conscience, and good intentions are sometimes not enough.

At a minimum, one must learn enough about the laws and ethics that impact and govern one’s job responsibilities in order to reveal potential issues, and then follow through to get direction about the proper way to proceed.

Knowledge enables compliance with the law, and action usually ensures compliance. This takes a high degree of cooperation and communication, the essential elements of teamwork. As a member of the our team, if one thinks some aspect of the business may be in violation of the law, you should openly, directly voice and dialogue the issue with their immediate manager, any member of the leadership team, or a representative from the Legal Staff.

The worst scenario regarding a potential legal issue is inaction. For one to ignore or to attempt to cover up a potential problem and allow it to grow more severe over time could result in negative consequences to the company and to the employee."