Fundamentals of project management

Session 5

developing a mission, vision, goals and objectives for the project

Ambreen Jabeen Shah

Lahore Business School (LBS)
4/14/21

2
Café chain
 Vision; To be the only office for dialogue over a cup of tea.
4/14/21

 Mission; To be the best café chain by offering a world class coffee experience at
affordable prices

 Strategies; Series of ways of using the mission to achieve the vision.

 Goal; Strategy selected is Reduce cost

 Objective; Reduce operating cost by 10% in 18 months

 Activities; Finance department will conduct an in-depth analysis of identifying

low cost suppliers
3
 Introduction
 Management of companies is essential for the systematic growth and development of the
company. The management strategies are formulated on the basis of company mission and 4/14/21

vision. In line with them, the goals and objectives are set for the company.

 The vision and mission statements play a significant role in the development of strategies by
providing a basis for screening the strategic options

 Thus, understanding the concept of mission, vision, goals, objectives and related concepts is
essential for implementing successful strategic management.

 Mission is a general statement of how you will achieve your vision.

 Strategies are a series of ways of using the mission to achieve the vision. 

 Goals are statements of what needs to be accomplished to implement the strategy. 

4
 Objectives are specific actions and timelines for achieving the goal.
 Defining the Problem
 Before a project team does any work, it should spend time ensuring that it has a 4/14/21
shared understanding of where it is going

 The terms used to define that destination are “mission,” “vision,” “goals,” and
“objectives.”

 And it is at this very early stage that projects tend to fail, because everyone takes for
granted that “we all know what the mission is.”

 Every project solves a problem of some kind;

 but people are inclined to skip over the definition of the problem

 This is a big mistake;

 The way you define a problem determines how you will solve it
5
 so it is critical that a proper definition be developed
 Defining the Problem
 A person may say, “I have a problem’’ 4/14/21

 My car has quit, and I have no way to get to work

 How am I going to get my car repaired, because I have no money to do it?”

 The problem has essentially been defined as “How do I repair my car?”

 The actual problem, however, at its most fundamental level, is that the person has no
way to get to work or so he says.

 But could he ride the bus, go with a coworker, or ride a bike until he has the money to
have the car repaired?

 It is true that having no money to repair the car is a problem

 But it is important to distinguish between the basic or core problem and those at
6
another level
Confusion of Terms

4/14/21

Suppose a person tells that she is taking a new job in a distant city, and she plans to move there;
 She immediately realizes that she must find a place to live. So she says,
 “I have a problem. I have to find a place to live.”

 You ask her what her mission is. “To find a place to live,” she says
 And how about her vision? “To have a place to live,” she answers, a little confused
 No wonder she is confused. All statements sound alike

She needs to understand the difference between them if she is to solve this problem.
 Remember, a problem is a gap
 Suppose we were to ask her to tell us where she wants to be when her problem is solved
 She would say, “I would have a place to live in the new city.”
 “And where are you now?” you ask. “I have no place to live,” she says
 Then the gap is between having a place and not having one. This can be stated simply as “I
have no place to live.” And, indeed, this is the problem she is trying to solve. 7
Confusion of Terms
But, would just any place be okay? Of course not
4/14/21
 She doesn’t want to live under a bridge, although homeless people sometimes do
 So if you ask her, “What kind of place are you looking for?” she can tell you. “It
needs to have three bedrooms, the house must be of a certain size, and I prefer
a certain style,” she says
 This is her vision for the kind of place she wants to live in
 That vision literally paints a picture in her mind, and, when she finds a place that
comes close to that picture, she will have “arrived” at her destination
Her mission, then, is to find a place that conforms to her vision
 Another way to say this is that the mission of a project is always to achieve the
vision
 In doing so, it solves the stated problem. So you may want to diagram it as shown
in Fig. 4-1
 Note that the vision has been spelled out as a list of things she must have, along
with some that she wants to have and a few that would be nice to have if she
could get them. 8
Confusion of Terms

4/14/21

9
 Vision
 A vision says the position that an organization would like to attain in the distant
4/14/21
future. It helps in creating a common identity and a shared sense of purpose. A
good vision is one which foster risk taking and experimentation. It answers the
question: ‘What will success look like?’
The vision of an organization must possess the following characteristics:
 It is created by consensus.
 It forms a company’s future mental image.
 It forms the basis for formulating the mission statement.
A good vision possesses the following features:
 It should be inspiring.
 It should foster long term thinking.
 It should be original and unique.
 It should be competitive.
 It should be realistic. 10
examples
4/14/21

11
Mission
 Mission refers to the purpose of an organization. Mission states the
business reason for the organization's existence. It relates the 4/14/21

organization to the society.

 The mission of an organization should aim high and at the same time it
must be realistic. It should provide a strategic direction for the
organization. “Mission is the fundamental work given by the society to an
organization”. By Koontz & Q’ Ponnell

 “The company mission is defined as the fundamental unique purpose that

sets a business apart from other firms of its type & identifies the scope of
its operations in product & market terms”. By Pearce & Robinson
12
examples

4/14/21

13
 Mission
In order to be effective, a mission statement should possess the following
4/14/21
characteristics:
(i) A mission statement should be realistic and achievable. Impossible statements do not
motivate people.

(ii) It should neither be too broad not be too narrow. If it is broad, it will become
meaningless. A narrower mission statement restricts the activities of organization. The
mission statement should be precise.

(iii) A mission statement should not be ambiguous. It must be clear for action. Highly
philosophical statements do not give clarity.

(iv) A mission statement should be distinct. If it is not distinct, it will not have any
impact. Copied mission statements do not create any impression.
14
.
 Mission

(v) It should have societal linkage. Linking the organization to society will
build long term perspective in a better way 4/14/21

(vi) It should not be static. To cope up with ever changing environment,

dynamic aspects should be considered.

(vii) It should be motivating for members of the organization and of society.

The employees of the organization may stimulate themselves with mission
statement.

(viii) The mission statement should indicate the process of accomplishing

objectives. The clues to achieve the mission will be the motivating factor.

15
 Difference Between Goals and Objectives
Definition of Goals and Objectives
 Goals are long-term aims that you want to accomplish 4/14/21

 Objectives are concrete attainments that can be achieved by following a certain number of steps
 Goals and objectives are often used interchangeably, but the main difference comes in their level of
concreteness
 Objectives are very concrete, whereas goals are less structured

Examples of Goals and Objectives

 Goals - I want to be a better Hockey player. I want to learn more about Chinese history. I want to maximize
my professional performance
 Objectives- I want to memorize the table before my next quiz. I want to increase my sales by 10% this
month.

 Organizations summarize their goals and objectives in mission and vision statements.
 Both of these serve different purposes for a company but are often confused with each other
 While a mission statement describes what a company wants to do now
 A vision statement outlines what a company wants to be in the future 16
Goal
 Goals are an intermediate result which is expected to be achieved by a
4/14/21
certain span of time. It is a target which an organization wishes to
achieve in long term. It provides the basis for judging the performance
of the organization. Goals may be classified into two categories:

 Financial goals: They are related to the return on investment or growth

in revenues.

 Strategic goals: They focus on the achievement of the competitive

advantage in the industry.

17
examples

4/14/21

18
 Developing Project Objectives
 Once a mission statement has been developed, you can write your project objectives 4/14/21

 Note that objectives are much more specific than the mission statement itself
 and define results that must be achieved in order for the overall mission to be accomplished

 Also, an objective defines the desired end result.

 I may want to finish this chapter by 10 o’clock this morning. That is my desired outcome or
result—my objective

 The way in which I achieve that objective is to perform a number of tasks (activities). These
might include;
 typing text into my computer

 reviewing some other literature on the topic about which I am writing

19
 and printing out the chapter, proofing it, and entering some revisions into my computer
 Objective
Objectives are the end results of a planned activity. They are stated in quantifiable terms. Objectives are
stated differently at various levels of management. 4/14/21

Objectives play a very important role in enhancing the efficiency and

effectiveness of an organization. The following characteristics must be present in
fairly framed objectives:
 They should be specific and unambiguous.
 They should have a particular time horizon within which it is expected to
be achieved.
 They should be flexible enough so that if changes are required, they may
be incorporated easily.
 They should be attainable.
 They should be measurable.
 They should be understandable
 They should help in the achievement of the organization’s mission and
vision. 20
 They should be challenging.
examples
4/14/21

21
 Objective
Objectives may be of various types. Some of these are explained as below: 4/14/21

Profit Objective ; It is the most important objective for any business

enterprise.
In order to earn a profit, an enterprise has to set multiple objectives in key
result areas such as market share, new product development, quality of service
etc. These may also be termed as performance objectives.

Marketing Objective; may be expressed in terms of percentage increase or

decrease in market share. They are related to a functional area.

Productivity Objective; may be expressed in terms of ratio of input to output.

This objective may also be stated in terms of cost per unit of production.

22
 Objective
Product Objective; may be expressed in terms of product development, 4/14/21

product diversification etc.

Social Objective; may be described in terms of social orientation. It may be

tree plantation or provision of drinking water or development of parks

Financial Objective; relate to cash flow, debt equity ratio, working capital,
stock exchange operations, collection periods etc.

Human resources objective; may be described in terms of absenteeism,

turnover, number of grievances, strikes and lockouts etc. For example: the
objective may be to decrease the rate of absenteeism.

23