ACCA P3 考試：Communicating core values and mission （一）

This article focuses on the syllabus area relating to an organisation’s core values and mission to the public, shareholders and employees. This is an objective which can easily get overlooked in the rush to master environmental analyses, strategic choice and outsourcing decisions

Learning objective 6(g) of the Paper P3, Business Analysis syllabus relates to how an organisation communicates its core values and mission to the public, shareholders and employees. This is an objective that can easily get overlooked in the rush to master environmental analyses, strategic choice and outsourcing decisions. However, it is important in practice and it is a challenge that many

organisations take very seriously.

This article will:

• briefly describe what the terms ‘mission’, ‘mission statement’ and ‘core values’ mean

• suggest why their communication to stakeholders is important

• describe a commonly used model of communication

• briefly describe communication methods that are available

• describe and give examples of how organisations might undertake the communication process.

Terminology

An organisation’s mission is its basic purpose: What is it for? Why does it exist? What is its ‘raison d’être’?

A mission statement formalises the organisation’s mission by writing it down. Johnson, Scholes and Whittington define a mission statement as ‘a statement of the overriding direction and purpose of an organisation’. Some companies refer to ‘vision statements’ instead of mission statements; some writers and textbooks wring their hands attempting to distinguish between the terms ‘vision’ and ‘mission’. However, the distinction does not achieve much and the Paper P3 exam will treat the terms as meaning the same.

Many other writers attempt to expand the definition of a mission statement by adding detail to it. In summary, mission statements are usually assumed to address:

• what business is the company in?

• whom does the organisation serve?

• what benefits are to be delivered?

• what are the organisation’s values and ethics?