The challenge of planning, steering and controlling all activities of a company requires a wide
range of decisions made by the management. Management itself can be divided into three
subcategories: normative management, strategic management and operative management with
strategic management linking normative and operative management.
Subject of this paper is the explanation of the impact of normative management on the strategic
orientation of a company with focus on the importance of a mature vision, mission and goals.
Contents
List of figures
1. Introduction
2. Normative, strategic and operative management
3. Definition of terms
3.1 Vision
3.2 Mission
3.3 Goals
3.4 Strategy
4. The process of strategic management
5. Leadership requirements
6. Conclusion
References
List of figures
Fig. 1 normative, strategic and operative management
Fig. 2 stakeholders of a company
Fig. 3 intended/realized strategy
1. Introduction
The challenge of planning, steering and controlling all activities of a company requires a wide range of decisions made by the management. Management itself can be divided into three subcategories: normative management, strategic management and operative management with strategic management linking normative and operative management.[1]
Subject of this paper is the explanation of the impact of normative management on the strategic orientation of a company with focus on the importance of a mature vision, mission and goals.
2. Normative, strategic and operative management
Normative management defines the self concept of a company which is expressed by the vision, mission and fundamental goals of a company. Defining the corporate culture and corporate charter are also tasks of normative management. On the contrary, operative management decides about precise goals and measures within the company’s different functional areas. In practice, strategic management transfers normative guidelines into strategic goals and measures which influence the operational management.
illustration not visible in this excerpt
Fig. 1: normative, strategic and operative management
However, there are also close feedback relations between the three management levels. These become obvious when for example in case of an unforeseen development strategic guidelines have to be readjusted to meet the new requirements. Depending on the impact of such internal or external changes, possibly also the normative concept of a company is affected.[2]
Strategic management is an executive function of special importance for the success of a company as its task is to determine the market position of a company in such way that it enables the company to establish comparative advantages and to operate successfully in the long run.[3] Although the process of strategic management is dynamic, complex and can be designed with different tools, in a certain degree any strategic approach of a company is already determined by the company’s normative principles.
3. Definition of terms
3.1 Vision
The vision is the source and the main idea of a company. It is a picture of how a company should look like in the future, formulating a core ideology and a purpose of existence of the company guiding the basic direction for the desired company development. Visions are often the result of the imagination of an individual about a possible trend-setting development - visionary ideas so to say, which can be the basis for great entrepreneurial performance. Visions can therefore have similarities with scenarios, but they usually don’t offer alternatives and are of higher commitment towards their recipients.
Towards employees, visions fulfil an Identity function, an identification function and a mobilizing function. As a sign of identity, a vision shall describe a picture of the company’s future making it unique and distinctive. Moreover, a clear vision shall convince staff of the sense and importance of their work, enabling them to identify themselves with the company and finally encouraging them in their commitment towards work and towards the vision as a common objective.
Because of their importance for all subsequent decisions within a company, effective visions are required to be imaginable, desirable, achievable, focussed, flexible and communicable.[4]
3.2 Mission
If you understand a company’s vision as a fundamental and highly durable guideline for the desired development of the company, its contents have to be specified in order to deduce follow-up actions and to turn the vision into reality. The overall concept of how people in a company should conduct themselves while working towards the company’s vision is subject of the mission statement of the company.[5]
The main aspect of a mission statement is the company’s core purpose which “sets the firm apart from other firms in its industry” and which “is an idealistic reason for being.”[6] As this core purpose should also be unchanging and enduring as long as possible, the attention of a mission statement should lie neither in product-specific nor in monetary related targets. In fact, the mission statement should reveal how the company as a whole should conduct to accomplish major milestones along the way to achieving the company’s vision. “It must express the organization’s purpose in a way that inspires commitment, innovation and courage.”[7]
“The intent of the Mission Statement should be the first consideration for any employee who is evaluating a strategic decision. The statement can range from a very simple to a very complex set of ideas.”[8] This requires the mission statement to incorporate criteria that can be evaluated by its recipients. Such criteria can be the ethical position of the company, the target market and expectations of growth and profitability.
In a very high degree, the corporate culture is defined by the mission statement: It does not only provide orientation for employees and all other stakeholders by expressing the company’s underlying values and norms but also determines the Corporate Identity and a sense of community among the employees by encouraging them to work towards the company’s vision according to these norms. Thereby, it also sets rules for decision making processes and coordinates the relations between stakeholder groups such as managers, staff and the public.
[...]
[1] Cf. Harald Hungenberg (2006): Strategisches Management in Unternehmen, p. 23
[2] Cf. Hungenberg: loc. cit., p. 49
[3] ibid., p. 19
[4] ibid., p. 26 and Cf. Dr. Michael Dowling (18.10.2004): Strategisches Management, pp.15, 22
[5] http://www.thesmartercommunity.com/?page=58
[6] http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/vision/
[7] Janel M. Radtke (1998): How To Write A Mission Statement, p. 1
[8] http://www.businessplans.org/mission.html
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