Mission: implicit or explicit
Marcel JB Tardif, MBA
CEO - PerformInfo Inc. Auteur, Conférencier, Coach de dirigeants 26 519 abonnés + 3 900 post 560 articles
Peter F. Drucker[1], dealing with the "idea of the company", what has come to be known as the corporate project circumscribed by the organization's "mission" or "raison d'être", gives the following two examples: 1) AT&T: "our business is public service"; 2) Crédit Mobilier: "our business is business development". He then warns against ideas such as a) too narrow: "our business is television sets"; b) too broad: "our business is entertainment". What Drucker intends to point out is that the mission - here "explicit", because there is a statement that formally prescribes it - must be precise without being too limited to an object of service by the supply good to be made available by the company. A contrario, must not be so vague and all-encompassing that it can be applied indiscriminately to all or almost all companies in the same sector of activity or business.
The mission is implicit[2] or explicit, depending on the case.
Implicitly, the mission is based on the idea that the primary function of any company, as a social institution, is to provide a useful service to the community in which it operates. It is in line with the values of the company's reference society, which are interpreted in terms of the collective well-being inherent in the community of service that the company becomes by offering it. In 1954, Peter F. Drucker formulated the implicit mission of every company in terms of "client creation". And the creation of the client, in Drucker's logic, can only presuppose the satisfaction of his express demand, since the latter will be confirmed by the transaction between the client and the company that will serve him[3].
Explicit, the mission is based on the idea that the company's offering, reflected in the goods or services it markets, will meet the needs and expectations for use or exchange of the client who acquires them. In this case, the mission is usually[4] the subject of a corporate statement, duly published and known by the members of the community of potential buyers of its offering products. Note that the mission statement should not be confused with the company's vision, values, or goals. Unfortunately, this is the case in an alarming number of companies. This goes to show how misunderstood the company's concepts are, which in turn leads to a misunderstanding of its management. But let's get back to our subject.
Since the "implicit mission", which is universal and irreversible, has been defined above, let's turn now to the definition of the "explicit mission", as a concept that contributes to the company's "distinctive identity"[5].
"The mission, as such, is the raison d'être of the company, as expressed by the activity it wishes to perform. The mission must be accomplished, in the short, medium, or long term, for the activity to find its practical meaning. Moreover, when the mission is accomplished, the company's original activity will tend to change, because it will have come to an end (decline). The mission will be more material and therefore temporal (the economic dimension of the business), while the vision will be more ideological and therefore atemporal (the social dimension of the business). However, both must be part of the same business approach. One cannot fail the other, without confusing the corporate identity that both carry in their way from their respective statements. And while the mission finds its application through the activity performed, and about shareholders, the vision finds its relevance in the company's raison d'être, and about the company's service communities. While the mission must be accomplished, the vision can only be pursued. A dream (vision) ceases to be what it is, as soon as it becomes concretely what it represents. As for the mission, even when accomplished, it does not lose its original quality, since it will then have become the concretization of the activity it was intended to materialize anyway. A change of mission in no way alters the nature of that mission, whereas a change of vision profoundly alters the appreciation of things by the company that will henceforth carry it out. The mission thus gives the activity all its meaning of practical state, while the vision confers on the company's commitment all its meaning of community service."6
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[1] Drucker, P. F., (1964), Managing for Results, Harper & Row, p. 197.
[2] Implicit means inherent to the very nature of the entity concerned, in this case the company. Michael Polanyi (1956) spoke of tacit and explicit knowledge. These terms were subsequently adopted by Nonaka and Takeuchi, and by many other authors.
Implicit: That which is contained in a discourse, in a clause, in a proposition, not in clear, express and formal terms, but which is naturally derived from it by induction, deduction and consequence. https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/implicite
[3] And the creation of the client has less to do with the person who buys as such, than with the transaction that confirms the exchange that has taken place between the market parties that will be the client and the company transacting together. Moreover, the same person who buys two, three, four or ten times, on the same day, from the same supplier, will have been created just as many times (two, three, four or ten times). It's not the person who defines the client, but the purchase (the transaction). And transaction satisfaction should not be confused with the satisfaction of the user of the good or service acquired from the company.
[4] It may also happen that the mission is not, as such, contained in a written statement published by the company, but is sufficiently understood by the majority of the stakeholders in its activity and business to give rise to a willingness to carry it out in a way that respects its scope. It should be noted, however, that an explicit, unwritten mission may confuse its interpreters, simply because it opens the door to sometimes contradictory interpretations.
[5] Tardif, M.JB., (2018), L'intelligification de l'entreprise : Ou l'humain comme center de l'attention, Amazon.ca, p. 24, 25. https://www.amazon.ca/-/fr/Lintelligification-lentreprise-lhumain-centre-lattention/dp/1983115614/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1MPDYXDLHOUQ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.9UBrFo28nAp0ahasioqwIcHFuGu3P1nWW_PgMTksZPN_1wPe_h0sCIxTr39ILTbN3CSw6FmHmQJB64nWX0ZmAuAP6F8yfJGh-XGjBQPyg7g.teoZUDmTBrpeWXItwGWYUszW-IflDOR4STS1CJ_YxX8&dib_tag=se&keywords=marcel+jb+tardif&qid=1722530735&sprefix=marcel+jb%2Caps%2C1081&sr=8-3 ?
6 Tardif, M.JB., (2018), Mieux définir le management, Pour mieux comprendre l'entreprise, Amazon.ca p. 75, 76. https://www.amazon.ca/-/fr/Mieux-d%C3%A9finir-management-comprendre-lentreprise/dp/1983151173/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1MPDYXDLHOUQ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.9UBrFo28nAp0ahasioqwIcHFuGu3P1nWW_PgMTksZPN_1wPe_h0sCIxTr39ILTbN3CSw6FmHmQJB64nWX0ZmAuAP6F8yfJGh-XGjBQPyg7g.teoZUDmTBrpeWXItwGWYUszW-IflDOR4STS1CJ_YxX8&dib_tag=se&keywords=marcel+jb+tardif&qid=1722530494&sprefix=marcel+jb%2Caps%2C1081&sr=8-4
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