Organizational Development: A Manual for Managers and ... - FPDL

Chapter 1.8 Key Functions of an Organization
Mission
A mission, from the Latin word missum, ‘sent’, is defined as ‘a duty that involves fulfilling a request’
(www.en.wikipedia.com). Any human organization was created by somebody to meet certain
needs. It may be created to generate a profit, to conquer the market, to satisfy public demands for
certain services, to rob a bank, or to win elections - whatever that may be achieved more
successfully with the assistance of the specific arrangement, which we call ‘organization’. Thus,
the organization emerges into the external world to fulfil its mission. If the mission was clearly
formulated, this may work well. If not, the organization must find its mission before it gets lost.
Whatever an organization is doing should be requested or needed by those who use the
organization. Over time, services or products will only be requested from an organization when this
particular organization provides better solutions to the problems (utilization of opportunities) of
users and beneficiaries. The mission is just a mirror image of these problems. If potential users of
an organization have no problems, then they have no reasons to appeal to the organization for
assistance. Nothing remains for the organization to do. No mission. No pay. No life.
Those who use an organization may be owners of the organization, or clients, members, third
parties, etc. Any beneficiary may have his own reasons to use the organization, thus the
organization may meet different needs or demands, and, correspondingly, it may have many
missions – as many as the combinations of user groups and their problems that need to be met.
Fulfilling these different missions may create different priorities for the organization. For example –
a chemical plant provides profit for investors, high social status and a good salary for the manager,
jobs and living wages for workers, the preconditions for economic development for the area, taxes
for the community, etc This plant may do very well in bringing profit to the owners, but the jobs
could be bad, and the area in close proximity to the plant may decline, even though a new school
gets opened as a result of the plant.
Thus, the mission of any real organization is multi-faceted. It is complex and complicated. It may
be contradictory. It may be missed. It may become significant. It may be in great demand. It may
be hopeless, and so on. Therefore – it should be managed - from the very moment of establishing
the organization and throughout the organization’s life.
Product
What an organization does for those who need it may be called the product (or products) of the
organization. By International Standard ISO 9000:2000, the term ‘product’ is defined as the ‘result
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