Developing a Mission, Vision, Goals, and Objectives for the Project

Introduction

Background

Irrespective of the industry or type and size of an organization, managing a project from start to completion is always daunting. Creating a new product/service or changing a process in a company is difficult and requires more than just strategic planning, proper scheduling, good leadership, or good communication. One aspect that has not been explored widely in project management is the development and role of mission, vision, goals, and objectives. In recent years, a few studies have demonstrated that these elements offer direction and bearing to projects, stating what the project will achieve and how it plans to accomplish these targets (Sampiero, 2016). Having clearly defined project goals, objectives, mission, and vision can offer the project team a purpose and sense of bearing. Just like a company’s vision and mission statements are central to the organization’s strategic plan by providing specific future operational strategies and goals, having straightforward mission and vision statements can help project managers lay a plan on how they want their project to end up and how they will eventually get there. Although some people might confuse a project’s mission, vision, goals, and objectives, the truth is that they imply totally different things and serve different purposes. Their definition, role, and structural composition also seem to differ from what is conventionally known, especially in organizational management.

In project management, a mission statement refers to the ‘message’ a project manager sends to the stakeholders about what the project intends to accomplish (such as what product/service it is creating, what process it is changing, and so on). In contrast, a vision statement offers project participants or stakeholders (whether the public, sponsors, or project team members) a reason for participating or contributing. Project goals refer to the high-level, overall statements that provide a general context of what is being done. On the other hand, project objectives are lower-level, concrete declarations that highlight the precise, tangible, or measurable deliverables, whether services or products.

Today, the importance of mission, vision, and goals in helping organizations achieve profitability and sustainability has been widely researched in different disciplines and industries, particularly as foundations or elements of business management. However, this has not been reflected in project management, with very few studies exploring the true benefits of these elements, whether individually or collectively. Today, just a handful of researchers have explored the benefits of the development of ‘mission, vision, goals, and objectives’ in project management. This makes this study very pivotal to the field of project management. It differentiates the development and application of ‘vision, mission, goals, and objectives’ organizational management and project management.

Rationale for Research

Even though it has not been extensively explored in project management, it is agreed that providing clear ‘goals, objectives, mission, and vision’ can assist organizations in succeeding and meeting their expectations. Several researchers have, in the past, established that a large percentage of businesses or companies are presently using this strategy to plan, guide, and incentivize their teams. For example, the results of a study conducted by Ozdem (2011) to assess the use of vision and mission statements by 72 universities revealed that a total of 354 and 124 messages were collected for mission and vision statements, respectively. These outcomes just demonstrate how mission and vision statements in the education sector are fundamental by defining the direction and purpose of learning. Other sectors, including technology, medicine, marketing, and the list goes on, have also extensively highlighted how ‘mission and vision statements, as well as goals and objectives’, serve a pivotal role in steering organizational success. Therefore, the justification for and motivation of this research is to try to demonstrate whether ‘mission, vision, goals, and objectives’ are equally vital in project management, an area that has not been widely explored.

Research Aims

Overall Aims

The primary aim of this study is to explore and examine the importance of mission, vision, goals, and objectives in project management and to determine whether it influences success.
The secondary aim of this research is to identify the structure and components of the mission and vision statements as well as goals and objectives.

Research Questions

What is the role of mission and vision statements and goals and objectives, in project management?
What are the structure and components of the mission, vision, goals, and objectives in project management?

Literature Review

The overall and specific benefits of developing a clear mission, vision, goals, and objectives are well-documented in the field of strategic organizational or business management. For example, in strategic management, the role of the mission statement is to explain why a company exists, its general goal, the products/services it offers, its primary market or clients, and its geographical location (Sampiero, 2016). On the other hand, a vision statement is used by organizations to declare their objectives and is meant to steer the internal decision-making processes. Vision statements are like ‘tour guides’ that define where the company is headed and how it plans to be there. Finally, organizational goals refer to more tactfully and strategically formulated objectives, which outline the anticipated outcomes. According to Van der Hoek, Groeneveld, & Kuipers, 2018), objectives are the lower statements that outline concrete and specific expected results.

In fact, several empirical studies have gone a step beyond just examining the development, definition, and role of these elements in strategic business management – they have also quantified their outcomes by estimating their financial benefits, turnover reduction, and performance improvement. For example, Wadhwa & Parimoo (2017) used a survey to examine the effect of mission and vision on the general performance of purposefully selected organizations in the private, public, and manufacturing sectors in New Delhi. Respondents were identified using the convenience sampling method. Questionnaires, designed to provide Yes/No answers and Likert scale responses, were used to collect data. In their outcomes, the researchers found that most employees are satisfied with the formation of their mission and vision statements. Approximately 38% and 43.5% ‘agreed’ and ‘strongly agreed,’ respectively, that executives, board members, and top management are collectively involved in the formulation of the company’s vision and mission statements. The employee perception of the quality of service/product was 28.5% ‘very good’ and 48.5% ‘good.’

Despite vision, mission, goals, and objectives being widely used in strategic management, very little interest has been witnessed in establishing these tools’ development, application, and impacts in project management. A few researchers have, however, attempted to explain the importance and structural composition of these elements in project management. For example, according to Darbi (2012), a project’s mission statement refers to the ‘message’ a project manager sends to the stakeholders (target customers, public, company executives, shareholders, potential sponsors, or any interested party) about what the project intends to accomplish (such as what product/service it is creating, what process it is changing, and so on). It is simply a brief summary of the project is goals and how. Ideally, the main purpose of a mission statement is to keep team members involved in a project focused. Therefore, the important elements of any project’s mission statement are “what is the project doing, who are these things targeting, and how to go about it.” A project’s mission statement, if formulated correctly, cannot only provide a focus to members working toward achieving a common goal, but it can also promote the working experience and quality of the project (Alegre et al., 2018). The mission statement serves to remind team members why they are in the project and can inspire them to perform better.

On the other hand, a project’s vision statement offers project participants or stakeholders (whether the public, sponsors, or project team members) a reason for participating or contributing. It underscores the purpose of the project by eliminating confusion. It also unites the project’s team and motivates them to be at their best. According to Kantabutra & Avery (2010), having a clearly defined vision sets the bearing and aids participants to see and understand why the project is being proposed and implemented. Most importantly, O’Connor & Netling (2009) argue that an effective mission statement must remain simple, actionable, engaging, collaborative, forward-thinking, and specific.

Finally, project objectives and goals also contribute immensely to the project’s success. Goals and objectives are statements that clearly stipulate the project’s expected outcomes or the program’s business significance. Typically, project goals refer to the high-level, overall statements that provide a general context of what is being done. On the other hand, projective objectives are lower-level, concrete declarations that highlight the precise, tangible or measurable deliverables, whether services or products. According to Sampiero et al. (2018), project goals must be SMART, an acronym for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.

From this literature review, very little research, especially empirical, demonstrates the development, structure, and benefits of ‘vision, mission, goals, and objectives’ in project management. In fact, no study has examined how the combined use of mission, vision, goals, and objective can impact the success of a project. Therefore, this survey is very important to project management for two reasons. Firstly, it fills the identified research gap by examining the role of mission, vision, goals, and objectives in project management. Secondly, it highlights the structure and components of vision, mission, goals, and objectives in project management.

Methodology

Study Design and Population

An online survey was used to examine how professionals in project management think about the structure and role of vision, mission, goals, and objectives. A total of 30 project managers and professionals from 10 leading international companies were identified to participate in the research. Another 20 professionals from 5 leading American colleges were randomly selected to participate in the survey. To identify the 50 respondents, an online hunt using ‘Google’ search engine was conducted to scrutinize and rank companies actively involved in designing new projects regularly and colleges presently offering courses in project management in their curriculum. A total of 200 potential institutions and companies were identified from this search. After these 200 companies and universities were identified, the names and emails of the professionals leading the project management team (for companies) and lecturers teaching project management (for colleges) were inquired from the ‘CONTACT’ emails present in the websites of these organizations. From a total of 200 emails sent, only 10 companies and 5 colleges agreed to provide us with their staff members’ contacts (email and telephone numbers) (specifically those involved with project management). Each company gave three individuals, while each college gave four staff members, with the final total respondents being 50. Before the study commenced, an email was sent to all participants asking for their consent to participate. The benefits of the research and an opt-out option were also emailed to them.

Data Collection and Analysis

Questionnaires were mainly used to collect data via email. Questionnaires containing 10 close-ended questions for both part 1 (the role of mission, vision, goals, and objectives in project management) and part 2 (the structure and components of the mission and vision statements as well as goals and objectives) of the study were typed in Microsoft Office Word and emailed to all the 50 respondents (See table 1 and 2). Each respondent was given a period of one week to fill in the ten simple questions. After one week, all the responses were assembled and analyzed using descriptive-analytic tools (percentages and graphs) and inferential techniques (t-test).

Table 1: Part 1- the role of mission, vision, goals, and objectives in project management

Item	Role	Yes	No
Mission	Gives project members a focus and direction
Mission	Increases both projects working experience and quality of the outcomes
Vision	Guides the project and inspires the project beneficiaries to initiate it
	Boosts group cohesion and teamwork
	It assists the project managers to visualize the outcomes of the project
	Offers clear decision-making criteria
Goals and Objectives	Used to measure project performance
	Help outline project expectations and increases the chances of projects succeeding
	Assist in creating the drive and focus that workers and projects use to meet deadlines
	Helps in setting priorities and re-priorities and provides a clear focus that project members are committed to
	Provide a basis for measuring progress, milestones achieved, as well as constructive feedback

Table 2: Part 2 – The structure and components of the mission and vision statements and goals and objectives

Item	Structure and components	Less Important	Important	Very Important
Mission	Must answer the ‘what’ question (identifies the goal and vision)
	Must answer the ‘why’ question (explains why that need ought to be addressed)
	Must answer the ‘how’ question (describes the processes or methods that will assist to accomplish the goals)
Vision	Must be created in line with the goals
	Must highlight the desired outcomes
	Describes what the project business would look like after implementation of the project
Goals & Objectives	Must describe the desired results
	h. Must be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound)

Results/Discussion

The background research and literature review sections show that vision, mission, goals, and objectives play a central role in providing direction and that vital impetus. Most of these elements are usually created as a part of a project charter during the initiation phase and serve different purposes. Each item must also have a unique composition element to fulfil the intended purpose. The outcomes from this research also seem to support these earlier findings.

For example, there seems to be a liaison between what researchers say about the structure and purpose of a project’s mission and what the outcomes of this survey have shown. For instance, according to Darbi (2012), a project’s mission statement refers to the ‘message’ a project manager sends to the stakeholders (target customers, public, company executives, shareholders, potential sponsors, or any interested party) about what the project intends to accomplish (such as what product/service it is creating, what process it is changing, and so on). It is simply a brief summary of the things the project is trying to achieve and how. Ideally, the main purpose of a mission statement is to keep team members involved in a project focused. These functions and structures seem to be well depicted from the study’s outcomes (see table 3). In particular, this study demonstrated that a mission statement must ‘give project members a focus and direction’ (96% of respondents said yes) and ‘increase both projects working experience and quality of the outcomes’ (90% said yes).

Similarly, according to Kantabutra & Avery (2010), having a clearly defined vision sets the bearing and aids participants to see and understand why the project is being proposed and implemented. Most importantly, O’Connor & Netling (2009) argue that an effective mission statement must remain simple, actionable, engaging, collaborative, forward-thinking, and specific. The outcomes of the online survey have equally proved this previous research right. It ‘guides the project and inspires the project beneficiaries to initiate it’ (100% of participants said yes), ‘boost group cohesion and teamwork’ (80% said yes), ‘it assists project managers to visualize the outcomes of the project’ (88% said yes), and it ‘offers clear decision-making criteria’ (86% said yes). The same applies to the project goals and objectives.

Table 3: Part 1- the role of mission, vision, goals, and objectives in project management

Item	Role	Yes (%)	No (%)
Mission	Gives project members a focus and direction	96	4
Mission	Increases both the project’s working experience and quality of the outcomes	90	10
Vision	Guides the project and inspires the project beneficiaries to initiate it	100	0
	Boosts group cohesion and teamwork	80	20
	It assists the project managers to visualize the outcomes of the project	88	12
	Offers clear decision-making criteria	86	14
Goals and Objectives	Used to measure project performance	90	10
	Help outline project expectations and increases the chances of projects succeeding	94	6
	Assist in creating the drive and focus that workers and projects use to meet deadlines	98	2
	Help in setting priorities and re-priorities and provides a clear focus that project members are committed to	80	20
	Provide a basis for measuring progress, milestones achieved, as well as constructive feedback	90	10

Just like part one of the survey, the second part (the structure and components of the mission, vision, goals, and objectives) also seems to show some similarity between the past research findings and the outcomes of this survey. For example, past studies show that a mission statement must describe what the project intends to accomplish (such as what product/service it is creating, what process it is changing, and so on), how it plans to achieve it, and why (Darbi, 2012). On the other hand, a vision statement must provide a bearing and aid participants to see and understand why the project is being proposed and implemented (Kantabutra & Avery, 2010). Lastly, project goals must be SMART, an acronym for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound (Sampiero et al., 2018).

The findings of the survey seem to correspond to these scholarly suggestions. For example, the results demonstrate that the mission statement must answer the ‘what’ (less important 2%, important 18%, very important 80%), ‘why’ (less important 6%, important 24%, very important 70%), and ‘how’ (less important 4%, important 26%, very important 70%) questions. On the other hand, the goals must be SMART (less important 0%, important 10%, very important 90%) and ‘describe the desired results’ (less important 2%, important 8%, very important 00%).

Table 4: Part 2 – the structure and components of the mission and vision statements as well as goals and objectives

Item	Structure and components	Less Important (%)	Important (%)	Very Important (%)
Mission	Must answer the ‘what’ question (identifies the goal and vision)	2	18	80
	Must answer the ‘why’ question (explains why that need ought to be addressed)	6	24	70
	Must answer the ‘how’ question (describes the processes or methods that will assist to accomplish the goals)	4	26	70
Vision	a. Must be created in line with the goals	10	26	64
	b. Must highlight the desired outcomes	0	34	64
	c. Describes what the project business would look like after implementation of the project	4	36	60
Goals & Objectives	d. Must describe the desired results	2	8	90
	e. Must be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound)	0	10	90

Bar Graph 1: Part 2 – the structure and components of the mission and vision statements as well as goals and objectives

Conclusion

In summary, it can be argued that vision, mission, objectives, and goals are key strategic plans that can provide organizations with the direction of their projects. Just like in organizational or business management, these items are fundamental in project management because they provide project direction and focus. They inspire team members to work towards achieving a common agenda and complete milestones within the set deadlines. This survey has, however, also confirmed that project goals and objectives must be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound). The limitation of this study is that data collection was conducted via emails, which recorded a low acceptance and compliance. It took some respondents more than six days to respond. It was also challenging for researchers to seek clarification on some missing or incomplete information. Future research should focus on establishing how mission, vision, goals, and objectives benefit projects in specific industries.

References

Alegre, I., et al. (2018). The real mission of the mission statement: A systematic review of the literature. Journal of Management & Organization, 24(4), 456-473.

Darbi, W. P. (2012). Of mission and vision statements and their potential impact on employee behavior and attitudes: the case of public but profit-oriented tertiary institution. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(14), 95-109.

Kantabutra, S., & Avery, G. C. (2010). The power of vision: statements that resonate. Journal of Business Strategy, 31(1), 37-45.

O’Connor, M. K., & Netling, F. E. (2009). Organizational practice: a guide to understanding human service organizations. John Wiley & Sons.

Ozdem, G. (2011). An analysis of the mission and vision statements on the strategic plans of higher education institutions. Theory & Practice, 11(4), 1887-1894.

Sampiero, M. (2016). Project team members and project goals and objectives. PM World Journal, 5(8). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307558505_Project_Team_Members_and_Project_Goals_and_Objectives

Van der Hoek, M., Groeneveld, S., & Kuipers, B. (2018). Goal setting in teams: goal clarity and team performance in the public sector. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 38(4).

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

We’ll write everything from scratch

Question