Why Mission Statements Become a Show Piece? Case of an Indo-American Joint Venture

Abstract

This paper is based on a case study of an Indo-American joint venture in the satellite- based communication services. The objective of the study is to explore why an organization fails to elicit emotional commitment for its espoused mission statements which are viewed as critical to the long-term interests and survival of the organization. It is a qualitative study based on data gathered primarily through open-ended ethnographic interviews and non-participative observation. The study briefly enumerates the process of developing an effective mission statement. It also explores the prevailing organizational culture to find out how employees identify themselves with the espoused organizational mission by exploring their experiences in the organization through one-to-one interviews. The organization has a leader (Chairman and Managing Director) who has been inspiring, intellectually stimulating, and considerate. He has explicitly shown his personal commitment to the espoused organizational values, beliefs, and missions. His leadership style comes close to what is known as charismatic leader. Organizational members adore him. It seems that he has become a ‘cult figure’ rather than a leader for the organizational members. In spite of all these, the study found that he has failed to elicit emotional commitment of the employees. It could be because of inadequate efforts in translating the espoused values into organizational practices and systems or because of insufficient awareness or appreciation of the values desired by the organizational members. The study reveals that: There are gaps among the ‘espoused’ (by the top management of the organization), ‘prevailing’ (what is actually being practised), and ‘desired’ (what is preferred by the organizational members) organizational culture. Though the organization has developed vision, mission, values, and beliefs, organizational members are not emotionally committed to these. The weak emotional commitment could be because of (a) non-involvement of middle and junior level employees in the mission development process; (b) lack of or minimal involvement of senior executives in disseminating the espoused organizational missions throughout the organization; (c) actual organizational practices not always following the espoused ones; and (d) values desired by the employees being neither espoused nor followed. On the basis of these findings, the authors suggest that: Emotional commitment develops within organizational members when the espoused organizational values and practices match with their desired ones. Organizational values and practices as prescribed by the top management of the organization should match the socio-cultural values of the society in which the organization is located. A leader should do the following for eliciting emotional commitment of the employees for the espoused mission statement: (a) involve all the stakeholders including the employees in the mission development process; (b) develop a highly cohesive top management team, who should live by espoused organizational values; and (c) implement earnestly what they espouse in public for ensuring credibility.