Mission can be defined as the purpose for existing company - Free Essay Example

Mission can be defined as the purpose why the organisation exists.(please refer appendix-5) .The mission of the organisation is of a long term with intention to give a sense of purpose, sense of direction and focus. The mission describes the values of the organisation, the aspirations and the reasons from being. (Daft,R 2000) The mission gives an organisation a broad view of its scope of the business. For example an organisation that has a view to be a leader in producing detergents will tend to have a narrower scope compared to a business with mission to create clean and healthy society. The mission is the basis where the vision, goals and objectives are established. 2.0 The importance of a mission statement. The companys mission is normally expressed in the form of mission statements. The mission statement is a generalised statement of the overriding purpose of the organisation (Johnson G ,Scholes K, ,1999).An example of mission statement for the New Zealand Dairy Board To be the worlds leading marketer of dairy produce. The reason to have a mission statement is to answer the following questions (Kotler,1980) :- What is our business? Who is the customer? What is value to the customer? What will our business be? What should our business be? 3.0 Elements of a strong mission statement. An organisation is said to a have strong mission statement when it has the four elements contained and described in the Ashridge Model. (Please refer to appendix-5)The four elements are:- the purpose an organisation exists the strategy it is going to adopt behaviour standards it sets and the values. 3.1 Mission statement of SIS Institute. The mission statement of the SIS Institute states by exceeding customers expectations, the SIS Group will become a global leader in providing quality life long learning services. (Please refer appendix-2)The strength of the mission statement can be evaluated in terms of the four elements in the Ashridge Model. 3.2 A description of the Organisations purpose. The organisation purpose as stated by the Ashridge model is what is the company for? For whose benefit is all the effort being put in? Why should a manager or employee do more than required? (Wit D.B, Meyer R. 1998) The purpose of the organisation can be divided to satisfy only the shareholders needs, all the stakeholders needs or something greater than the combined needs of the stakeholders for example, something that the stakeholders can be proud of contributing to. At SIS Institute the purpose is to satisfy and benefit their customers by exceeding the customers expectations. This view is aimed towards a higher ideal which is further enforced in the core values of the firm.(please refer appendix-2.) This falls under the third category of the purpose the organisation exist where the stakeholders contribute to something which they feel satisfied and excited about, that is the future of the business depends on the customers. 3.3 The strategy is going to adopt. The strategy is to define what business the company is going to compete in, the position that the company plans to hold in the business it has defined and the distinctive competence or competitive advantage that the company plans to create. The SIS Institute mission states the business it is going to compete in is life long learning services. This is to be achieved by providing life long learning services for all ages. The position SIS Institute intends to hold is to be a global leader .SIS Institute plans to adopt a strategy in having a wide range of distribution networks round the globe through franchising business and virtual learning services through e-learning mode That is to provide a learning platform round the globe anytime anywhere. The quality is stressed on to achieve distinctive competence or competitive advantage. 3.4 Behaviour Standards. The behaviour standards of an organisation is explained by Bob de Wit and Ron Meyer using the Ashridge model that the mission statements should provide some philosophical or moral rationale to determine behavioural standards and at the same time to run alongside the commercial rationale that will capture the emotional energy of the organisation. As for SIS Institute the behaviour standards are centred towards exceeding customer satisfaction and providing quality life long learning which is morale rationale. The commercial rationale is by serving the customer well and providing quality product that will bring in more revenue. 3.5 Values These are the beliefs and moral principles that guides the organisations actions or forms a culture. Values are the basis to give meaning to the practices and behaviour standards in an organisation. That is what the senior management believes in. (Wit D.B, Meyer R. 1998) The core values of SIS Institute (please refer appendix-2) are centred to exceed customer satisfaction and provide quality life long learning services. These are expressed in terms of core values of SIS Institute. These values intent to provide moral rationale and as well as the commercial rationale. The values related to moral rationale are total customer satisfaction, people, community service, professionalism, innovative culture and speed. The values intent to provide commercial rationale are speed, stretched goals, profit and growth. 4.0 Recommendation. SIS Institute mission statement has all the four elements stated in the mission statement However since SIS Institute is dealing in services and employees are involved in providing these services, the contribution of the employees providing these services plays a very important role in satisfying customers. Therefore the employees behaviour and values expected should be reflected in the mission statement to determine how valuable their contribution towards quality and exceeding customer satisfaction. In view to this the mission statement could be suggested as follows:- To be a global leader in providing quality life long learning services, by using all our members and the employees talent to exceeding customers expectations. 5.0 PESTEL analysis The PESTEL analysis is to carry out an appraisal of the external environment. An organisation is an open system. Its operations are affected and influenced by the changes taking place in the environment. Hence in order for an organisation to remain fit it should adjust to these changes. Therefore the PESTEL analysis is inevitable to provide an insight of what is happening in the environment that effects the organisation and the industry a particular firm is in. The acronym PESTEL stands for :- Political Factors Economic Social /demographic Technological Environmental Legal This analysis will help the firm to identify its opportunities and also threats. Where by it can take early steps to exploit any opportunities and counter the threats. Such an analysis is important for the firm to shape its future direction. The PESTEL analysis of SIS Institute. SIS Institute is currently providing higher education and corporate training in Information Technology and Business. Therefore SIS Institute is registered as a Private Education Institution of higher learning under the Ministry of Education Malaysia. This industry had and is facing a lot of challenges in this country. They are affected by the changes in the political and legal, economic, social and demographic, technological, environment-ethical issues. 6.1 Political and legal Political factors includes a countrys political stability or in stability, it also include the government control of the economy and legislation of the country. The political and legal factors influence SIS Institute are as follows :- Government policy in education The Government of Malaysia has played and is playing a role to support and establish the higher education sector in this country by setting up and giving approval to Institution to provide higher education such as private universities and colleges. The Intention of this is to create Malaysia as a centre of educational excellence and become a hub to provide education round the globe. This is an opportunity for SIS Institute to set up new centres in the region where there is a market and perhaps setting up an IT University. Government as a provider of finance At the same time the government of Malaysia has provided allocation of funds through scholarships example National Social Security(SOCSO), educational loans from various political bodies example the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO),Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), Malaysian Indian Congress(MIC). Various banks also extend loans without collateral for local students to continue their education for example Standard Chartered Bank The working groups are all compulsory contributors of the Employees Provident Fund. The government has given the levy to use these funds for those who intent to enrol in these institution to further their studies. Government policy in foreign students recruitment The government has given approval to certain colleges including SIS Institute to recruit foreign students. However the government has made a recent announcement that the licences to recruit students will expire in six months for all Private Education Institutions and they have been given a grace period of six months to re apply. This was enforced as certain quarters had abused the foreign students visa to bring in foreign workers in this country i.e. instead of studying they are working and further some institutions do not meet the minimum standards of a status of a college. This has tarnished the image of the country as an education provider. Therefore SIS Institute Government policy in training the retrenched workers The government had made announcement to provide training to graduates who are unemployed and retrain workers who are retrenched from their jobs due to economic slowdown. New Education Act 1996 The change of Law under the new education act where all Private education institutions of higher learning must be registered as a limited company with a minimum paid up capital RM200000. All the approvals to operation such Institution prior to 1997 will be expired and all Institution of higher learning are required to reapply for approval to continue its operations for every course which is conducted a fee is imposed and other stricter regulation with regard to operations has are stipulated and imposed. This regulation has been met with the SIS Institute for all the 20 centres around the country National Accreditation Board The national accreditation board requires all institutions to conduct courses which have met minimum standards set by this board. The board will have a panel to decide on the quality of courses provided. This board act as an agent body to the Ministry of education to report on the courses applied for by the operators have met the minimum standards and recommend approval to conduct the courses. However SIS Institute has not got approval for most of its courses is from the National Accreditation Board and therefore it is illegal to conduct courses which have not got prior approval from the ministry and gone through the National Accreditation Board. 6.2 Economic factors The economic factors includes the rate of growth in the economy, the interest rates, the fiscal and monetary policy , exchange rates and so forth. These effects the level of demand and the cost of capital. The economic factors that influences the SIS Institute are as follows :- 1998 Crash The devaluation of the Malaysian currency crisis in the year 1998 had caused almost all courses provided by SIS Institute to increase the fees as they were paid in foreign currency. This caused students to drop out and also led to breaking up of ties with foreign Universities. This caused the SIS Institute to renegotiate with its foreign universities partners and also look for new strategic alliances. Until now the effect of the 1998 crash still exist for SIS Institute as it has only a limited partnership with foreign universities. The pegging of Ringgit to US Dollars has not helped. Unemployment rate The Unemployment rate in certain sectors especially in the Electronic Industry is on the rise. This provides an opportunity for SIS Institute to capture this market to retrain these people in the technology under the Government aid. Disposable income The government has compulsory deduction of the employee to a contribution fund where previously was 11% from the income earned by the employee. This has been revised by the to 8% by the government leaving more income to the employee to spend. This will help the employee to use the extra income which can be spent on the education. Fiscal policy The Government has a policy to allow all funds to be used for educational which is purpose allowable for tax deduction to be paid to the Inland revenue. Social and cultural factors Social and cultural factors include trends in the population as a whole: its size, where people live, the age distribution and so on. The social factors that influence the SIS institute are as follows :- Population demographics. The number of students passing out of the higher secondary has increased over the years. This too provides an opening to the school leavers to continue their education. Attitudes towards education The Malaysian society has this attitude to send their children to further their studies once they have completed their higher secondary school to local institutions especially in Information technology courses. This creates an opportunity for SIS Institute to provide courses in Information Technology. 6.4 Technological These are issues includes the rate of change of new product technology, new process technology, government spending on research and development for information technology. The factors that influences the SIS Institute are as follows :- Government spending Government allocates millions on research in Information Technology. This provides an opportunity to SIS Institute to indulge on this activity which it has not ventured yet and make use of such allocation provided by the government. Government project development for Multimedia super corridor and ICT. The government effort and focus on such projects are in line with what the SIS Institute is providing i.e. Information Technology education. This provides an opportunity to SIS Institute to provide more training programmes in this area. The changes in computer technology SIS Institute is providing Information Technology education the speed of change in the computer hardware and software is quite rapid. Therefore SIS Institute needs to have heavy capital investment in all these resource in order to remain fit in the business. 6.5 Environmental issues. This refers to green issues such as social responsibility, ethical considerations. The factors that influence the SIS Institute are as follows :- Ethical issue. Under the National Accreditation Board all courses are to be taught by qualified Lecturers . For instance the Diploma level a lecturer should be at least to be a Bachelors degree holder and for teaching a degree cause should be at least a masters degree holder and teaching the masters course at least to be a Phd holder. This was not the case in the previous ruling. Therefore many institution has tied up employment contracts with employees who are not well qualified to cut cost. Now with the new ruling this is a problem for the SIS Institute as now the lecturers are required to upgrade themselves. Social responsibility. So far SIS Institute is only giving scholarships to the needy students. It is needed for SIS Institute to do more example providing free training to the school teachers which in line with government policy on equipping all schools with computer facilities. 7.0 7S analysis 7S analysis is an appraisal of internal environment of a particular firm. Such an analysis conducted will help to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a particular firm or company. The seven S analysis can be divided into structure, strategy, systems, style, staff, skills and shared values. 7.1 Structure The Organisation structure of the SIS Institute is a flat structure with certain function carried out at the Head Office to reduce duplication and to have control(please refer to appendix-3). The organisation structure appears to be suitable but however the student service section should be separated from the part of operations itself as there is a need to focus on customer service. Having one person overseeing only this section will increase the importance of how serious the organisation is in providing service to its customers and in line with exceeding customers satisfaction. Therefore the new structure of the organisation will have this service function shown separately.(please refer appendix-4) 7.2 Strategy The company s corporate strategies adopted currently are to increase market share through franchising business. So far they have set up 20 centres round the country and have plans to expand in China, Pakistan and India. The top management have been successful in this expansion. The operational strategy of the company is concentrated on the sales and marketing activities. This is to bring in students and increase revenue. The academic function is overlooked where lecturers are inexperienced and fresh graduates with less or no exposure of the industry are employed. The lecturers are made to teach subjects which are not within the area of expertise. Hence lacking substance the quality is affected. This is a weakness and causes a high dropout rate for the students. 7.3 Systems At the SIS Institute all centres are certified by the ISO 9000 quality system. The system in place has a uniform practice and procedures in dealing with all administration of the Institute for all the 20 centres. This a strength of the SIS Institute. At the same time the management has implemented a Total Quality management system to get feedback for continuous improvement from all employees working with the system implemented in the organisation. 7.4 Style The management style at SIS Institute is autocratic. Whereby any decision to be made has to be referred to the top management. Although the company has a flatter structure at the shop floor all decisions and directives comes from the top. The reason could be because of the inexperience management at shopfloor level. This a weakness to the SIS institute as sound timely decisions cannot be made. Corrective action cannot be taken on time. Hence affecting the organisations productivity. 7.5 Staff The staff of SIS Institute is having a low morale as the firm is generally not doing well as the competition is stiff. Since the 1998 crisis most of the staff has had a pay cut and empty promises made by the management have caused the employees to be demoralised. The staff were not given bonus even when the company made a profit last year. The staff who perform are not recognised and promotions are given to those who do not perform well in the organisation through the wimps and fancies of the top management. This has caused the quality staff to leave the company to the competitors causing a high labour turnover. Most of the Centres of SIS Institute are managed by young graduates who have little experience. The whistle blowers are shunned and efforts are put in to phase them out from the organisation. This will affect the organisation operations. Despite having good training programmes like IS0 9000 certification and total quality management these are just an eye a wash for the publ ic. Furthermore there are many staff who are not qualified and no effort is made on the part of the Management to support on to planning their staff education career, have flexible hours of working, study leave or even loan for staff who are interested in advancing their career. This is a serious problem and the management of SIS Institute have to take immediate steps to curb this problem. 7.6 Skills The organisation key personnel is the top management. All of them are known as the founders the organisation. The key personnel are highly qualified and have years of experience in the education business. However all of them are concentrating on strategic issues. The problem lies with the key personnel at the shop floor level who are fresh graduates and lack experience. This a serious weakness as the happening is at the shop floor level. If this is not looked into to improve, it will affect the company strategically. 7.7 Shared values The company has strong core values as stated and the mission statement in view of this the top management has made a directive for all centres to go for quality and exceed customers expectation. In view to this SIS Institute is among the very few colleges in the country that have been certified by ISO9000. It is one of the very first education Institution to have a total quality management implemented. The ISO 9000 documentations have laid the standard operating procedures for all the core activities and support functions. This is a strength of the organisation. 8.0 Conclusion. The SIS Institute has got a sound system in place and a lot of good opportunities to exploit. These opportunities can only be exploited if SIS Institute brings major changes in their operation strategies, managing style and value of people. Appendix-1 SIS Institute, Malaysia Overview The Company- profile SIS Institute was set up with a mission to be a centre of excellence for training and education in Information Technology in the region. Today, through the support of our dedicated staff, we have accomplished what we set out to achieve. Growing by leaps and bounds from its humble beginning a single centre in 1984, SIS Institute now operates 20 CitiCampuses in 20 locations in Malaysia. SIS Institute offers courses covering Information Technology and engineering, and ranging from evening classes for computer application packages to degree twinning programmes. SIS Institute has allied itself with International software developers through appointments as the Authorised Training Centre for Autodesk and many others. As a result of these alliances, SIS Institute is able to provide the latest software and courses to benefit students from the general public and corporations. SIS Institute also has alliances with universities to offer degree programmes for professionals seeking to u pgrade their knowledge and qualifications. SIS Institute has established exclusive links for programme validation and certification with renowned universities, such as conduct the Diploma in Computer Studies programmes, to conduct the Advanced Diploma in Computer Studies. With his collaboration, graduates of Diploma and Advanced Diploma in Computer Studies are eligible for further studies in many universities in the US,UK and Australia In order that our standards of delivery remain high and constant, we must have certain standards. A total quality management is already part of our present culture. SIS Institute is currently embarking on a nationwide ISO 9002 certification and this should spur an even higher level of professional service among staffs. The certification is annually reviewed and this ensures that all levels of participation is necessary to make it a success. SIS Institute aims to continuously provide its students with the best educational programmes, through acad emic partnerships with world-renowned universities and global technology holders.. To further extend its global reach, SIS Institute had embarked on an ambitious regionalisation plan using international franchising programme and strategic acquisitions which eventually leading to set up its present global network training and education centres. The launching of online learning and educational programmes and cyber-campuses to complement course deliveries to students and to reach out to the world market through the Internet.SIS Institute core business activities are IT training and education, business training, education and IT-related services and franchise operations. Products of SIS Institute. Appendix-1 continued SIS Institute business programmes are phrased from certificate, diploma, and professional diploma right to degree, Master degree and PHd levels. We have established links with renowned universities in United Kingdom, Australia and the United States of America. SIS Institute will provide you with rich experience and opportunity to enhance your ability in terms of development skills and empowering you with career skills. Facilities Convenient location Our CitiCampuses are located in areas easily accessible by public transport. Excellent Facilities Where quality remains paramount Besides providing up-to-date quality programmes and as a part of its total customer satisfaction, SIS Institute continuously strives to provide excellent facilities and services Approachable lecturers Lecturers in SIS Institute are not only well-qualified and experienced, they are also dedicated, approachable and give special personal attention to a student where needed. Conducive environment We believe that a conducive study environment is important too. Most of our CitiCampuses are equipped with spacious, air-conditioned lecture room/halls and group-study rooms. Appendix-1 continued State-of-the-art equipment Lecture rooms are equipped with the latest training aids while computer labs are equipped with networked Pentium II III PCs, IBM AS/400, IBM RISC 600. Engineering labs are equipped with the latest state-of-the-art equipment. We also utilise the latest smartcard technology in our CitiCampuses. Our computer labs are also connected to the Internet via leased lines. Well-stocked libraries Students have ready access to in-house reference and resource libraries while certain CitiCampuses have video and multimedia reference materials. Video conferencing facilities Such facilities are available at major CitiCampuses, allowing interactive lecture sessions between student and lecturer at different locations. Students therefore get to experience a virtual classroom environment. Helpful counselors Our course consultants and student service personnel are ever-ready to provide students with asSIS Institutetance and counseling whenever needed Convenient location Our CitiCampuses are located in areas easily accessible by public transport. Appendix-2 Corporate Vision , Mission and core values Our Vision To be a Global Leader in Providing Quality Life-long Learning Services Our Mission By exceeding customers expectations, the Informatics Group will become a global leader in providing quality life-long learning services Our Core Values Total Customer Satisfaction We focus to understand our Customers and strive to deliver with speed to delight them by exceeding their expectations. People We value our People and are committed to training and developing them and instilling self-confidence in whatever they do to realize their fullest potential. Speed We manifest Speed in every of our actions, making it our competitive advantage. Stretched Goals We set Stretched Goals to exploit every market opportunity to maximize the shareholders return. Innovative Culture We execute with simplicity and strive for continuous improvement to achieve excellence in everything we do. Professionalism We uphold the highest standards of ethics and integrity. Community Service We strive to be a good corporate citizen in every Community that we serve. Profit We endeavour to provide the desirable return to our shareholders and rewards to other stakeholders. Growth We are committed to long-term sustainable growth and in so doing ensuring lasting rewarding careers to our people. Appendix-3 Current Organisation Structure Head Office Board of Directors Personnel Director Financial Director Director Academic Operations Director Area 2 Regional Directors Centre Manager Area 1 Regional Directors Area 3 Regional Director Centre Manager Centre Manager Centre Manager General support Title : SIS Institute Organisation structure Centre Manager Operations Manager Sales and Marketing Academic Manager Title : SIS Institute Organisation structure-Centre level. Exam dept Maintenance Appendix-4 Proposed Organisation structure Operations Director Head Office Board of Directors Personnel Director Financial Director Director Academic Service Director Area 2 Regional Directors Centre Manager Area 1 Regional Directors Area 3 Regional Director Exam dept Centre Manager Centre Manager Centre Manager Title :Proposed SIS Institute Organisation structure Sales and Marketing Centre Manager Operations Manager Academic Manager Service Manager Student support services Maintenance Title :Proposed SIS Institute Organisation structure-Centre level. Appendix-5 Definitions of mission by Richard Daft The organisations reason for existence. Definitions of mission by Patrick McNamee An organisations mission is the basic function in society and it is refelected in the products and services that is provides for its customers or clients. The Ashridge Business model. 1 Purpose Why the company exists. 2 Company values What senior management believes in. 3 Standards and behaviours The policies and behaviour patterns that guide how the company operates. 4 Strategy The commercial rationale.