Page 81 - The Handbook for Quality Management a Complete Guide to Operational Excellence

68 I n t e g r a t e d P l a n n i n g S t r a t e g i c P l a n n i n g 69

making their products available to the people of the world at the
lowest possible cost (Mintzberg and Quinn, 1991).
2. Henry Ford’s mission was to provide low-cost transportation to
the common man.

One might go a step further and ask why the organization was created
to fulfill its mission. The answer, at least in the beginning, might lie in the
values of the organization’s founder. Henry Ford, for whatever reason, felt
that it was important (i.e., valued) to provide the farmer with affordable
and reliable motorized transportation. Furthermore, to elicit the coopera-
tion of the members of the organization, the values of the organization
must be compatible with the values of its members.
Organizational leaders are responsible for defining the organization’s
vision. Defining the vision requires developing a mental image of the orga-
nization at a future time. The future organization will more closely approxi-
mate the ideal organi zation, where “ideal” is defined as that organization
which completely achieves the organization’s values. How will such an
organization “look”? What will its employees do? Who will be its custom-
ers? How will it behave toward its cus tomers, employees, and suppliers?
Developing a lucid image of this organiza tion will help the leader see how
she should proceed with her primary duty of transforming the present orga-
nization. Without such an image in her mind, the executive will lead the
organization through a maze with a thousand dead ends. Conversely, with
her vision to guide her, the transformation process will proceed on course.
This is not to say that the transformation is ever “easy.” But when there is a
leader with a vision, it’s as if the organization is following an expert scout
through hostile territory. The path is clear, but the journey is still difficult.
When an individual has a vision of where he wants to go himself, he can
pursue this vision directly. However, when dealing with an organization,
sim ply having a clear vision is not enough. The leader must communicate the
vision to the other members of the organization. Communicating a vision is
a much different task than communicating instructions or concrete ideas.
Organizational visions that embody abstract values are necessarily
abstract in nature. To effectively convey the vision to others, the leader
must convert the abstractions to concretes. One way to do this is by living
the vision. The leader demonstrates her values in every action she takes,
every decision she makes, which meetings she attends or ignores, when
she pays rapt attention and when she doodles absentmindedly on her
notepad. Employees who are trying to understand the leader’s vision will
pay close attention to the behavior of the leader.
Another way to communicate abstract ideas is to tell stories. In organi-
zations there is a constant flow of events. Customers encounter the organiza-
tion through employees and systems, suppliers meet with engineers, literally
thou sands of events take place every day. From time to time an event occurs

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