Mission, Objectives, Vision, Goals Definitions

Mission or Purpose: Mission is an organization’s concept of itself and its service to customers and to society, expressed in terms that give the organization meaning and legitimacy. It is a long-term vision of what the organization seeks to do and the reasons why it exists

Objectives: Objectives specify the results sought over the long-term through the ongoing, long-run operations of the organization. These outcomes include the desired results for the customers of the organization (its mission) as well as the outcomes it desires for its other stakeholders.

Vision: is an important goal cherished and emphasized by the organization.

Goals: The goals of an organization are the intermediate quantitative and qualitative “performance target” which management seeks to attain in moving toward organizational objectives. Thus where as objectives are long range in nature, goals are short range and measurable. They serve to indicate the speedd and momentum which management seeks to maintain in accomplishing the organization’s objectives and purpose.

Strategy: Strategy is a comprehensive description of an
organization’s master plan for achieving its goals and objectives (vision and mission).

Policies: Policies guide decision making when executing strategy.

Based on the explanation given for above by Arthur Thompson and A.J. Strickland in Strategy and Policy: Concepts and Cases, Business Pub, Inc., Dallas, 1978