Distinguishing between the Implications corporate for board and management in governance company mission 361 Iniplications for corporate governance

A relationshzp between board/management "involvement" and "awareness" with organizational mission and their link to "employee commitment" and "organizational performance" was modeled by drawing on previous research. The model was tested with data from 339 large Canadian and US organizations. It was determined that "mission awareness" on the part of both the board and senior management is an important consideration in the determination of employees' commitment to the mission. However, the impact of board and management involvement with the mission is not identical The results emphasize the strong and important role that the board perfom whm it is actively engaged in the development of the organization's mission. Introduction What is the proper role of the Board of Directors in terms of setting an organization's mission? Should boards restrict their activities to simply being aware of their organization's mission (with or without formal final approval) or should they be more actively engaged in terms of determining, evaluating, influencing and eventually approving the mission? Furthermore, what is the organizational outcome on intellectual capital development and performance when this takes place? While for many it may seem that these questions should have been addressed long ago, it is surprising that even today, after the recent scandals of Worldcom, Enron and Tyco, there is no clear definitive answer. An important factor contributing to this situation is the fact that there have been no empirical research studies investigating the potential impact or consequences that varying levels of board involvement with an organization's mission statement may have. Consequently, this study tackles this problem head-on by assessing the performance implications of both board awareness of and involvement with organizational mission. Mission statements Journal of lntelleaual Capital Of all the management tools employed in the world at present, the one that has VOI. 4 PP. NO 361-381 3, 2003 been cited as the most frequently used and most popular is the o MCB UP Limited 1469-1930 organizational mission statement part , 1997a). In its most basic form, a mr 10.1108~14@1330310487815 JIc mission statement is designed to answer the most fundamental questions for 493 every organization: Why do we exist? What are we here for? What is our purpose? As such, mission statements form the corner-stone and the starting-point for any major strategic planning initiative (Bart et al., 2001). They are the launching-pad for setting organizational objectives. They drive 362 organizational priorities and intellectual capital development (Bontis, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003a). They set the tone for the organization's climate and culture (Van der Weyer, 1994). Since the 1980s, the mission statements have been used more and more to define and communicate the kinds of relationships which an organization wishes to establish with each of its major stakeholder groups (e.g. investors, customers, and employees) (Campbell, 1997). Several examples of recent mission statements from major organizations are shown in Figure 1. Interestingly, recent research has proven that not all mission statements are created equal; i.e. it is possible to have "bad as well as "good mission statements, and it is important to consider many variables in formulating a good one (Baetz and Bart, 1996; Bart and Baetz, 1998). Considering the impact rBM . & W M , we s ~ w e to I d in the crestim, development . %mi nsnuf~clure of the indusrrf's m a t sdvsnord intbmtion tcd~nolo~cs. incluJjag ctmpurm sgn? cm~ wflw? rc. ncrrvorking xysk~~~s , stm.pc dwiviccs ar~d mim? ckc(ronics. Wc uw! late thcer: advmced txfincilt>~its value for cmr custm~rrs through our l~rnf~mio~ml solu~iw~s and services businesses uuorld.wvide. JY Morgnn S h o We me: \Ve creak acegtiond w'alur foi ow i:Xmts, shueholdclb: and mploytxs b? ; dclivairy! UIUI deep. hrrxd and inkp~a1 gli? bal cupbilitjcs. Whsc We *and For: hlzgrilysct thc sh? ntlml+C/ie11n b.:ild mlationlip they vnlm. Ercellcnzp in ourprnplr alui rvhat we deliv~r, Lmdcrsh&~ .in rvwything we do. 1)ivcr.vi~v -. lrywct ff~r dl. Tcirmwurk . tkkvm the gbbal ceuurlc, Qualip -get it rightrifitd, Initiarke . find a way.