Mission
The mission statement summarizes the main reason for the company’s existence and, as such, should be concise, focused, and straight to the point. An ideal mission statement offers clear answers to three main questions: what the company does, for whom, and on which scale – in other words, products and services, targeted client population, and scope (Aguinis, 2019). This statement corresponds to all three criteria. First of all, it sets a clear focus on providing logistical support as the company’s goal. Since all kinds of clients need such assistance, it is hardly possible or necessary to single out any of them, so, while rather vague, the part on the targeted population corresponds to reality.
Additionally, the statement also demonstrates the scale of the company’s activities by pointing out that the merged UWEAR & PALEDENIM provides logistical support all across the world. Yet another important component of this mission statement is that it is outwardly-focused. It means that it delineates the mission in terms of what the company does for the customers rather than what it does to them (Engel 2018). This clear, concise, and outwardly-focused mission statement will help serving customers by placing them at the center of the company’s rationale for its existence.
Vision
While the mission statement formulates why the company exists in the first place, the vision statement outlines what it means to achieve in its field and by what means it should be achieved. The essential components of a good vision statement include the company’s desired public image, the managerial philosophy it follows while striving for its goals (Aguinis, 2019). As one can easily see, this vision statement corresponds to bot requirements. It begins by emphasizing the company’s aim to become the preferred choice for the customers in need of logistical support all over the world. After that, it lists the means by which the company seeks to attract customers, such as rigorous professionalism and work ethics.
Finally, it points to the managerial philosophy professed by the company and clarifies that the merged UWEAR & PALEDENIM adheres to stakeholder theory rather than stockholder theory. Apart from the effect it may have on the customers, this statement will be naturally important for the employees, as they are a group of stakeholders themselves. In a tumultuous time immediately after the merger, it is necessary to assure the employees that the company considers their interests. Finally, the vision statement is brief and easily memorable. As such, it will guide the leaders by pointing out what attitudes they need to promote among their subordinates and what goal they have to keep in mind.
Values
The values statement is essential for guiding the behavior of the company’s employees, as it is responsible for setting a common code of conduct and a set of shared beliefs for the company’s entire workforce. This issue is especially acute in the recently merged companies, as friction is inevitable even in the best cases, and doubly so if the corporate culture of the pre-merge companies has notable differences. This values statement stresses integrity, honesty, and openness, which is particularly important to identify the kind of issues and frictions that will likely arise between the formers employees of UWEAR and PALEDENIM.
Apart from that, it emphasizes accountability to customers and responsibility to stakeholders to support the company’s’ vision statement. Additionally, it stresses the importance of teamwork and mutual support, thus taking a decisive step toward the “one-for-all and all-for-one” corporate culture of PALEDENIM with its focus on synergetic efficiency. Thus, the values statement sets the desired-end state of the corporate culture in the merged company (Fernandes, 2019). It also clearly proclaims the self-concept of business (Aguinis, 2019). While not every former PALEDENIM will swiftly accept the new set of values, this statement formulates the code of conduct to guide the company’s employees in no uncertain terms.
Communication: Management
While it would be easy to communicate the new mission, vision, and values statements to the employees via service e-mail or other means, the technical side of the process is not an issue here. The essential problem, in this case, is how to convince the employees to internalize the new mission, vision, and values or, at the very least, make it easier for them to operate under the new conditions. This issue is all the more important due to the fact that the new values lean toward PALEDENIM’s corporate culture, but the former employers of UWEAR are much more numerous. This means that the majority of the employees will have to adapt, and it befalls to the middle-to-low level managers to create a clearly defined framework for the shift to the new culture.
An efficient way to approach this task is the Star Model that requires addressing five points: setting direction, establishing where reduction-making power resides, outlining the working process, defining rewards, and setting HR policies (Fernades, 2019). If these five essentials are clearly defined, they provide a solid, understandable, and transparent framework for the working process and actively shape the organizational culture of a newly merged company in the necessary direction.
Communication: HR
As mentioned above, setting HR policies in order to influence the corporate culture is a crucial component of ensuring a transition to the new corporate culture after the merger. The importance of this aspect stems from the fact that the rank and file of the company are the foremost bearers of the corporate culture, and it is the HR department that works with them. Considering this, it is necessary to elaborate more on the HR tasks and responsibilities in the post-merger context. Theoretically, HR should always demonstrate impartiality, but it becomes doubly important after the merger to avoid the development of “winners and losers” mentality (Martinez & Cuadrado, 2016).
There are always winners and losers in any merger, but when employees of the same company begin to think about themselves in these terms and associate them with their past allegiances, it creates a problem. Apart from that, the HR department should be proactive in responding to the employees’ concerns, such as position and role or pay and benefits (Martinez & Cuadrado, 2016). In essence, what HR needs to do is to answer the question “What do I get from the merger?” from the perspective of every employee that remains in the company.
References
Aguinis, H. (2019). Performance management (4thd edition). Chicago Business Press.
Engel, M. L. (2018). Crafting the ideal mission statement for your organization. Leader to Leader, 2018(87), 8-12.
Fernandes, N. (2019). The value killers: How mergers and acquisitions cost companies billions – and how to prevent it. Palgrave Macmillan.
Martinez, G. S., & Cuadrado, M. (2016). Mergers and people: Key factors for an effective acquisition and for surviving one. Web.