Vision most often refers to visual perception, but may refer to vision (spirituality) (i.e.

,
inspirational experiences or perceptions believed to come from a deity or other
supernatural source) or hallucinations.

In business, a vision refers to the superordinate objective or goal of an organization or

enterprise. The development and communication of a vision statement is a key aspect of
adopting a systematic approach to strategic management.

mission, from the Latin missum (English: sent), is a specific task, often religious, which a
person or group has been charged with or adopts as their main purpose. It can also mean a
school or other institution founded for religious education and/or evangelization

An objective is a goal, a planned or intended outcome.

The word objective may also refer to:

• Objective (military), the achievement of a final set of actions within a given

military operation
• Objective (grammar), a noun as the target of a verb
• Objective (optics), an element in a camera or microscope
• Objective Corporation, a software company

A goal or objective consists of a projected state of affairs which a person or a system

plans or intends to achieve or bring about — a personal or organizational desired end-
point in some sort of assumed development. Many people endeavor to reach goals within
a finite time by setting deadlines.

A desire or an intention becomes a goal if and only if[citation needed] one activates an action for
achieving it (see goal-oriented).

It is roughly similar to purpose or aim, the anticipated result which guides action, or an
end, which is an object, either a physical object or an abstract object, that has intrinsic
value.

Policies and guidelines express standards that have community consensus. Policies are
considered a standard that all editors should follow, whereas guidelines are more
advisory in nature. Both need to be approached with common sense: adhere to the spirit
rather than the letter of the rules, and be prepared to ignore the rules on the rare occasions
when they conflict with the goal of improving the encyclopedia. Those who edit in good
faith, are civil, seek consensus, and work towards the goal of creating a great
encyclopedia should find a welcoming environment.
A procedure is a specified series of actions, acts or operations which have to be executed
in the same manner in order to always obtain the same result under the same
circumstances (for example, emergency procedures). Less precisely speaking, this word
can indicate a sequence of activities, tasks, steps, decisions, calculations and processes,
that when undertaken in the sequence laid down produces the described result, product or
outcome. A procedure usually induces a change.

Procedure may also refer to:

• Instructions or recipes, a set of commands that show how to prepare or make

something
• Subroutine or method (computer science), a portion of code within a larger
program

A tactic is a conceptual action used by a military unit of no larger than a division to

implement a specific mission and achieve a specific objective, or to advance toward a
specific goal. A tactic is implemented as one or more tasks.

A Strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, most often
"winning." Strategy is differentiated from tactics or immediate actions with resources at
hand by its nature of being extensively premeditated, and often practically rehearsed.
Strategies are used to make the problem easier to understand and solve.

STRATEGY involves the “big picture” – the overall plan, how the campaign will
achieve organizational goals and objectives. It involves deciding who the important
publics are and which of them will be the recipients of your messages (i.e., “target
audiences”).

Strategic planning helps determine how the organization will be positioned; it decides
how important publics will learn about the organization and how it can help them. It will
provide avenues of discovery to facilitate this. Strategic thinking will create a reason for
the audience should believe and support the organization, and it will help develop a
consistent message and focus for the organization to uphold.

Each strategy must be considered on its own merits, and must be a viable option to be
judged on its own strengths – one that definitely will solve the problem. Any approaches
that will not solve the problem independently should be eliminated. If a combination of
approaches can solve the problem, consider the combination as a strategic alternative.

Each alternative strategy should attain all audience objectives. All of the pros and cons of
each strategy should be considered, and in the process, options are more easily identified.
Identifying business risks and opportunities creates the chance to exercise informed
judgment. Viable options are vital – knowing each option's advantages and disadvantages
will enable decision-making based on fact instead of emotion.
Remember, you must take careful aim in everything you do in public relations. Don't
shoot from the hip: you could end up with powder burns on your butt.)

TACTICS are activities specifically created and selected to reach specific and
measurable objectives. Tactics are the actual ways in which the strategies are executed.
They include newsletters, publicity, seminars, trade shows, advertising, Internet presence,
and any other tool that target audiences actually are exposed to.

Look at each tactic from the standpoint of what it will do to achieve the objectives.

Tactics include:

1. ACTION EVENTS: Non-written tactics such as special events,

demonstrations, exhibits, parades, community contributions (manpower,
talent, advice, money) and other non-verbal activities.
2. COMMUNICATIONS TACTICS: Verbal tactics (oral and written)
that use words or pictures. These include newsletters, flyers, news
releases, brochures, direct mail, advertising, themes, slogans, the World
Wide Web (WWW), and other initiatives that use words and language as
their basis.

In both action events and communications tactics, separate the initiatives into message
tactics (which will be used to get your message directly to the audience), and media
tactics (how the news media will be utilized to publicize action events).

A Simple Example

You want to influence legislation at the State Legislature. Your strategy might be to
contact all legislators directly and exclusively. Or, you might want to contact only the
power leaders in the Legislature. Or, you might want to exert direct public constituency
pressure on the Legislature. Or, you might want to fight your battle in the news media.

Each of these is a strategy. Pick one – the one that makes best use of your time, your
money, and your people. Then, identify your publics, your audiences, your positioning,
your general communications and actions thrusts, your rationale and messages.

Let’s say you decide to try and influence power leaders through direct public
constituency pressure. Your tactics might include a letter-writing campaign by those
legislators’ influencers – the individuals and organizations that s/he listens to. You might
do a direct mailing to registered voters in the legislators’ district asking them to write,
fax, phone or email their legislator (include sample letters and the legislator’s address).
You might appear on talk shows. You might hold a rally in the legislators’ districts.

Mission: Enduring purpose. The fundamental reason for the organization’s existence
beyond just making money. It is a direction, a general heading, a perpetual guiding star
on the horizon. It does not change over time. It is generally abstract and can never be
achieved, only pursued. For example, for NASA: “advancing man’s capability to explore
the heavens”.

Vision: A picture of a desired future that supports the mission, or an image of the future
we seek to create. It is a specific destination that is concrete and achievable. A good one
engages people–it reaches out and grabs them in the gut. It should be tangible,
energizing, highly focused. There can be many visions over time that support the mission.
The time scale is usually around 1 to 5 years. For example: “a man on the moon by the
end of the ’60s”.

Strategy: A set of actions or objectives around a unifying theme that work to accomplish
a vision. It is broad and action-oriented. If vision is the what, strategy is the how. The
time scale of the strategy is equal to or shorter than that of the vision it supports.

Objective: The object of a course of action, something specific that is worked toward.
Good objectives should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and
Time-bound). The time scale is usually less than one year.

Goal: This term is probably the least consistently used of them all. Usually it is either
used interchangeably with objectives, or denotes a lower-order or more specific
objective. Sometimes it can be on the level of vision, as in a BHAG (Big Hairy
Audacious Goal).

Identifying and managing critical business processes is a vital factor in the effective management of successful organiz
This appears to be a fairly obvious statement. At the heart of the business excellence model there is a strong beat gen
by the emphasis on process management. Within the context of quality management standards, and more specifically
9000, 'procedure' is a key word which has acquired a particular meaning over the years.

Procedures Processes

• Procedures are driven by completion of the task • Processes are driven by achievement of a desired outcome
• Procedures are implemented • Processes are operated
 • Procedures steps are completed by difference people in different
departments with different objectives
• Procedures are discontinuous
• Procedures focus on satisfying the rules
• Procedures define the sequence of steps to execute a task
• Procedures are driven by humans
• Procedures may be used to process information
• Procedures exist they are static
• Procedures cause people to take actions and decisions
Procedures
• Process stages are completed by different people with the sam
objectives - departments do not matter
• Processes flow to conclusion
• Processes focus on satisfying the customer
• Processes transform inputs into outputs through use of resourc
• Processes are driven by physical forces some of which may be
by humans
• Information is processed by use of a procedure
• Processes behave they are dynamic
• Processes cause things to happen

In its simplest form a procedure is a way in which one works to accomplish a task. It can therefore be a sequence of ste
include preparation, conduct and completion of a task. Each step can be a sequence of activities and each activity a se
of actions. The sequence of steps is critical to whether a statement or document is a procedure or something else.
Specifications, contracts and records are not procedures as they do not tell us how to do anything. These describe the
resulting from carrying out procedures or tasks, leaving us to decide any further actions necessary to use these outputs
output will more than likely be used as inputs to other procedures.

We need procedures when the task we have to perform is complex or when the task is routine and we want it to be per
consistently Hence procedures are intended to make something happen in a certain way. If we are not concerned abou
something is done and are interested only in the result we do not produce procedures but issue instructions such as 'po
letter', 'repair the spin drier' or 'recruit another person'. These are work instructions as they intend us to do 'quantitative
without telling how to do it or the 'qualitative' standard to which the work should be carried out. Instructions are not proc
unless they follow in a sequence and enable us to perform a task.

A set of self-assembly instructions is a procedure as it tells how to proceed to assemble the product. But the wording o
label telling us not to put hot objects on the surface is an instruction or a warning (a special type of instruction). As proc
are normally used by people they are designed with a user in mind. The user is normally an individual or a group of ind
although procedures can cover a sequence of steps each of which is performed by different individuals or groups. How
perceptions of procedures vary considerably depending on the context in which they are created and used. Any sequen
steps, no matter how simple or complex, can be expressed as a procedure that is intended to cause someone to act in
certain way to accomplish a task. The key is that the steps follow a sequence. A random collection of statements is not
procedure unless we rearrange these in a sequence that enables someone to proceed.

Is it a procedure or a misnomer?

Within the context of QMSs (and more specifically, ISO 9000) the procedure has, for many, taken on particular and som
peculiar characteristics. Such (documented) procedures may be written, not as a sequence of activities or steps but as
series of requirements or a series of responsibilities. Neither of these can be procedures as they do not tell us how to p
what steps to take or how to measure the result.

Such procedures often follow a uniform format with a purpose statement, applicability statement, responsibilities and th
procedure statements. Often there is no connection between the purpose statement and the procedure. Purpose statem
often address the purpose of a document not the purpose of the task which the sequence of tasks is intended to delive
if such procedures (and rarely they do) contain measures of success, these are probably quantitative measures related
task itself and not to why the procedure is carried out. The most common perception of such procedures is that they ar
associated with paperwork and filling in forms.

We seem to think that we have created a procedure by classifying a document as a procedure. These documents are o
thought of as high-level procedures. Procedures do not have to be documented to be procedures and do not have to b
high level. We often hear of procedures addressing the 20 elements of IS0 9000 and work instructions being used at
departmental level to guide activities. These characteristics of procedures only serve to constrain our thoughts and our
Processes

Processes convert inputs into outputs. They create a change of state. They take inputs (e.g. material, information, peop
pass these through a sequence of stages during which the inputs are transformed or their status changed to emerge as
output with different characteristics. Hence processes act upon inputs and are dormant until the input is received. At ea
stage the transformation tasks may be procedural, but may also be mechanical, chemical etc. Inherent processes do n
normally recognize departmental or functional boundaries (but are often hindered by them) nor the boundaries between
customers and suppliers. Each process has an objective with both quantitative and qualitative measures of its outputs
related to its objectives. The transformation or process stages are designed to ensure the combination of resources ac
the objectives - the desired outputs. Of course this means that the process has to receive the right inputs to deliver the
outputs and that the correct resources are applied at the right stages, in the correct quantities and in the right manner I
that a process can be illustrated as a sequence of steps just as a procedure is illustrated, but the similarity ends there.

It's the way we use them

The way we use the words procedure and process tells us something about how they differ. We tend to start and stop
processes. We implement procedures and commence and complete them. We process information. We do not procedu
information but we may employ a procedure to process information. We have plating processes and there may be plati
procedures. In this context, the plating process comprises the resources, people, plant and machinery, and the plating
procedure contains the instructions on how to plate material.

We have process interrupt but not procedure interrupt, because processes are perceived as continuous and run until p
intervention. In our bodies we have processes, not procedures. The reproductive process, the digestive process, the
respiratory process, these processes are certainly continuous and stop only when an intervention takes place. They ma
require human intervention in which a surgeon may employ procedures to effect a repair. Procedures on the other hand
perceived as being discontinuous, having steps which can be paused with activities or actions picked up or put down a

Procedures usually relate to groups of activities with a given output where that output may not be complete until acted
someone else at a later stage in the process. Therefore, procedures are the actions taken by individuals in a process th
span across several functions and use multiple resources to deliver a predetermined output at a given rate at a given lo
on a given date.