At various points in our lives, we all come into contact with the issue of planning and managing goals, be it at a personal level, or within an organizational context. Goals are important, for without goals, an individual or organization is without purpose or focus. One may liken this state to a floating log in the ocean - the log goes wherever the currents take it. The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines a personal goal as "the object of a person’s ambition or effort". Similarly, an organizational goal can be defined as the object of an organization’s ambition or effort.Setting and managing goals appear to be much simpler than they really are. There are several studies on organizational effectiveness and performance that show a strong correlation between organizational failure and the lack of proper goal planning and management. Many American companies in the appliance industry have higher defect rates than many Japanese companies because of inadequate goal-setting and management around the issue of defects. Through Total Quality Management, affectionately known by its acronym TQM, the Japanese implement a formal rigorous system of goal setting and management. A tool called the Hoshing Planning Model is used by several organizations to plan and manage quality goals.
Goal planning and management (GPM) is a multi-dimensional activity that requires in-depth understanding and careful analysis in order to obtain effective results. Goals have several attributes: goal type, time frames, conflict potential, resource implications, a champion(s), an issue-based context, and implied transformation processes. Each of these attributes must be examined and accounted for in any GPM activity.
There are three broad categories of goals: strategic, tactical, and operational goals. Strategic goals focus on the long-term orientation of the organization. A department store for example may want to establish itself firmly as the leader and trend setter in the area of domestic appliances. A school may want to establish itself as a leader in technical vocational education. Goals which reinforce the strategic orientation of the organization are strategic in nature. A lack of clear strategic goals will inevitably lead to organizational failure as well as create opportunities for competitors. The tactical goal focuses on of the "how to" of a strategic orientation. For example, the department store would set goals around sourcing and securing reliable high quality, good-value-for-money appliance suppliers in order to out-compete the competition in appliance sales. A school would set goals around sourcing and securing the best teaching staff in technical vocational education. Further, the school may set goals around the acquisition of state-of-the art equipment. Operational goals focus on facilitating tactical goals. For example, establishing reliable sources of information on suppliers, performing a comparative study on suppliers will help to assist the tactical goal of identifying the "best" suppliers. For a school, goals around teacher training, or fund raising to acquire state-of-the art equipment will facilitate the achievement of the corresponding tactical goals. So we have a hierarchical relationship between the three categories of goals where, strategic goals drive tactical goals, and tactical goals drive operational goals. Strategic goals are generally long-term, tactical goals medium-term, and operational goals, short-term.
From the last paragraph, it can be seen that all goals have an explicit or implicit issue-based context, strategic, tactical, or operational. Sales are dropping, the competition is diversifying, students are failing, teachers are de-motivated, etc. The issue-context of a goal is extremely important because it impacts on the formulation of the goal. If the forcing issue is not thoroughly understood, then by translation, the goal will be misguided.
The realization of a goal has major implications for resources and process management. Goals are made tangible through a process of defining objectives. The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines an objective as "something sought or aimed at; real, tangible". Objectives are, therefore, desired outputs or attainment levels for a goal. It is worth noting that all outputs stem from a process. Consequently, goal achievement requires effective process management. Hence, in assessing whether or not a goal can be achieved, one must ask whether the existing process is adequate, or what process needs to be implemented if the goal is to be achieved. A process is a coordinated system of inputs and activities geared towards the synthesis of an output (product or service). Poor quality inputs and badly designed activities will hinder the attainment of any goal. Further the system must be designed with the capability to meet the stated objective - the tangible form of the goal.
More often than not, an individual or organization is riddled with several issues. Consequently, it is common to express several goals consistent with the multiplicity of issues. Goals are not always independent. Generally, they require shared resources, and in several cases they conflict. A goal to maximize access to education in a school will conflict with a goal to minimize spending on new programs. Goal rationalization and prioritization are therefore critical activities in a goal planning and management setting. Often, a compromised solution is required, and can be achieved through group decision-making using consensus type strategies. In order to reach a compromised decision, a detailed value analysis is required in which the implied objectives of the goals are rationalized on the basis of their value (not just monetary) contribution to the strategic goals of the individual or organization. In doing so, however, a systems approach must be applied. As systems focus requires that the goals be examined in relation to all key organizational processes.
Goal planning and management activity is incomplete without an explicit statement of objectives consistent with the identified goals. Goals are generally vague and open to variations in interpretation. Objectives are definitive statements of goals. Most planners often produce a list of objectives in a brainstorming session without a detailed rationalization process. In a recent article, decision scientist Ralph Keeney suggested that objective ought to be generated through a process called value-focus thinking. Value-focus thinking requires that the underlying value system of the individual or organization be recognized and understood, and that objectives are consistent with the expressed values. Through this process, fundamental objectives (they concern the ends that are valued) and means objectives (they are a means to an end) will be identified. These two classes of objectives have significant implications for the design of the process to achieve them, as well as the priorities they are given.
The following are some steps to bring about effective goal planning and management for the purpose of attaining excellence. Step 1: Define what excellence means for the individual or organization. In the case of an organization, the definition should be a shared definition. Step 2: Ascertain the underlying value system; Step 3: Identify key issues related to excellence; Step 4: Using the issues identified, generate appropriate goals along with relevant time frames; Step 5: Using value-focus thinking, identify fundamental and means objectives for each goal. It is important that all the stakeholders take part in this activity. Step 6: Conduct a process analysis to ascertain the adequacy of existing processes, or design a new process for achieving the stated objectives. Step 7: Design a system for monitoring the progress of goal attainment. Also focus on the efficiency with which goals are attained. Effort-goal analysis will help to identify hoe resources are utilized in the process of achieving stated goals; Step 8: Analyze goals to identify conflicting goals and synergetic goals. Develop an implementation strategy which maximizes synergy and minimizes conflict. Step 9: Conduct periodic evaluations on the current issues focus, identified goals and objectives, and process efficiency. Step: 10: Continually search for ways to improve the achievement of stated goals.
Finally, it is important that the goal planning and management process has a champion who will work towards ensuring that the process is carried out effectively. In the personal contex, the champion is the individual themself. In an organization, the champion is one of the stakeholders or group of stakeholders within the organization. Without a champion, goals are likely to be forgotten. Organizations and individuals alike, can benefit a great deal from the systematic application of the goal planning and management framework.
