Management By Objectives

Setting clear, achievable, goals (i.e. objectives) in the management of work activities to aid managers in planning workload and to provide clarity to an individual in understanding what is expected of them. This helps an organisation to provide and allocate adequate and appropriate resources to support an individual and team in achieving their goals and those of the organisation.

Monitoring and assessing inputs and outcomes helps the process of continuous improvement, which is needed not just to maintain desired goals but to improvise and innovate to improve productivity, product quality and organisational growth.

The continuous use of well-defined objectives can result in a lack of innovation and development as individuals and managers become so focused on the objective that outside events can arise which negatively impact on the organisation and internally individuals become more efficient at achieving the objectives but with a consequent, and often subtle, reduction in quality.