Reaching Goals and Objectives

Goal Setting

The Bullfight

In five words or less, describe the outcome of a bullfight.

The Bullfight Who is stronger, the matador or the bull? The Bull! Who is faster, the matador or the bull? The Bull! Who is deadlier, the matador or the bull? The Bull!

The Bullfight It is a matter of goal orientation.

The Bullfight “Forget the cape, go after the guy in the funny pants”

The Bullfight

Goal Setting Specific Meaningful Accepted Realistic Time – Framed

Specific Goals Are More Effective Than “Do Your Best” Goals

Meaningful to Those Who Must Achieve the Goal

Accepted By Those Who Must Achieve the Goal

Realistic, Yet Challenging

Most Effective Probability of Achievement: Between 50% & 70%

Time – Frame Deadline For Achievement

What are Your goals?

Planning Planning is the management function of setting goals and determining how to meet them. It is the first step of thinking ahead about what needs to be done to meet the organization’s or work unit’s objectives. It lays the foundation for carrying out other management functions.

Planning involves gathering information, defining goals and objectives, thinking through the steps to accomplish the objectives, and implementing the plan.

Formal and Informal Planning Planning can be formal or informal. Strategic planning is very formal. An example of informal planning is making plans to meet someone for lunch.

Project Planning The project planning process consists of the following: Setting the project start date Setting the project completion date Selecting the project methodology or project life cycle to be used Determining the scope of the project in terms of the phases of the selected project methodology or project life cycle Identifying or selecting the project review methods to be used

Identifying any pre-determined interim milestone or other critical dates which must be met. Listing tasks, by project phase, in the order in which they might be accomplished. Estimating the personnel necessary to accomplish each task Estimating the personnel available to accomplish each task Determining skill level necessary to perform each task

Determining task dependencies - Which tasks can be done in parallel - Which tasks require the completion of other tasks before they can start Project control or review points Performing project cost estimation and cost-benefit analysis

Goals Goals are what is to be achieved. They are generally broad in scope and represent the purpose to be achieved by the organization or the work unit.

If the purpose of the organization is to sell food prepared into tasty meals for local customers, then a goal may be to increase the number of meals sold or increase market share. Another goal may be to increase customer satisfaction by providing excellent service.

Objectives Objectives are similar to goals, but they are more specific. The dictionary defines objectives as “having to do with a material object as distinguished from a mental concept.”

Objectives should be written, measurable, clear, specific, and challenging but achievable.

Implementation Implementation of an action plan should be monitored and evaluated against an objective.

Strategic Planning The creation of long-term goals for the organization as a whole. Strategic planning is usually a function of top management. Goals and objectives are very broad. Strategic plans are used as a guide to develop operational plans.

Operational Planning The development of objectives that specify how divisions, departments. and work groups will support organizational goals. Operational planning is usually done by middle managers and supervisors.

Policies Broad guidelines for how to act. The origin of policies is philosophical and/or ethical. The policy will act as a filter of what will be considered acceptable or not for the organization and its members

Procedures The steps that must be completed in order to achieve a specific purpose. Procedures help maintain consistency of practices, products, and services.

Clearly written procedures give employees a standard map to guide action. They also help an organization maintain its knowledge base.

Rules Statements of specifically what to do or not to do in a given situation. Rules may be published in employee handbooks or posted on a bulletin board.

Action Plan The plan to achieve an objective. If objectives are statements of where you want to go, action plans are a map that tells you how to get there.

Writing an action plan will add more detail to the overall plan or the objectives. It describes specific tasks and who is responsible to see that the task is accomplished and includes a timetable or schedule. It increases the likelihood of achieving the objectives.

All too often there can be agreement that something has to be done and an outcome altered, but without an action plan, no one may take the action required to make the change.

Contingency Plan Planning what to do if the original plans don’t work out.

Management by Objectives A formal system for planning in which managers and employees at all levels set objectives for what they are to accomplish. Then their performance is measured against those objectives.

Budget A plan for spending money. Budgets provide written targets for utilizing financial resources.

Scheduling Setting a precise timetable for the work to be done. A schedule is a plan for the time needed to achieve an objective.

Gantt Chart Scheduling tool that lists the activities to be completed and uses horizontal bars to graph how long each activity will take, including its starting and ending dates.

PERT Charts Scheduling tool that identifies the relationship of tasks as well as how long each activity will take. (P. 161, Certo).

Controlling The management function of making sure that work goes according to plan. The planning function sets the goals; the controlling function monitors performance. Planning and controlling can be on the organizational level, department level, and on specific products and services.

Standards Measures of what is expected. Products and services are based upon some standard that meets the organizational goals or customer expectations. Performance or outcomes can be measured against these standards to determine it expectations are being met.

Variance The size of the difference between actual performance and a performance standard. A standard usually has a preferred target. In some cases there is a tolerance added to indicate a range of acceptance to the standard.

Variance may fall within the accepted range of a standard. This is called meaningful variance for control purposes in the text.

Exception Principle The control principle stating that a supervisor should take action only when a variance is meaningful. It is important to investigate and act on exceptions on the positive side as well as on the negative side of the expected target.

Reinforcement Encouragement of behavior by associating it with a reward. The supervisor should be aware of performance standards and actual performance. When employees exceed the standards the supervisor should let them know by recognition, praise, and other means available to him or her.

This will let employees know you appreciate their contribution and they are likely to keep up the good work.

Problem A factor in the organization that is a barrier to improvement. A problem can also be viewed as something that keeps an organization or department from achieving its goals. For example, if the goal is to reach a specific level of quality, productivity, or costs, it is a problem if the goal cannot be attained.

Symptom An indication of an underlying problem. Beware of treating the symptom as the problem. For example, the symptom may be low productivity. This may be a symptom of the problem of inadequately trained employees.

Fixing the problem may entail adjusting a process, the behavior of an individual employee, or develop new rewards for good performance train employees improve communications with employees counsel and /or discipline poor performance ask employees what barriers are interfering with their performance the standard itself

Types of Controls The three types of control are feedback concurrent precontrol

Feedback Control Control that focuses on past performance. Reports on completed tasks or spending such as productivity shipping accumulated costs

Concurrent Control Control that occurs while the work takes place (real time control).

Precontrol Efforts aimed at preventing behavior that may lead to undesirable results. Examples of precontrol are planning training preventative maintenance

Personal Observation Management by wondering around.