2012

MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVE
An introduction about the Management by Objective and its advantage, limitations and how to implement it.

Submitted to,
LISBETH BOSE

HASBEEENA K.P F.I.M.S 4/15/2012

MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVE

Management by objectives (MBO) is a process of defining objectives within an organization so that management and employees agree to the objectives and understand what they need to do in the organization. The term "management by objectives" was first popularized by Peter Drucker in his 1954 book 'The Practice of Management'. It gained a great deal of attention and was widely adopted until the 1990s when it seemed to fade into obscurity. Partly, the idea may have become a victim of its own success: It became so much a part of the way business is conducted that it no longer may have seemed remarkable, or even worthy of comment. And partly it evolved into the idea of the Balanced Scorecard, which provided a more sophisticated framework for doing essentially the same thing. The essence of MBO is participative goal setting, choosing course of actions and decision making. An important part of the MBO is the measurement and the comparison of the employees actual performance with the standards set. Ideally, when employees themselves have been involved with the goal setting and choosing the course of action to be followed by them, they are more likely to fulfil their responsibilities. According to George S. Odiorne, the system of management by objectives can be described as a process whereby the superior and subordinate managers of an organization jointly identify its common goals, define each individual's major areas of responsibility in terms of the results expected of him, and use these measures as guides for operating the unit and assessing the contribution of each of its members.

Features and advantages The principle behind Management by Objectives (MBO) is for employees to have a clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities expected of them. They can then understand how their activities relate to the achievement of the organization's goal. MBO also places importance on fulfilling the personal goals of each employee. Some of the important features and advantages of MBO are: 1. Motivation Involving employees in the whole process of goal setting and increasing employee empowerment. This increases employee job satisfaction and commitment. 2. Better communication and Coordination Frequent reviews and interactions between superiors and subordinates help to maintain harmonious relationships within the organization and also to solve many problems. 3. Clarity of goals 4. Subordinates tend to have a higher commitment to objectives they set for themselves than those imposed on them by another person. 5. Managers can ensure that objectives of the subordinates are linked to the organization's objectives.

Limitations There are several limitations to the assumptive base underlying the impact of managing by objectives, including: 1. It over-emphasizes the setting of goals over the working of a plan as a driver of outcomes. 2. It underemphasizes the importance of the environment or context in which the goals are set. That context includes everything from the availability and quality of resources, to relative buy-in by leadership and stake-holders. As an example of the influence of management buy-in as a contextual influencer, in a 1991 comprehensive review of thirty years of research on the impact of Management by Objectives, Robert Rodgers and John Hunter concluded that companies whose CEOs demonstrated high commitment to MBO showed, on average, a 56% gain in productivity. Companies with CEOs who showed low commitment only saw a 6% gain in productivity.

3. Companies evaluated their employees by comparing them with the "ideal" employee. Trait appraisal only looks at what employees should be, not at what they should do. When this approach is not properly set, agreed and managed by organizations, self-centered employees might be prone to distort results, falsely representing achievement of targets that were set in a short-term, narrow fashion. In this case, managing by objectives would be counterproductive. The use of MBO must be carefully aligned with the culture of the organization. While MBO is not as fashionable as it was before, it still has its place in management today. The key difference is that rather than 'set' objectives from a cascade process, objectives are discussed and agreed upon. Employees are often involved in this process, which can be advantageous. A saying around MBO "What gets measured gets done", Why measure performance? Different purposes require different measures is perhaps the most famous aphorism of performance measurement; therefore, to avoid potential problems SMART and SMARTER objectives need to be agreed upon in the true sense rather than set

Using Management by Objectives Peter Drucker outlined the five-step process for MBO shown in figure 1, below. Each stage has particular challenges that need to be addressed for the whole system to work effectively.

These steps are explained below;

Steps 1. Set or Review Organizational Objectives MBO starts with clearly defined strategic organizational objectives. If the organization isn't clear where it's going, no one working there will be either. 2. Cascading Objectives Down to Employees To support the mission, the organization needs to set clear goals and objectives, which then need to cascade down from one organizational level to the next until they reach everyone. To make MBO goal and objective setting more effective, Drucker used the SMART acronym to set goals that were attainable and to which people felt accountable. He said that goals and objectives must be: Specific Measurable Agreed (relating to the participative management principle) Realistic Time related Notice the "A" in SMART is "agreed." This is sometimes referred to as "achievable" but, with MBO, agreement about the goals is a critical element: It's not enough for the goals and objectives to be set at the top and then handed down. They must flow, or trickle, down through various stages of agreement. The only goal that is going to be met is one that is agreed on. How much easier is to get buy in when the person responsible for achieving the goal had a hand in developing it? For each objective, you need to establish clear targets and performance standards. It's by using these that you can monitor progress throughout the organization. These are also important for communicating results, and for evaluating the suitability of the goals that have been set. 3. Encourage Participation in Goal Setting Everyone needs to understand how their personal goals fit with the objectives of the organization. This is best done when goals and objectives at each level are shared and discussed, so that everyone understands "why" things are being done, and then sets their own goals to align with these. This increases people's ownership of their objectives. Rather than blindly following orders, managers, supervisors, and employees in an MBO system know what needs to be done and thus don't need to be ordered around. By pushing decision-making and responsibility down through the organization, you

motivate people to solve the problems they face intelligently and give them the information they need to adapt flexibly to changing circumstances. Through a participative process, every person in the organization will set his or her own goals, which support the overall objectives of the team, which support the objectives of the department, which support the objectives of the business unit, and which support the objectives of the organization. In an MBO system, employees are more self-directed than boss-directed. If you expect this type of independent performance from employees, you have to give them the tools they need. Once you have established what it is that someone is accountable for, you must provide the information and resources needed to achieve results. You must also create a mechanism for monitoring progress towards the goals agreed. 4. Monitor Progress Because the goals and objectives are SMART, they are measurable. They don't measure themselves though, so you have to create a monitoring system that signals when things are off track. This monitoring system has to be timely enough so that issues can be dealt with before they threaten goal achievement. With the cascade effect, no goal is set in isolation, so not meeting targets in one area will affect targets everywhere. On the other hand, it is essential that you ensure that the goals are not driving adverse behaviour because they have not been designed correctly. For instance, a call centre goal of finishing all calls within seven minutes might be useful in encouraging the staff to handle each call briskly, and not spend unnecessary time chatting. However, it might be that customers' calls were becoming more complex, perhaps because of a faulty new product, and call centre operators were terminating the call after 6 minutes 59 seconds in order to meet their target, leaving customers to call back, frustrated. In this situation, the monitoring process should pick up the shift in the goal environment and change the goal appropriately. Set up a specific plan for monitoring goal performance (once a year, combined with a performance review is not sufficient!) Badly-implemented MBO tends to stress the goal setting without the goal monitoring. Here is where you take control of performance and demand accountability. Think about all the goals you have set and didn't achieve. Having good intentions isn't enough; you need a clear path marked by accountability checkpoints. Each goal should have mini-goals and a method for keeping on top of each one.

5. Evaluate and Reward Performance MBO is designed to improve performance at all levels of the organization. To ensure this happens, you need to put a comprehensive evaluation system in place. As goals have been defined in a specific, measurable and time-based way, the evaluation aspect of MBO is relatively straightforward. Employees are evaluated on their performance with respect to goal achievement (allowing appropriately for changes in the environment.) All that is left to do is to tie goal achievement to reward, and perhaps compensation, and provide the appropriate feedback. Employees should be given feedback on their own goals as well as the organization's goals. Make sure you remember the participative principle: When you present organization-wide results you have another opportunity to link individual groups' performances to corporate performance. Ultimately this is what MBO is all about and why, when done right, it can spur organization-wide performance and productivity. When you reward goal achievers you send a clear message to everyone that goal attainment is valued and that the MBO process is not just an exercise but an essential aspect of performance appraisal. The importance of fair and accurate assessment of performance highlights why setting measurable goals and clear performance indicators are essential to the MBO system.

Conclusion MBO is an approach to management that depends on the identification of the organisation's and an individual's objectives for a given period. It relies on defining end results, identifying the areas for improvements, planning action to achieve improvements and reviewing the outcome of the action. It motivates individuals to achieve and strengthen the subordinate-superior relationship. By introducing MBO in the SAF at the appropriate levels, commanders will jointly identify and set objectives which will be developed into a workplan. Achievements of goals set or amendments as necessary, are frequently discussed between superiors and subordinates in a congenial manner that promotes teamwork. The success or failure of the subordinates reflects on the management and the leadership of the superior