Question

3. Explain the downside of traditional goal setting approach with the help of an example? Define the term Management by Objective (MBO). Discuss the potential problems with the MBO program.

Answer 1

The downside of traditional goal setting approach are as follows:

1.People didn't knew why they want to achieve the goal.The goal were set at the top level and people didn't have any motivation and feeling for encouragement to achieve them.E.g:We might think we want to lose 30 pounds to fit into that dress,but really,we're not chasing the dress,we're chasing the feeling we think we'll get when we fit into that dress.

2.People tried harder to achieve the goal but not differently.If we keep failing at the same thing over and over again,its very likely we need to try different,not harder.E.g If we do not loose weight through normal exercises or diet then we'll have to change the method of loosing weight.

3.People view changing their minds as failure.People set goal,announce that to the world and then they change their mind.It is obvious that we berate ourselves and feel bad and feel like a failure when we simply don't want to go after the goal anymore.

Management by objectives (MBO)

It is a strategic model that aims to improve the performance of an organization by defining the objectives that is both agreed by management and employees.It encourages participation and commitment among employees by aligning objectives.It was first outlines by management guru Peter Drucker in his book,The practice of management.

The potential problems with the MBO program are as follows:

1. It failed to teach its philosophy of goal setting.The management should explain the subordinates about what it is,how it works,why it is being done and how all will get benefits from it.
2. It created problems in goal setting.Truly verifiable goals were difficult to set and MBO sets verifiable goals so that person responsible for attaining them was quite clear about it.
3. The goals were mostly set for short terms,i.e from a quarter to a year.
4. Sometimes managers in order to quantify the objectives may ignore qualitative aspects of objectives.