Chapter

Reaching Goals and Objectives

Whenever an individual or a business decides that
success has been attained, progress stops.
—Thomas Watson
 Planning in Organizations
 Why supervisors and managers plan:
 Knowing what the organization is trying to accomplish helps
them set priorities and make decisions aimed at
accomplishing their goals.
 Planning forces managers to spend time focusing on the
future and establishes a fair way for evaluating performance.
 Planning helps managers use resources efficiently.
 The functions that managers perform all depend on good
planning.
 Supervisors rarely have much input into the way an
organization does its planning; they participate in whatever
process already exists.

McGraw-Hill/Irwin 6-2 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Objectives
 Planning centers on the setting of goals and
objectives.
 Objectives specify the desired
accomplishments of the organization as a whole
or as a part of it.
 Goals are objectives with a broad focus.

 An organization’s goals identify what its

people should be striving toward.

McGraw-Hill/Irwin 6-3 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Characteristics of Effective Objectives

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 Policies, Procedures, and Rules
Policies
 Broad guidelines for how to act
Procedures
 Steps that must be complete to achieve a
specific purpose
Rules
 Specific statements of what to do or not
do in a given situation
McGraw-Hill/Irwin 6-5 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Action Plans
 The supervisor creates an action plan by
answering the following questions:
 Whatactions need to be taken?
 Who will take the necessary steps?
 When must each step be completed?
 Where will the work take place?
 How will the work be done?

McGraw-Hill/Irwin 6-6 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Contingency Planning
Review all objectives Contingency
planning
Look for areas where Planning what to
something might go wrong do if the original
plans don’t work
Determine how to respond out. Does not have
to be formal or
if those problems do arise written down.

McGraw-Hill/Irwin 6-7 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Management by Objectives
Management by Objective (MBO) involves three steps:

1. All individuals in the organization work with their

managers to set objectives, specifying what they
are to do in the next operating period.
2. Each individual’s manager periodically reviews the
individual’s performance to whether he or she is
meeting the objectives.
3. The organization rewards the individuals based on
how close they come to fulfilling the objectives.

McGraw-Hill/Irwin 6-8 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 The Supervisor as a Planner
 In most organizations, supervisors are responsible
for the creation of plans that specify:
 Goals
 Tasks
 Resources
 Responsibilities
 Providing information and estimates
 Higher management relies on supervisors to provide
estimates of the personnel and other resources they
will need to accomplish their work.

McGraw-Hill/Irwin 6-9 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Allocating Resources
 Allocating human resources
 Determining how many and what kind of employees
the department will need
 Allocating equipment resources
 Determining how much equipment is needed to get
the job done
 Allocating money resources
 Developing a budget
 Scheduling
 Gantt
charts
 PERT networks

McGraw-Hill/Irwin 6-10 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Involving Employees
 Employees who are involved in the process tend to
feel more committed to the objectives, and they may
be able to introduce ideas that the supervisor has not
considered.
 To get employees involved:
 Set objectives and have employees write down what
they think they can accomplish in the coming year.
 Hold a meeting of the entire work group at which
employees and supervisors develop objectives as a
group.

McGraw-Hill/Irwin 6-11 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Planning with a Team and
Updating Objectives
 Many times teams, not individual managers, are
charged with planning.
 Supervisors should clearly communicate the scope
of the plan and encourage team members to cooperate
 After objectives have been set, the supervisor should
monitor performance and compare it with the
objectives and update objectives as necessary.
 Organizations with a regular procedure for planning will
specify when supervisors must review and update their
objectives.

McGraw-Hill/Irwin 6-12 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 The Supervisor as a Controller
 Supervisors need to know what is going on
in the area they supervise.
 Do employees understand what they are
supposed to do, and can they do it?
 Is all equipment operating properly?
 Is work getting out correctly and on time?

 Detection of problems is at the heart of the

control function.

McGraw-Hill/Irwin 6-13 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 The Process of Controlling
 Establish performance standards
 Effective performance standards should be written,
measurable, clear, specific, and challenging but
achievable.
 Monitor performance and compare with standards
 The supervisor should focus on how actual
performance compares with the standards he or she
has set.
 Variance
 Exception principle

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 The Process of Controlling (continued)

Reinforce successes and fix

problems
 If performance is satisfactory or better,
the supervisor needs to encourage this.
 If performance is unacceptable, the
supervisor needs to make changes that
either improve performance or adjust the
standard.

McGraw-Hill/Irwin 6-15 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Types of Control
Feedback control
 Control that focuses on past performance
Concurrent control
 Refers to work that is being done
Precontrol
 Refers to efforts aimed at preventing
behavior that may lead to undesirable
results
McGraw-Hill/Irwin 6-16 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Tools for Control
Budgets
A plan for spending money
Performance reports
 Summarize performance and compare it
with performance standards
Personal observation

McGraw-Hill/Irwin 6-17 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Characteristics of Effective Controls
 Timeliness
 Timely controls enable the supervisor to correct
problems in time to improve results
 Cost-effectiveness
 The cost of using the controls should be less than the
benefit derived from using them
 Acceptability
 The controls should be acceptable to supervisors and
employees
 Flexibility
 Supervisors should be able to ignore a variance if
doing so is in the best interest of the organization
McGraw-Hill/Irwin 6-18 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Summary
 Managers engage in strategic planning;
supervisors engage in operational planning.
 Effective objectives are written, measurable or
observable, clear, specific, and challenging but
achievable.
 Management by objectives is a process in which
managers and employees set objectives for what
they are to accomplish, after which their performance
is measured against those objectives.
 Supervisors are responsible for the creation of plans
that specify goals, tasks, resources, and
responsibilities for their own departments.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin 6-19 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Summary (continued)
 Controlling enables supervisors to ensure high-
quality work and to keep costs under control.
 The control process:
 Establishperformance standards
 Monitor performance and compare with standards
 Reinforce successes and fix problems
 Types of control: feedback, concurrent, precontrol
 Tools of control: budgets, performance reports, and
personal observation
 Characteristics of effective control: timely,
economical, acceptable to all, flexible
McGraw-Hill/Irwin 6-20 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.