The essential message is that managers need to identify and set objectives both for themselves, their units, and their organizations. Ensure that you set the right objectives if you want to achieve the right results.
What is MBO?
The principle behind MBO is to make sure that everybody within the organization has a clear understanding of the aims, or objectives, of that organization, as well as an awareness of their own roles and responsibilities in achieving those aims.
MBO and the individual
Start with yourself by reading the following six questions and answering them as best you can. The responsibility on all six counts rests with you as an individual. None of the answers depends entirely on other people, and some do not depend on them at all.
Identify Your Personal Aims
What are my aims, and how will I know that they have been achieved?
What do I have to do to realize those aims?
What standards must I reach for top performance?
What specific objectives must I meet in the next week, month, quarter, year?
Am I linking my individual aims to those of the unit and the company?
What feedback do I have to check my results against my aims?
If you can answer some of the questions only partially, try to find out what you need to know in order to answer them fully. Keep returning to your answers to check that you are still working along the right lines, and review them as necessary — you will find that many of your answers change over time.
MBO and the organization
There are too many managers who think and act as if the higher strategy of their organization is no business of theirs — in fact, it is everybody's vital business. Never forget that your organization's objectives affect you directly and personally. Refer back to the questions on the opposite page — it only takes small changes in the wording of the questions to make them apply to your company and to your unit. Repeat the exercise, writing down the answers, first as if you are the boss of your unit (whatever your actual position), and then as if you are the chief executive. If you do not know some of the answers, try to obtain them.
Personal empowerment
If you find that you cannot identify your or your company's aims satisfactorily, remember what Drucker advocates: you need four powers to do an excellent job. These four powers are a combination of the personal qualities that an individual brings to the job, and the powers made available to everyone by the organization. The powers are not only essential to perform an excellent job, but also to produce job satisfaction, the prime motivator.
The Four Powers
1 Freedom to challenge everything and anything
2 Continuous training and development on the job
3 Knowledge of, and faith in, the organization's mission
4 The ability to achieve and see results
The right organization
If your company or unit does not have an overall objective that you can identify, or you are unable to challenge their strategy, your ability to grow on the job will be hamstrung, and your efforts to achieve real results will become frustrated. Some organizations may place a lower priority than you might like on allowing staff to exercise the four powers. In either case, find somewhere else where you can really make a contribution — and go there!
