Definition and Importance of Goals

We have already said earlier in our discussion of management that every organization has objectives or targets that it wants to achieve. A goal is a statement of where the organization wants to be at a specific time in the future. It is therefore a target that the organization wants to hit.

A goal like any other target provides a clear purpose and direction for the organization's activities. Without goals organization's activities would be haphazard. The organization would be without direction and hence it would be subject to the whims of the environment.

Without goals planning is also not possible. The statement of an organization's goal is somewhat like a constitution, it guides the behaviour of the people in the organization.

Organizational goals can therefore be looked at as the results that an organization strives to achieve.

Organizational goals therefore play many roles in the organization:

• They provide employees with a sense of direction concerning where the organization wants to go or is headed. So the members are able to pool their resources and efforts together towards the stated goals.

• Goals encourage managers to use their resources more effectively and efficiently.

• Goals provide the basis for achieving organizational co-ordination

• Goals provide the basis for evaluating organizational performance as they can be used as   standards against which performance is measured.