Planning and goal setting

 Plans and goals are part of people's daily lives. We are always making plans and setting goals, not just at work, but in our personal lives. Sometimes we do not organize and design our plans and goals as we should; or even set realistic metrics, but still, we look for ways to pursue our purposes.

I believe that in the business world this is even more important. How can a company survive without a goal? How to achieve this goal without plans? Some of the concepts and benefits of all this I already had studied, but something new that I learned and I found very interesting is the concepts of Management by Objective (MBO) and Management by Means (MBM).

The first one is described by Daft & Marcic as: "a system whereby managers and employees define goals for every department, project, and person and use them to monitor subsequent performance." (2009), and they define the latest one as: "A new systematic approach that has recently emerged, which focuses attention on the methods and processes used to achieve goals."

In my opinion and experience, I personally like the MBM more. In general, it fits better with the way I like to work, believing that the means are as important as the goals. But I acknowledge that the occasion, the company, the project and the team will influence which is the best method to pursue each particular goal. And it is up to the manager to analyze the situation and determine the best approach.

Reference: 

Daft, R. L., & Marcic, D. (2019). MindTap for Daft's Understanding Management, 1 term Instant Access. CENGAGE