Organizational Goals – Meaning and Definition

Organizational goals can be defined as broad statements of what the organization wants to achieve in the long run, or on a permanent basis.

  • Goals are broad objectives.
  • Goals are fairly timeless statements.
  • Goals and objectives are properly defined. If they are vague or ill-defined, it may not be possible to measure the performance of the organization.

The clarity of goals and objectives is quite often more evident to the initial employers and promoters of institutions. With expansion of activities and joining of new member, goals and objectives as perceived by participants tend to get diffused. Different key managers may have different perceptions about goals and objectives. It is because of this that organizations insist on proper induction of new entrants to the philosophy of the organization.

External pressures, sometimes political in nature, may force an enterprise to alter its goals and objectives, particularly in the case of public institutions, unless effective steps are taken by the top management of the enterprise to counteract such pressures, the enterprise’s goals and objectives will get diffused and even confused, and will seriously affect the effectiveness of the organization.

Besides achieving the broad goals and objectives, the management also attempts to achieve super ordinate goals. Super ordinate (or shared) goals are the set of values or aspirations that underscore what an organization stands for and believes in. They are the overreaching purposes to which an organization and its members dedicate themselves. Super ordinate goals are values that genuinely seek congruence between the individual and the organization’s purposes and are higher order objectives beyond the bottom-line goals of ROI, market share, expenses and sales levels. The super ordinate goals encompass the concepts of service to society and therefore the organizations must demonstrate that their products serve social needs before society accepts them.

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