Goals and Objectives

1. Goals
2. Objectives

Organisations have goals that the entire organisation aims to achieve. Typical examples are:

• Profit (for commercial organisations)
• Good customer service
• Good communications with staff and customers
• Efficient work practices
• Good reputation
• Good decision-making practices
• Protection of data
• Good staff morale
• Quality products
• Cheap but reliable products

A goal is some large ambition to be achieved over long period of time, and may require many smaller targets (objectives) to be worked on to achieve the larger goal.

Such goals often serve to define the nature of each organisation. As a little quiz, match the following car makers with what you think their organisational goals might be...

Within each organisation there are information systems. Information systems have specific system goals. The systems exist to do a particular job, and their success can be measured by specific criteria.

System goal examples:

• a payroll system's goal may be to produce accurate pay cheques, keep efficient track of tax deductions, and produce very readable summarised statements for management and government departments.
• a desktop publishing system's goal may be to produce high quality page layouts for magazine-quality printing.
• a point-of-sale transaction processing system's goal may be to accurately and quickly record purchases, produce customer receipts, and update stock inventories after each sale.

Note the difference between system goals and organisational goals. An organisation will contain many different systems.

• The organisational goals are those it wants to achieve as an entire organisation.
• The system goals are what each system in that organisation is aiming to achieve.

Organisational goals should be supported by the systems in the organisation. For example if an organisational goal is "efficiency", each system in the organisation would also need to have its own efficiency goals. A company priding itself on good communications would be sure to have a goals of "fast, easy to use, high capacity" etc for its email system.

Common system goals are:

• speed
• accuracy
• reliability
• quality of output
• capacity
• security
• ease of use
• cost effectiveness
• attractiveness of appearance
• flexibility, configurability (is there such a word?) and expandability
• safety
• operator comfort
• durability
• robustness, strength, toughness, endurance
• compatibility with other systems

If you're still confused

Think of your house as an organisation: its organisational goal is to keep you safe, healthy, comfortable and entertained. In the house there are many systems: the doors; the beds and chairs; the TV, radio, computer, medicine cabinet; and bookshelves.

The security system (e.g. doors, locks) have their system goals: to prevent unauthorised entry of burglars, to keep out insects and wild animals, to keep out rain and wind.

The furniture system has their own system goals: to provide comfortable support.

The entertainment system's goals are to provide entertainment such as Bob the Builder, cricket commentaries and fine story telling.

You would not, however, expect a toaster to entertain you (unless you're weird) because that is not one of its system goals. Nor would you expect a bed to entertain you... hang on, I may have to think about that one.

System Goals and Objectives

Objectives are small, specific, measurable, steps towards achieving a larger goal.

They can definitely be seen to have been achieved or not (unlike goals, which are too vague and big to be conclusively "achieved" or not)

How to identify an objective: Objectives are quite precise. If it contains an exact target (e.g. a 5% increase in output) it's an objective, not a goal. See an exam example

e.g. A system goal of a desktop publishing system may be To produce attractive output.

The related objectives may be:

• To print at a minumum resolution of 600 dots per inch.
• To handle colour and monochrome photographic images.
• To offer at least 100 typefaces.