A poster at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, New York, USA, showing the Millennium Development Goals

A goal is a desired result a person or a system envisions, plans and commits to achieve a personal or organizational desired end-point in some sort of assumed development. Many people endeavor to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines.

It is roughly similar to purpose or aim, the anticipated result which guides reaction, or an end, which is an object, either a physical object or an abstract object, that has intrinsic value.

Goal-setting [edit]

Goal-setting ideally involves establishing specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bounded (S.M.A.R.T.) objectives.^{[citation needed]} Work on the goal-setting theory suggests that it can serve as an effective tool for making progress by ensuring that participants have a clear awareness of what they must do to achieve or help achieve an objective. On a personal level, the process of setting goals allows people to specify and then work towards their own objectives most commonly, financial or career-based goals. Goal-setting comprises a major component of personal development.

A goal can be long-term or short-term. The primary difference is the time required to achieve them.^[1]

Short-term goals [edit]

Short-term goals expect accomplishment in a short period of time, such as trying to get a bill paid in the next few days. The definition of a short-term goal need not relate to any specific length of time. In other words, one may achieve (or fail to achieve) a short-term goal in a day, week, month, year, etc. The time-frame for a short-term goal relates to its context in the overall time line that it is being applied to. For instance, one could measure a short-term goal for a month-long project in days; where as one might measure a short-term goal for someone's lifetime in months or in years. Planners usually define short-term goals in relation to a long-term goal or goals.

Personal goals [edit]

Individuals can set personal goals. A student may set a goal of a high mark in an exam. An athlete might run five miles a day. A traveler might try to reach a destination-city within three hours. Financial goals are a common example, to save for retirement or to save for a purchase.

Managing goals can give returns in all areas of personal life. Knowing precisely what one wants to achieve makes clear what to concentrate and improve on, and often subconsciously prioritizes that goal.

Goal-setting and planning ("goal work") promotes long-term vision and short-term motivation. It focuses intention, desire, acquisition of knowledge, and helps to organize resources.

Efficient goal work includes recognizing and resolving all guilt, inner conflict or limiting belief that might cause one to sabotage one's efforts. By setting clearly defined goals, one can subsequently measure and take pride in the achievement of those goals. One can see progress in what might have seemed a long, perhaps impossible, grind.

Achieving personal goals [edit]

Achieving complex and difficult goals requires focus, long-term diligence and effort. Success in any field requires forgoing excuses and justifications for poor performance or lack of adequate planning; in short, success requires emotional maturity. The measure of belief that people have in their ability to achieve a personal goal also affects that achievement.

Long-term achievements rely on short-term achievements. Emotional control over the small moments of the single day makes a big difference in the long term.

Personal Goal Achievement and Happiness [edit]

There has been a lot of research conducted looking at the link between achieving desired goals, changes to self-efficacy and integrity and ultimately changes to Subjective well-being.^[2] Goal Efficacy refers to how likely an individual is to succeed in achieving their goal. Goal integrity refers to how consistent one's goals are with core aspects of the self. Research has shown that a focus on goal efficacy is associated with well being factor happiness (subjective well-being) and goal integrity is associated with the well-being factor meaning (psychology).^[3] Multiple studies have shown the link between achieving long-term goals and changes in subjective well-being, most research showing that achieving goals that hold personal meaning to an individual, increases feelings of subjective well-being.^[4][5][6]

Self-Concordance Model [edit]

The Self-Concordance Model is a model that looks at the sequence of steps that occur from the commencement of a goal to attaining that goal.^[7] It looks at the likelihood and impact of goal achievement based on the type of goal and meaning of the goal to the individual. Different types of goals impact goal achievement and the sense of Subjective well-being brought about by achieving the goal. The model breaks down factors that promote striving to achieve a goal, achieving a goal, and the factors that connect goal achievement to changes in Subjective well-being.

Self-concordant goals [edit]

Goals that are pursued to fulfil intrinsic values or are important as they are integrated into an individuals self-concept are called self-concordant goals. Self-concordant goals fulfil basic needs and are aligned with an individuals True Self. Because these goals have personal meaning to an individual and reflect an individuals self-identity, self-concordant goals are more likely to receive sustained effort over time. In contrast goals that do not reflect an individuals internal drive and are pursued due to external factors (e.g. social pressures) emerge from a non-integrated region of a person and are therefore more likely to be abandoned when obstacles occur.^[8] Furthermore the Self-determination theory and research surrounding this theory shows that if an individual effectively achieves a goal,if that goal is not-self endorsed or self-concordant, well-being levels do not change despite goal attainment.^[9]

Goal management in organizations [edit]

Organizationally, goal management consists of the process of recognizing or inferring goals of individual team-members, abandoning no longer relevant goals, identifying and resolving conflicts among goals, and prioritizing goals consistently for optimal team-collaboration and effective operations.

For any successful commercial system, it means deriving profits by making the best quality of goods or the best quality of services available to the end-user (customer) at the best possible cost. Goal management includes:

• Assessment and dissolution of non-rational blocks to success
• Time management
• Frequent reconsideration (consistency checks)
• Feasibility checks
• Adjusting milestones and main-goal targets

Morten Lind and J.Rasmussen distinguish three fundamental categories of goals related to technological system management:^{[citation needed]}

1. Production goal
2. Safety goal
3. Economy goal

An organizational goal-management solution ensures that individual employee goals and objectives align with the vision and strategic goals of the entire organization. Goal-management provides organizations with a mechanism to effectively communicate corporate goals and strategic objectives to each person across the entire organization. The key consists of having it all emanate from a pivotal source^{[citation needed]} and providing each person with a clear, consistent organizational-goal message. With goal-management, every employee understands how their efforts contribute to an enterprise's success.

An example of goal types in business management:

• Consumer goals: this refers to supplying a product or service that the market/consumer wants
• Product goals: this refers to supplying a product outstanding compared to other products^{[citation needed]}perhaps due to the likes of quality, design, reliability and novelty
• Operational goals: this refers to running the organization in such a way as to make the best use of management skills,^{[citation needed]} technology and resources
• Secondary goals: this refers to goals which an organization does not regard as priorities

See also [edit]

References [edit]

Further reading [edit]

• Robert F. Mager Goal Analysis, 3rd. edition, 1997.
• Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Jeff Cox. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement. ISBN 0-88427-061-0