More Management Theories - Management by Objective
(MBO)
World-famous management consultant Peter Drucker is
credited with Management by Objective. In short, managers
are urged to give specific goals and objectives and then
measure whether workers achieved those. Anyone who has ever
filled out an annual report for a grant is very familiar
with MBO. The federal government wants to know, for
example, what your objective was for number of clients
served, number of clients who had a "good" outcome (got a
job, quit drinking, had lower blood pressure or whatever it
is your program is supposed to do).
If you have ever worked in a job where you weren't sure
exactly what it is you were supposed to do or how you were
being measured whether you did a good job (we have!) you
can appreciate management by objective. Employees are given
targets to meet - quotas for pieces produced, average
number of customers served per hour - and then measured to
see if those targets were met.
Personally, we think management by objective is a
step in the right direction. You should put in
writing what you expect from each employee and each
program. However, it is only a step. As Drucker said,
management by objective is only a good idea if you have
thought about your objectives beforehand, which, he says,
90% of people don't. For example, an objective might be
"Fifty tribal members will be provided training on how
to write a business plan and apply for a business loan."
That sounds nice, but we have found that the real issues of
success of reservation businesses involve finding employees
(and business owners!) who come to work regularly, being
able to figure the numbers to set the right price, and
having money of your own so that you can pay your bills
during those first months when the business is not making
money.
Management by objective - some examples
from reservation-based organizations