"Tyrrany of Targets" - An argument against Management by Objective

[Steve Prevette]

The attachment (hopefully I did this right) is an article I wrote a while back to provide an argument against Management by Objective, with a few illustrative examples, and some alternative logic to MBO.

- Steve Prevette
ASQ CQE, MS Operations Research
Fluor Hanford
City University

[Douglas E. Purdy]

Originally Posted by Steve Prevette

The attachment (hopefully I did this right) is an article I wrote a while back to provide an argument against Management by Objective, with a few illustrative examples, and some alternative logic to MBO.

- Steve Prevette
ASQ CQE, MS Operations Research
Fluor Hanford
City University

Steve,

I appreciated the article and the related resources.

Thanks,
Doug

[ccochran]

Steve,

Nice work with the article. I have to admit I'm an adherent of reasonable and clear objectives, but it's hard to argue with your and Deming's logic.

Craig

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Craig Cochran
Center for International Standards and Quality
Georgia Institute of Technology

[amr1234]

I took this article to a meeting I had today with my lead auditor. He didn't and maybe couldn't even understand what was being imparted upon him. I wanted to tell him, in my most professional tone, "Read the **** thing, don't just roll it up." I didn't. The sound of my mother echoed in my head.. "You can lead a horse to water...." you all know the rest of that quote I'm sure. I went to the wall, after this meeting, and proceeded to thump my head a few times. Then continued on about my day. Thank God it's Thursday..

[Greg B]

Steve,

An excellent sell but would fall on deaf ears with our current management. They dsicovered 'balanced score cards' a few years back and are ardent fans of exact targets (98% operability, 98% throughputs, 20% reduction etc). I don't believe we have met all of the targets since the score card's inception.

We suffered similar Safety targets as your analogy with a required reduction from 18 to 3 (in one year) but we only achieved 4. So we recieved nothing because we failed. This was a massive reduction but did not meet the 'target'.

In saying al of this, I am still a fan of Objectives, Goals and Targets but they must be achievable, quantifiable and understandable. Here is my response to a question about personal goals from another thread and an extract from it below:
http://elsmar.com/Forums/showpost.ph...07&postcount=5

GOALS: A goal is an ultimate aim. It is what you want to achieve. It is a destination. You need to understand how you go from here to your goal. What do you need to do to get there? What skills do you require? What time frame? What help? What Cost? Etc
Goal: To be a millionaire by 30

OBJECTIVES: These are the stepping Stones to your Goals. They are short-term goals. An objective is measurable. What time frame and what indicators do you need?

· Objective 1: Graduate Business School in three years with Honours
· Objective 2:: Gain employment in the banking Industry by 2005

The Key to pulling all of this together is planning:

1. Establish realistic Goals and Targets, To achieve x by y,
2. Detail all requirements to ensure goals are achieved,
3. Draft a matrix of events (Timeline),
4. Discuss and communicate plan,
5. Implement the plan,
6. Monitor

Sound familiar? Plan, Do Check and Act


Greg B

[Govind]

This is a "must read" article not only for beginners also seasoned professionals.

Author in his conclusion says, "The key feature is the use of the control chart to determine if performance is stable or unstable (has trends). When the performance is stable, the responsible management should decide if improvement is needed".

This is something every organization, Quality professional should always keep in mind as Improvement 101.Today's world of tight project timelines people try to work on improvements without giving considerations to stability.

Another common error people commit working on improvement project is not validating if the improvement is statistically significant to declare.

Regards,
Govind.

[Wes Bucey]

As a fellow Demingite, I can hardly fault Steve Prevette's pronouncements, which mirror those of old W. Edwards "Management Did It" Deming.

If ever there was a case of preaching to the choir, this is it.

Good job, Steve!

[Rob Nix]

A very good read, Steve. Of course, it was like meditating on my OWN thoughts over the years and revalidating them. I especially appreciate your emphasis on using data to understand your system. Thanks.