Re: Measurable and Realistic Goal
Hi,
I will try to make it clearer.
The SMART goal setting and evaluation formally became well known, even though implicitly many organisations were following this before, with the concept of Management by objectives from Peter Drucker, the famous management guru.
"SMART" objectives as used by many organisations have undergone changes and may mean : Specific (or Stretched or Significant or Simple), Measurable (or Meaningful or Motivational or Manageable), Achievable (or Attainable or Appropriate or Agreed or Action-oriented), Relevant (or Realistic or Result-oriented or Rewarding), and Time-bound (or Time-Specific or Time framed or Trackable) objectives.
Measurable objectives are those which have a clear known end result or the path of measurement like achieve 20% business growth wherein the business growth in terms of either market share or sales is measured and evaluated against the target of 20%. A goal like "We will excel in Market" would become non-measurable as nothing is known on which criteria the excellance was intended.
Relavant goals for the organisation means aligned to the organisational strategies. For employees relevant goals would be those on which the person who agrees to achieve, can act. An example would be decreasing the value of inventory in the shopfloor by 4% would be a goal of an employee in Finance / Stores / Planning / Supply chain / Production / Marketing, as they control at least a part of the process. If this goal is applied to a Secretary in HR function, this could become irrelavant.
Realistic goals are those which should not be unrealistic. Like a stretched sales target with 1500% growth is imposed (?) or agreed upon may not be realised even if the market is available, considering the resource needs. The zeal when the goal is set, will get curbed while trying to achieve such goals.
Hope it helped .............
Rgds