Management By Objectives

MBO – MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVES

Its strange ... that although we come across many little things daily yet we do not notice their importance. It was a pleasant surprise to see Mandi sir coming to class with a magnet ! His question was- Why does a magnet attract? Everyone knows this, We’ve studied this since primary classes. But the little part that was much more important was ALIGNMENT of the molecules that was responsible for the force of attraction and repulsion.

Just like a magnet can align the innate dipoles with its power  a manager can also align his human resources to get his work done. Its the power of setting the poles right i.e.  positive with positive that creates a synergy and pieces start to fall and set in place

So here comes the analogy of Management by Objectives, also known as Management by results. The term "management by objectives" was first popularized by Peter Drucker in his 1954 book The Practice of Management.It is a process of defining objectives within an organization so that management and employees agree to the objectives and understand what they need to do in the organization in order to achieve them.

The process of an MBO can be descibed in four stages i.e. PDCA :

                           

1.       PLAN : The superior and subordinate managers collectively fix the objectives. The objectives are fixed for the Key Result Areas (KRAs). KRAs are those areas which are very important for the long-term success of the organisation. After fixing the objective, the superior and subordinate managers make an action plan.

2.       DO : The subordinate manager implements the plan. That is, he puts the plan to action. He makes optimum use of the resources. If required, he takes guidance from the superior managers.

3.       CHECK : the subordinate monitors i.e. evaluates or measures his own performance. He compares his performance with the planned targets or objectives.

4.       ACT : This is the final stage in the MBO process.If there are any deviations, then the superior and subordinates managers fix new objectives. In this stage, the superior acts like a coach and guide.

To conclude : Its the skill set of the people that need to nurtured and managed effectively. Understanding between the superiors and subordinates is a must for the achivement of the goals i.e. individual and organisational. A consensus match between the two will act like a catalyst in the sucess of the organisation.