What is meant by goal displacement? Describe the nature of organizational goals.

 Goal Displacement

Goal displacement refers to the unintended or forceful change in a predetermined organizational goal. The original goal is completely discarded in case of goal displacement. In other words, goal displacements may be stated as a situation in which a new goal has been developed with completely discarding original strategy and tactical goal even without the interest of top-level management. It occurs in a condition when organizational resources and efforts are diverted far from original goals.

NATURE OF ORGANIZATIONAL GOAL

Organizational goals serve for coordinated efforts of management as well as operating employees as it provides destiny and purpose of organizational establishment. Only those organizations which set SMART goals can be successful. Effective goals should consist of following common features:

1. Reflect purpose of existence: Goals of any organization reflect for what purpose is the organization established. Goals direct the activities of an organizational organism. Quality of organizational goals verifies the reason of establishment of organization. This also indicates how long the organization can sustain with its purpose.

2. Future oriented: Goals are designed for future activities. It provides final destination of organization. Goals direct where the organization wants to be at specific point of time. Main objective of setting goals is to set activities, priorities, and efforts to attain the end target. Thus, goals are formulated for future. Goals can be set for specific time period like long term, short term or medium term.

3. Multiple goals at a time: Organizations may formulate many goals at a time. Profit maximization, market expansion, product diversification, etc. are multiple goals which can be fixed by an organization at a time. But, to be specific, an organization can prioritize the goals on the basis of its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges.

4. Goal hierarchy: Goals have specific hierarchy according to the hierarchy of organizational structure. Different levels of organization set their goals as per their functional responsibilities. Top level of the organization sets overall goals, department level management sets goals for departments and operating level formulates the operational goals. For instance, main goal of organization can be 'being best service provider in the region within 5 years of time. In order to get this goal, different departments need to formulate their specific goals for example, production department must set goal of designing attractive and cost effective service packages, marketing department should set the goals of market expansion, and account department need to formulate reducing accountable payable and receivable. Likewise, operating units of each department must set their goals accordingly. This means, goals may form a hierarchy.

5. Time frame: Organizations set goals across different time frame. According to the time horizon of goals, they can be classified into short-term goals, intermediate-term goals, and long term goals. Top level management formulates strategic goals which are long term goals. Department level i.e. middle level managers set tactical goals which intermediate goals. Operational level i.e. lower level managers set operational goals which are short term goals. Long term goals are set generally for more than five years, middle level goals are formulated for three to five years and operational goals are prepared in general for only one year. But time frame of goal formulation may vary organization to organization on the basis of their area of functions, nature of organization, complexity and level of competition.