Goals were handed down the org chart like tablets from Mount Sinai. Senior executives set top-line objectives for their department heads, who passed them to the next tier of management, and so on down the line. While this approach to goal-setting is no longer universal, it remains prevalent at most larger organizations. The appeal is obvious. Cascaded goals corral lower-level employees and guarantee that they’re working on the company’s chief concerns. In the best case, cascading forges unity; it makes plain that we’re all in this together.
