The Essential Drucker

by Peter F. Drucker

The basic definitions of the business, and of its purpose and mission, have to be translated into objectives. Otherwise, they remain insights, good intentions, and brilliant epigrams that never become achievement. 1. Objectives must be derived from “what our business is, what it will be, and what it should be.” They are not abstractions. They are the action commitments through which the mission of a business is to be carried out, and the standards against which performance is to be measured. Objectives, in other words, represent the fundamental strategy of a business. 2. Objectives must be operational. They must be capable of being converted into specific targets and specific assignments. They must be capable of becoming the basis, as well as the motivation, for work and achievement. 3. Objectives must make possible concentration of resources and efforts. They must winnow out the fundamentals among the goals of a business so that the key resources of men, money, and physical facilities can be concentrated. They must, therefore, be selective rather than encompass everything. 4. There must be multiple objectives rather than a single objective. Much of today’s lively discussion of management by objectives is concerned with the search for the “one right objective.” This search is not only likely to be as unproductive as the quest for the philosophers’ stone; it does harm and misdirects. To manage a business is to balance a variety of needs and goals. And this requires multiple...