Discussion: how the readings treated MBO, and why
Discuss the different ways management by objectives was treated across this week's readings, the takeaways you draw from those differing presentations, and what the disagreement implies for how management practices should be assessed.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 14, 2026
The question is about the disagreement, not the technique
Read the third question first, because it tells you what the first two are for. The course is about critically assessing management practices and popular management literature, so management by objectives is the specimen rather than the subject. Still, describe it accurately: a process in which manager and subordinate jointly set specific, measurable objectives for a period, agree how achievement will be judged, work against them with periodic review, and appraise performance against the result. Then map the split in your readings honestly. The favourable case is that MBO clarifies expectations, aligns individual work with organisational goals, increases commitment through participation, and supplies an objective basis for appraisal — and that goal-setting research broadly supports specific difficult goals outperforming vague ones. The critical case is Deming's and others': MBO fixes attention on numbers a person cannot control, drives short-termism and gaming, ignores system variation, and sets a target without supplying a method.
The takeaways then need to be yours rather than a summary of the two camps. The useful ones are conditional: MBO tends to work where outputs are genuinely measurable, individually attributable and stable over the period, and to fail where work is interdependent, quality is hard to quantify or the environment shifts faster than the cycle. That is a claim about fit, not about merit. For the final question, generalise the method rather than the finding. A practice presented as universally effective in one source and as harmful in another is usually contingent, and the disagreement is a signal to ask what conditions each author assumed, what evidence each offers, whether the author is selling something, and whether the studies cited are causal or a set of admiring case descriptions of firms that were already succeeding. That habit is the transferable skill the assignment is teaching.
Likely learning objectives
Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.
- 01Describe management by objectives accurately as a process.
- 02Map favourable and unfavourable treatments across sources.
- 03Draw conditional rather than absolute conclusions about a practice.
- 04Generalise a method for assessing management claims critically.
Read the full question
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Course-wide instructions that accompany this question
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Turn the brief into deliverables
- 01The different ways MBO was treated and discussed in the readings.
- 02Which sources were favourable and which unfavourable, and on what grounds.
- 03The takeaways you draw from the differing presentations.
- 04What the disagreement implies for assessing management practices.
- 05The questions you would ask of any management claim.
- 06Citations and references in APA format.
MBO, the split, and what it implies
What MBO actually is
Joint objective setting, agreed measures, periodic review, appraisal.
The favourable treatment
Clarity, alignment, participation, objective appraisal, goal-setting evidence.
The critical treatment
Gaming, short-termism, system variation, targets without methods.
Why the sources differ
Different assumed conditions, evidence bases and purposes.
Conditional takeaways
Where MBO fits and where it does not, stated as conditions.
Assessing management claims
The questions to ask of any practice presented as universally effective.
Reading management claims critically
Recommended databases
- OpenStax Principles of Management
- Business Source Complete
- Google Scholar
- Assigned course readings
Search sequence
- 1.Re-read each assigned source and mark its stance on MBO and its evidence.
- 2.Read a textbook account of planning and goal setting for the neutral description.
- 3.Find the critical tradition's specific objection rather than a summary of it.
- 4.Note the conditions each author assumes about measurability and interdependence.
- 5.Write the conditions before writing the conclusion.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.
- 01
17.2 The Planning Process - Principles of Management | OpenStax
OpenStax, Rice University · 2019
The planning cycle MBO sits inside, described neutrally.
- 02
17.3 Types of Plans - Principles of Management | OpenStax
OpenStax, Rice University · 2019
Objectives, standing plans and where measurable targets fit.
- 03
17.1 Is Planning Important - Principles of Management | OpenStax
OpenStax, Rice University · 2019
The case for formal planning, which the favourable readings assume.
- 04
Quality Improvement Methods (LEAN, PDSA, SIX SIGMA)
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2024
The systems-and-variation tradition that supplies the critique of targets.
Review before submission
Common mistakes
- Explaining what MBO is and stopping there.
- Summarising each reading in turn without comparing them.
- Concluding that MBO simply works or simply does not.
- Ignoring the critical tradition, which is the more interesting half.
- Treating the third question as a restatement of the second.
- Offering no criteria for judging a management claim.
Submission checklist
- MBO is described as a process with its steps.
- At least two contrasting treatments are identified by source.
- The grounds of the disagreement are stated, not just its existence.
- Takeaways are conditional and specify when MBO fits.
- A general method for appraising management claims is proposed.
- Sources are cited in APA format.
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Written by
Aaron Bishop
MA, Education
assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines
Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.
Reviewed by
Dr. Nathan Cole
PhD, Rhetoric & Composition
Argumentation and thesis development
Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.