6 barriers to goal setting in the organization from external and internal factors that hamper the effective goal setting and plan development. Goals are critical to organizational effectiveness as they serve as a target for the employees and they work to hit it.
Whatever the reason maybe they need to be identified quickly and dealt with. Barriers to goal setting and planning could be external and internal factors.
- Internal Barriers
- Inappropriate Goals.
- Improper Reward System.
- Dynamic and Complex Environment.
- Reluctance to Establish Goals.
- Resistance to Change.
- External Barriers
Let’s know more about these barriers to goal setting and planning.
1. Inappropriate Goals
Goals should be appropriate for the internal factors of the organizations, such as; financial condition, size, market share and more. Inappropriate goals come in many forms.
Goals may also be inappropriate if they are unattainable if they place too much emphasis on either quantitative or qualitative measures of success.
Financial goals are quantifiable, objective, and verifiable. The organization is headed for trouble is they select goals which are beyond their grasp.
2. Improper Reward System
The improper reward system is a barrier to goal setting and planning.
Inadvertently rewarding for poor goal-setting behavior or not be rewarded or even be punished for proper goal setting behavior; these certainly have a bad effect on the people in charge of goal setting and attainment.
If a company puts too much emphasis on Rewarding for short-term performance and results, the employees may ignore longer-term issues as they set goals and formulate plans for short-term achieve higher profit gain.
3. Dynamic and Complex Environment
If the nature of an organizations environment is not work-friendly then it is also a barrier to effective goal setting and planning.
The manager attempting to set goals and plan in this fast-changing environment faces a truly formidable task and rapid change in the market, technological innovation, and intense competition are the reasons for it.
So, to tackle this change, companies are not large and have more department and staff. This is now an avoidable issue. Because of this organizations environment is now more complex and dynamic.
If this complexity and dynamism in the organization structure are not well managed then, surely; the company’s goal setting process will be hampered.
4. Reluctance to Establish Goals
Some managers are a reluctance to establish goals for themselves. The reason for this reluctance may be lack of confidence, fear of failure, lack of skill or lack of responsibility.
If a manager sets a goal that is precise, brief, and time-related, then whether he or she attains it is obvious.
Managers who consciously or unconsciously try to avoid this degree of accountability are likely to deter the organizations planning efforts.
5. Resistance to Change
Resistance to change; is a big problem for goal setting and planning is. Planning principally involves changing something about the organization. And in this fast-changing business environment, change is essential.
If managers are resisting the change willingly or unwillingly then it could hinder the company’s attainment of ambitions. It could create problems like; losing market share, increase in debt, loss or low profit, high operating expense, and more.
6. External Barriers
Lack of resources, government restrictions, strong competition, political situation, economic condition; are some external factors that affect the organization’s goal setting process.
