MBO: An idea whose time has gone?

Impact of management by objectives on organizational productivity.

“…Top management needs to have high commitment to the program (Beer, 1980;Carroll, 1986, p. 308;Ford, 1979;Rose, 1977, p. 69;Seward, 1976, p. 274) and to become personally involved in goal setting (Brady, 1973;Bussard, 1976;Hollmann, 1976, Jun, 1976Reddin, 1971;Report to the Congress, 1978;Weihrich, 1976).…”

“…Calhoun(1977) Security equipment manufacturing Volume performance levels Elam(1978) University public relations department Work completions Fenton (1977) Accurex Corporation Performance Decision making Ford (1979) Semiconductor manufacturer New product development Ganser(1975) Logging association Image Quality of programs Total membership Job completions Jones (1975) University library Professional identity Employee accomplishment Latona(1978) Juvenile justice center Job involvement Work goal attainment Sense of achievement Mali (1986) United Pascoe(1970) Navy supply and transport Management performance Pitts & Thompson (1979) State agency Placements Preston (1968) Equipment manufacturing Cash savings Performance of managers Raia(1974b) California school district Use of time Reddin(1971) Electric utility Labor costs Sheparovych (1973) Essex Note. Positive assessments were made in 33 studies, and a negative assessment was reported in 1 study.…”

“…Problems with implementing MBO programs have been reported by a number of researchers (Carroll, 1986, p. 308; Ford, 1979; French, Kast, & Rosenzweig, 1985, p. 471; Griffin & Moorhead, 1986, p. 438; Hollmann, 1976, p. 29; Ivancevich & Glueck, 1986, p. 303; Levinson, 1970; McConkie, 1979a, p. 472; Miner, 1988, p. 198; Reddin, 1971; Stanton, 1975; Szilagyi & Wallace, 1983, p. 582; Tosi & Carroll, 1968, p. 421; Winstead, 1979). Much of this literature can be interpreted in terms of variation in the level of top-management commitment to the MBO process and resultant differences in the nature of the program developed (Carroll, 1986; Kopelman, 1986; McConkie, 1979a, p. 472; Raia, 1974a; Ruth, 1979; Stein, 1975).…”

“…Many researchers believe that MBO must be initiated from the top down—with full participation throughout—for a program to be implemented successfully (Aplin & Schoderbek, 1976; Martin, Johnson, McNitt & Stutzman, 1978; McConkey, 1976b; Nystrom, 1977). Top management needs to have high commitment to the program (Beer, 1980; Carroll, 1986, p. 308; Ford, 1979; Rose, 1977, p. 69; Seward, 1976, p. 274) and to become personally involved in goal setting (Brady, 1973; Bussard, 1976; Carroll & Tosi, 1973; Hollmann, 1976, Jun, 1976; Reddin, 1971; Report to the Congress, 1978; Weihrich, 1976).…”

Influence of top management commitment on management program success.

“…The expository literature on MBO implementations says that the extent of job satisfaction gain is moderated by the degree of top management commitment (Beer, 1980; Carroll, 1986; Ford, 1979; Rose, 1977; Seward, 1976). According to this literature, a high level of support and participation by top management results in greater job satisfaction gain than when there is little support and no participation.…”