Current Soviet strategy: dissenting views
In: Global affairs, Band 5, S. 1-172
ISSN: 0886-6198
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In: Global affairs, Band 5, S. 1-172
ISSN: 0886-6198
In: Social work: a journal of the National Association of Social Workers
ISSN: 1545-6846
In: The federalist debate: papers for federalists in Europe and the world = ˜Leœ débat fédéraliste : cahiers trimestriels pour les fédéralistes en Europe et dans le monde, Band 20, Heft 3, S. 57
ISSN: 1591-8483
In: The Indian journal of politics, Band 38, Heft 2-3, S. 28-41
ISSN: 0303-9951
In: Critical review of international social and political philosophy: CRISPP, Band 6, Heft 4, S. 157-171
ISSN: 1743-8772
In: Critical review of international social and political philosophy: CRISPP, Band 6, Heft 4, S. 157-171
ISSN: 1369-8230
In: American communist history, Band 1, Heft 1, S. 105-106
ISSN: 1474-3906
In: Worldview, Band 17, Heft 4, S. 46-47
In: Dissent: a journal devoted to radical ideas and the values of socialism and democracy, S. 45-49
ISSN: 0012-3846
In: Polis: the journal for ancient greek political thought, Band 17, Heft 1-2, S. 111-132
ISSN: 2051-2996
In: American journal of international law: AJIL, Band 86, Heft 3, S. 652-667
ISSN: 2161-7953
In: World affairs: a journal of ideas and debate, Band 146, Heft 1, S. 114
ISSN: 0043-8200
In: Worldview, Band 17, Heft 4, S. 45-46
In: Public personnel management, Band 19, Heft 3, S. 321-330
ISSN: 1945-7421
The argument of the article is to question the core assumptions upon which MBO theory rests. While MBO, in various of its practical versions may succeed here or there, defective theory is not cured by select citations of effective practice. MBO has not produced a coherent theory in which to ground its prescriptions. Rather, it derives legitimacy from other disciplines. Drucker's classical formulation of MBO is pseudo-participative despite his claim that its essence is employee collaboration and input into setting their work objectives. Drucker critically fails to give specific detailed protection to the subordinate in the MBO process against superior manipulation or arbitrariness nor recourse to via any appeals procedure. Nor does Drucker complement the obligations set by the MBO process with correspondingly concrete rewards for fulfillment. This basic asymmetry fundamentally flaws the process as does the psychologically unrealistic alternating roles for the judge-turned-subordinate. Reformist critics call for such reformulations as panels of judges, genuine adult-to-adult models for MBO negotiators, and a differential approach to the types of subordinates—high achievers versus low achievers—enlisted in the process. Others advocate the critical need to set hard goals and to enlist commitment—above all else—to the goals by individuals. Yet, we are lost in a fog as to how goal commitments are obtained or why goal setting affects subordinate performance more than Drucker's central inducement of participation. Indeed, according to certain critics, authoritarian MBO is more effective than participative MBO. In conclusion, MBO must stand or fall as a practical management tool, or if it aspires to theoretical validity, strive to co-opt the on-going theoretical research of goal setting theory. As it now stands, it is characterized by inadequate conceptualization of variables and glib generalizations from idiosyncratic laboratory conditions to the multifarious real world of many non-homogeneous industries and professions. In ignoring the raw material of the labor force—how it derives its ideas and attitudes—it utterly fails to account for the variety of that material and its built-in resistances to manipulation. The labor force cannot be regarded as so much homogeneous clay to be molded by any combination of ego psychology or the setting of hard goals in either a pseudo-participative or authoritarian process. MBO must proceed from an analysis of the concrete material conditions through which it must function, MBO must either aspire to the realm of theory or shrink to the level of a hit-or-miss performance appraisal procedure.