softball and homework.

[katster]

Played softball again tonight. My team lost again, but it was fun. I was able to (sorta) play second and hit (the rules of the league allow for a pinch runner in my condition).

Beth made comment to Patrick G. about hoping somebody continued on the softball tradition. I put in, in my most snotty voice, "Make a first year do it!" She looked back at me and said, "Watch it, Kat, or we'll make you do it." (I am a first year, which is prolly why I find the whole thing so amusing.)

Now working on my project. doing the first assignment here: http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/courses/is208/s03/208-course-outline03.html#MGO

If anybody can explain to me the difference between an organization's mission, its goals, and its objective, I'd appreciate it. From here, they look like three different words for the same thing.

Bed, and up in the morning to finish this.

Comments

[lirazel.livejournal.com]

Well, here's a shot...

(Bearing in mind that people who think and write like this generally have the logical and sometimes cognitive ability of a brine shrimp...)

"Mission" is a very broad, general statement--something you can put on a wall plaque. Like "Help our customers bring better products to market faster, through the proper application of Create, Collaborate, and Control technologies--which we call Product First(tm)." (That's nearly a quote.)

Goals are specific, but still broad, like "Double the number of reference accounts for our latest release by the end of the fiscal year."

And objectives are even more specific: "Realize at least a 37% profit margin on all services sold in conjunction with the new software release for the first two quarters." In this case, a margin of 60% may be standard for older products, and this objective is trying to limit the services discount offered with the new product.

So--"mission", generally but not always is a pile of marketing goo. Goals are real but broad; objectives are real, and more narrow. It should be fairly clear how an objective ties into a goal. The ties between goals and mission generally are less clear.

Personally, I like all three to be clear. I distrust organizations where the mission statement is or can be read as a bunch of empty platitudes. But that's just me; in the mission statement biz, platitudes sell like hotcakes.

[katster.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how Yale meant for any of these things to be two pages. (Yale being my instructor).

Yeah, my mission statements and goals tended to sound a lot alike, but I think of them that way. But yeah, I don't like open platitudes either, so I used the mission statement to explain how this is good, then goals as a point by point of the important things we want to do, and objectives as a point by point of how we achieve the goals. (all broadly, of course)

it still reeks of marketdroidism, but it's what I have to do, and the whole goddamn thing is done now. Now to actually do what I said I would do.

-kat

[lirazel.livejournal.com]

Now to actually do what I said I would do.

And if you do that, you'll be better than most companies, or even many human beings. ^_^

Meanwhile, I go through the days trying not to grab people, shake them, and scream "What do you MEAN?" at the top of my lungs... Most of them, of course, mean nothing, having never been taught to mean anything.

The good news is that sentences with verbs and nouns will be such a shock to your professor that he or she will give you an automatic "A" (may it be so easy)!