Goal Attainment & Social Responsibility - Essay Example

Goal Attainment and Social Responsibility Critique A goal can simply be defined as projected results that an individual, an organization or a system intends to achieve (King, 2001). In most cases people sets goals and also a timeframe within which they should be achieved. Goal setting refers to the process of establishing specific objectives that needs to be met within a given time. For a goal to be effective it must be realistic and measurable. Realistic plans to achieve the goal will also need to be formulated with various checkpoints in order to understand the adjustments and amendments that may be required in the process to streamline all the activities towards the targeted results (Tracy, 2004). Many people assume that they know how to set goals for a better life. However, very few people understand the importance of setting goals and put it in practice. It is only about 20 percent of people who set effective goals and pursue them. This group mostly involves those people who are involved in business or other entrepreneurial activities that promotes goal setting. More worse is that, though these people set small and easily attainable goals only about 30 percent of them do achieve their goals. This makes one wonder how anyone can achieve anything remarkable in business or in life. Goals can be categorized as ‘be’ goals or ‘do’ goals. ‘Be’ goals are about what one wants to be while ‘do’ goals are about what one wants to do. In each category there are four areas of goals: wealth, health, relationship and self-fulfillment. Any goal will fall into one of these categories. When business professionals set goals, they are either wealth or relationship goals. Achievement however will involve the four areas there should be a balance in the four areas. In order to be successful in life one needs to have both ‘be’ and ‘do’ goals. However, when setting any goal it is advisable for one to identify the traps to avoid as he will be pursuing the goal. There are a number of reasons that hinder people from achieving their goals as they will be discussed in this essay (Tracy, 2004) Some people fail to achieve their goals because of fear of failure or even fear of success. Those who fear to fail feel that if they set goals and then fail to achieve people will think negatively about them. This makes them to fear to take even the first action towards the goal. Some also fear that if they succeed people will be jealous and think negatively about them. So this creates lose-lose situation, no matter how much effort they put. Achieving the goal has a negative result and failing to achieve also is accompanied by a negative consequence. It is good however to realize that one can achieve anything that he sets his mind to. The only thing needed is for one to believe in himself and his abilities (King, 2001). The other problem is that some people do not understand the goal setting process. They think that setting a goal simply means putting it on a paper, setting the date by which it should be achieved and then starting to pursue it. However, a goal is not a one time thing that you will simply erase from the list after sometime. A goal should be long-term target that is supposed to show the world what you want to become and what you want to achieve. Other people know how to set goals but they lack commitment. They set goals but because of lack of commitment they do not put in the effort required. As in anything in life, lack of commitment brings about mediocre results. Commitment is vital for achievement of a goal. After setting the goals, the dates and checkpoint some people just stop there, they do not take that first step needed towards their goals. Failing to start means going no where since nothing will be achieved if nothing is done. So when one is having a list of goals and none of them has been met it is good to evaluate what actions have been made towards achieving the goals (Tracy, 2004). Some people believe they can not start on a goal until they have all their ‘what if’ questions answered. Unfortunately, no matter how long one takes to prepare, it will never be possible to have all these questions answered. So, waiting to get all those answers means one will never get started. Others try to answer their questions basing on where they are right now rather than where they want to be or what they want to become. Decisions and questions are supposed to be based on where one wants to go and what one wants to become in King’s (2001) view. uation continues to change in relation to the decisions made and actions taken. It is also good for one to have a clear destination of what he wants to achieve or become before setting goals. Knowing the destination makes one know the road to take. It is good to have the desired results in mind in a way that one can visualize it and can also clearly explain to others. If not so, one will keep on changing the course of actions and so he will not be effective. After having a clear destination in mind it is also good to plan how to reach it. Failing to plan will make one to neglect the talents he has and also the people who can help him. Planning means we bring all the talents and experiences that we have on the table and the people we know can be of help to us. We organize all these in away that they will lead to desired results. Some people have too many goals and so they end up loosing focus. It is like standing before a dartboard with three targets in mind. Hitting one target is difficult enough, hitting three targets simultaneously is totally impossible. It is good to have only one goal at a time. Set your focus on one goal that has the highest rate of return and after achieving it one can pursue the others one by one in a sequence. Arrange your goals according to urgency and how they are related. May be if one goal is achieved first it will make it easy to achieve another one. Another reason why people fail to achieve their goals is feeling that they are not worthy of the results that are to be achieved. In this case a person ends up sabotaging his/.her own goals by either failing to do a crucial activity that can help them achieve their goal or walk away from a person who would help them. These people lack self confidence, without which one cannot achieve anything (King, 2001). Many people get satisfied with what they have and where they are. This means they don’t bother to explore the opportunities around and they do not put effort to achieve more. According to research there are only two things that cause motivation: pain and pleasure. These two factors can either make you desire to remain where you are or to achieve more. Change and goal attainment only comes in when one wants to move out of the current status or to achieve more. Social responsibility as defined by International Organization for Standardization can support or sabotage the achievement of goals. Some people just think of themselves: they try to achieve their goals at the expense of others. They will behave in unethical manner if that will make them achieve their goals. This may end up hindering an organization or an individual achievement of goals. Such people will even make a person lose his job so that they can be promoted, they will kill a business of another person to make their business have more customers. If everyone had a feeling of social responsibility then it would be possible for each person to achieve according to his effort and commitment (Ritzer, 2001). Also due to lack of social responsibility rampant corruption in organizations has been a threat to both organization and individual goals. Those who have money have continued to have more while those who do not continue in poverty. This is because many people use their money to succeed at the expense of those who do not have. Others will offer products that are harmful to other people’s health so long as that will help them achieve their goals. When people have a feeling of social responsibility they will feel the need to assist others. They will also respect other people’s goals as well as organization goals. Also an organization that takes into consideration its social responsibility will care about its surrounding environment, its customers, and also its employees. It will not fail to promote employees with an aim of making more profits. It will also not dispose wastes products carelessly without considering the effect of that on the surrounding population. This will make people achieve their health goals easily according to Talcott (1970). On the other hand social responsibility if overemphasized can hinder achievement of goals. This is because if a person is too much concerned about others he may loose focus of his own goals. It is good to understand that a person can not be able to please all people. So in this case the first priority should be given to individual goals and not other people’s goals. Otherwise one may live to help others achieve their goals when he never achieves his. Social responsibility also when overemphasized can also make one feel that it is responsibility of other people to assist him achieve his goals. This is not true however, every person has his goals to achieve and very few cares about what the other person wants to achieve. In this case, one should take full responsibility to achieve his goals. He should have a feeling that he is the only one who is concerned about his destination (Wright, 1967). Goal attainment is not supposed to be an elusive target. It is possible to achieve any goal you set in life and reach new levels of personal and professional success. One will just need to avoid the mistakes discussed above and balance his goals in the four categories mentioned. It is also necessary to have goals in each activity that one chooses to engage in. This will make him not waste a lot of time and energy in irrelevant activities (Wright, 1967). References King, I.M, (2001), Theory of goal attainment, Philadelphia, Davis. Ritzer G, (2001), Handbook of Social Theory, London: SAGE Publications Ltd. Talcott P, (1970). The Social System. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd. Tracy B, (2004), Goals: How to get everything you want, New York, Berrett Koehler. Wright.C, (1967), The Sociological Imagination, (2nd Ed), New York, Oxford University Press.   Read More