The success of an organization largely depends on proper planning. Maximum profit and high profitability in the long term are always the general goal. What is the role of the goal tree in planning?

What is objective tree

Management objectives are presented in large quantities and diversity, so every enterprise needs a comprehensive, systematic approach to the choice of their composition. The process of setting goals is called goal setting.

The objective tree of the organization is:

structured list, diagram of organizational goals;
hierarchy of multi-level goals;
a model that allows you to organize and combine goals into a single complex.

The product of using this method strategic planning there should be a logical and simple scheme for enterprise management. The goal tree makes it possible to justify the general goal and makes subgoals more achievable.

The system of goals is determined by the organizational structure. Huge structure, big number departments and work lines will require the development of a complex “branching” tree with many decomposition levels.

Vertex

The tree is filled from top to bottom, from central goals to secondary tasks. At the “top” (“root”) there is a general goal, the achievement of which is not an easy task. This means that it is necessary to decompose it into smaller elements, “goal-branches”, that is, to carry out decomposition. This is how a plan of movement towards the main goal arises.

All subsequent levels are formed in such a way as to contribute to the achievement of the previous one.

Goal directions

Target	Content
Economic	Maximizing profits from sales of products or services in the required quality and volume
Scientific and technical	Maintaining products and services at a given scientific and technical level, R&D, increasing labor productivity through the introduction of know-how
Production	Fulfillment of the product release plan. Maintaining rhythm and quality of production
Social	Improvement, development and replenishment of human resources

Branches and leaves

Branches - subgoals extending from the top are again subject to decomposition. “Sprouts on the branches” represent the next level of goals. The process is repeated at each level until the goals are simplified. Simplicity is achievability, understandability and consistency.

All “branches” describe the result that expresses a specific indicator. The goals of one parallel are independent of each other.

A tree of enterprise goals is created based on 3 important elements any purpose.

"Leaves" is specific activities to achieve the goal. The characteristics and indicators indicated on the “leaves” help you choose the best option:

deadline;
the likelihood of achieving the goal by the planned date;
cost indicators;
the amount of resources consumed.

Tree elements in the same group are connected to each other through logical “AND” (denoted “∧”). Alternative groups interact through “OR” (“∨”).

Tree of organizational goals. Example

Let's consider simple diagram goals to maximize profits while increasing results and reducing costs.

To get closer to the general goal (high profitability and maximum profits), three areas need to be worked on. Enter the resulting options into the tree of the organization’s goals. The example is presented in table form.

Apple Strategy and Goals

Why is Apple's strategy a winning one?

The company's field of activity is information and radically new products for working with it. The priority is the process of creating content and consuming it.

For example, Apple paid attention to cultural aspects. The music consumption model has been improved. iPod makes it easier to listen to music on digital media and browse the Internet.

The line of iPod, iPhone and iPad corrects the shortcomings and improves the basic ways to create and use information. This model, used for laptops, desktop computers, and television, will allow the Apple corporation to further increase its income.

The decade resulted in three universal inventions and business platforms. They are not an end in themselves, but a means to achieve the goal: gaining access to the main methods of information consumption.

It is natural that Apple's general strategy is to develop its existing product line.

Building a tree of organizational goals using the example of Apple

The main goal of any business is to expand market boundaries and win an endless number of customers. Apple is no exception and prioritizes improving its product line in the interests of the consumer.

Consider a company's goal tree for a product such as the iPhone, whose value is reflected in the motto “Simple. Comfortable. Aesthetically." The main goal of the tree will be to improve the iPhone, taking into account the interests of potential users.

The main competitive and consumer-relevant factors in this market are:

product cost;
variety of functions and energy-intensive battery;
brand popularity;
technologies for connoisseurs;
design and size;
range (was abolished by Apple).

The goal tree will help answer the question: “What to do?” For example, to reduce cost, the interface needs to be simplified.

What industry factors need to be created? What properties should I improve? These are memory volumes, design, games and entertainment. What to focus on: the functional component or the emotional one?

Table with iPhone subgoals at three levels

Goal tree Apple presented in a simplified version in the form of a table.

Improving iPhone with consumers in mind
First level goals
1. Eliminate the range and popularity of the brand	2. Simplify the interface	3. Increased attractiveness for consumers	4. Improved ergonomics
Second level goals
	2.1. Simplify manufacturability	3.1. Creating a new design	4.1. Special owner status
		3.2. Increasing memory capacity	4.2. Last mile solution
		3.3. Enhancing the entertainment aspect	4.3. Reduce size

To solve the “last mile” the following tasks were identified:

Use touch screen and make sure there are no buttons.
Create additional options.
Enlarge screen.

The next step is to fill out the “leaves” or activities to achieve the subgoals. To do this, specific deadlines for completing tasks, the required volume, resources, cost and significant quantitative indicators must be indicated.

The last step is to depict the goals in the form of a tree with branches.

Task tree. Example

Tasks are called subgoals. They do not need decomposition and “end-means” links. The goal tree includes goals of the highest and lowest levels.

Objectives are the basis for creating a program to achieve a specific goal at the grassroots level. Solving a problem is a set of actions.

The goal tree, as an option, may contain the following tasks.

Thus, the tree of goals becomes an ordering tool for creating a company development program. Examples confirm the principle of its formation “completeness of reduction”: goals are “split” into subgoals until the original goal becomes clear and achievable.

An example of goal-oriented control is control based on a tree-like open graph that has no cycles, i.e. closed goals. In practice, graphs called “goal trees” are used.

The goal tree is graphic image connections between goals and means of achieving them, built on the principle of deductive logic and using heuristic procedures.

The goal tree helps to present a complete picture of the interrelations of future events, up to obtaining a list of specific tasks and obtain information about their importance. It ensures the work of bringing goals to the immediate executors by building a correspondence between the organizational management structure and the structure of goals.

The idea of a “goal tree” was first proposed by C. West Churchman in connection with decision-making problems in industry and is based on obtaining hierarchical structures by sequentially dividing an overall goal into subgoals, subgoals into functions, and functions into more detailed functions.

The procedure for forming a tree of goals is largely an approximate process and little formalized due to the difficulties of identifying goals.

The tree of organizational goals contains both a description of the goals and the relationships between them. Within the framework of this model, hierarchical “goal-means” relationships are established between its elements, suggesting that the achievement of each lower goal becomes one of the means to achieve the higher one.

The rules for constructing a goal tree are very simple: the main objective must be the top of the tree. Branches become local goals that help achieve top-level goals. The main rule is the completeness of the described goals. Each goal should be presented in the form of subgoals of the next level (Fig. 2).

Rice. 2.

Thus, the unification of all goals should fully characterize the main, general goal.

The basis for constructing the top of the goal tree is a set of strategic goals defined within the framework of the organization's strategy. Strategically significant should be recognized not only those goals that determine the direction strategic development, but also long-term goals related to maintaining the functioning of the management system and subsystems related to production and supply.

Achievement of strategic goals is ensured by the achievement of both operational (regular, permanently achieved) goals and project (unique in content) goals.

Goals must be carefully classified and appropriately structured within the framework of diagrams, diagrams - in such a way that they become presentable and as understandable as possible for their reader.

The type of goal tree depends on how complex and multi-level the process of implementing the plans will be. Targets can be trajectory or point. Trajectory, or, as they are also called, guides, determine general direction, in which the state of the managed object should change. For example, the goal of “increasing the profit of the enterprise” is only the direction in which the organization seeks to change the profit received by the enterprise. At the same time, targeted goals are formulated as the desire to achieve a very specific result (for example, to ensure the enterprise’s profit in this year in the amount of 7.5 million rubles).

There may be goals at different hierarchical levels. If the goal of the 0th level is considered a general goal, for example, “ensuring the production of competitive products,” then the goals of the 1st level can be “restructuring production,” “introducing a new technological line,” “improving the qualifications of specialists,” “changing the material system.” employee incentives" etc.

The main value of constructing a tree of goals is to display the way to achieve the general goal by justifying a hierarchical list of understandable and achievable goals of lower levels.

The meaning of a person’s existence is determined by the achievement of his life goals. The same can be said about the existence of any organization, be it commercial, public, charitable or government. Any enterprise, association or individual entrepreneur pursues its own goals, which are the reasons for their existence and functioning. Let's consider different types goals and build a tree of goals using the example of an organization.

Mission and purpose

Any enterprise has its own mission - the main task that justifies its entire existence. For a charity company, this is, for example, helping cancer patients. For a commercial company - obtaining maximum profit. For social – achieving a socially significant task, for example, adaptation of disabled children in modern society.
Achieving the mission is divided into several components - “steps”, goals, the overcoming of which allows you to get as close as possible to solving the main task.

Types of goals

Every organization has several desires and aspirations that it would like to fulfill in the near future. Such goals can be short-term, medium-term and long-term. Typically, short-term tasks are solved in a year, medium-term ones - over a period of one to five years, and long-term ones are set for a period of at least five years.

How are goals set?

Goals for the organization as a whole and for its individual divisions can be set by the center, or locally, by department heads (centralized and decentralized). This depends on the management system adopted at the enterprise.

Also, with a decentralized method of setting goals, events can develop in two ways: top-down and bottom-up. In the first method, the center sets large goals, and local managers, in order to solve them, develop their own, smaller goals and set them for the staff. In the second method, goals are initially set in departments, and based on them, management determines the main objectives of the company and the path of its development.

All goals are set based on an analysis of the impact of internal and external environment to the enterprise, based on the main mission of the company. Only then are specific and individual tasks determined.

Tree of goals using the example of an organization

The model of organizational goals is very convenient to represent in graphical display tree view. This allows you to organize the hierarchy of goals. There are certain principles for constructing this graph.

At the top of the tree is the overall goal (mission) of the company. Next, it is divided into separate subtasks, without which the main mission is unattainable. At the same time, when formulating a task, you need to describe the desired result, but in no case the method of achieving it. At the same level there should be goals that are independent of each other and do not stem from each other.

Of course, the set of goals of each organization is purely individual. But, nevertheless, we can highlight several areas of its activity in which each company has an important interest.

Income and finance.
Sales Policy.
Personnel Policy.
Production.

The number of levels into which the organization's main mission is divided will depend on the size of the company and the complexity of the mission, as well as on organizational structure and hierarchy in management.

Examples of specific company goals

Let's look at some examples of organizational goals in various fields her activities.

Marketing

Market promotion.
Expansion of the product range.

Production

Cost reduction.
Improving production efficiency.
Improving product competitiveness.
Development and implementation of new technologies.

Staff

Training.
Optimization of enterprise personnel.
Incentive system.
Increased labor productivity.

Finance

Effective financial management of the company.
Improved solvency and profitability.
Increasing investment attractiveness.

For the organization has great value competent goal setting. This is the starting point for planning all its activities; the tree of goals underlies the building of relationships within the company and the motivation system. Only by achieving the set goals can one monitor and evaluate the results of the work of personnel, individual divisions of the organization and its entire structure as a whole.

The meaning of a person’s existence is determined by the achievement of his life goals. The same can be said about the existence of any organization, be it commercial, public, charitable or government. Any enterprise, association or individual entrepreneur pursues its own goals, which are the reasons for their existence and functioning. Let's look at different types of goals and build a tree of goals using an organization as an example.

Mission and purpose

Achieving the mission is divided into several components - “steps”, goals, the overcoming of which allows you to get as close as possible to solving the main task.

Types of goals

How are goals set?

All goals are set based on an analysis of the impact of the internal and external environment on the enterprise, based on the main mission of the company. Only then are specific and individual tasks determined.

Tree of goals using the example of an organization

It is very convenient to represent the model of the organization's goals in a graphical representation in the form of a tree. This allows you to organize the hierarchy of goals. There are certain principles for constructing this graph.

Of course, the set of goals of each organization is purely individual. But, nevertheless, we can highlight several areas of its activity in which each company has an important interest.

Income and Finance;
Sales Policy;
Personnel Policy;
Production.

The number of levels into which the organization's main mission is divided will depend on the size of the company and the complexity of the mission, as well as on the organizational structure and hierarchy in management.

Examples of specific company goals

Let's look at some examples of the organization's goals in various areas of its activities.

Marketing

Market promotion;
Expansion of the product range.

Production

Cost reduction;
Increasing production efficiency;
Improving the competitiveness of products;
Development and implementation of new technologies.

Staff

Training;
Optimization of enterprise personnel;
Incentive system;
Increased labor productivity.

Finance

Effective financial management of the company;
Improving solvency and profitability;
Increasing investment attractiveness.

Competent goal setting is of great importance for an organization. This is the starting point for planning all its activities; the tree of goals underlies the building of relationships within the company and the motivation system. Only by achieving the set goals can one monitor and evaluate the results of the work of personnel, individual divisions of the organization and its entire structure as a whole.

The essence of the “goal tree” method

strategic planning investment management

A goal tree is a graphical diagram that shows the breakdown of overall goals into subgoals. The vertices of the diagram are interpreted as goals, edges or arcs are interpreted as connections between goals. The goal tree method is the main one universal method system analysis. The goal tree links the highest level goals with by specific means their achievements at the lowest production level through a number of intermediate links. This method allows a person to put things in order own plans(personal or professional), see your goals in the group.

The concept of a “goal tree” was first proposed by C. Churchman and R. Ackoff in 1957 and is an organizing tool (similar to organizational chart company), used to form elements of the general target development program of the company (main or general goals) and correlation with specific goals of various levels and areas of activity. The novelty of the method proposed by C. Churchman and R. Ackoff was that they attempted to assign quantitative weights and coefficients to various functional subsystems in order to identify which of the possible combinations provide the best return. The term "tree" suggests the use of a hierarchical structure obtained by dividing the overall goal into subgoals. When constructing a tree of goals, one should take into account the patterns of goal formation and use the principles of forming hierarchical structures. The goal tree is built in stages, from top to bottom, by sequentially moving from more high level to a lower, adjacent level. The goal tree is based on the coordination of goals among themselves. The specification of goals from top to bottom should increase: the higher the level, the better the goal is formulated.

For cases when the tree order is not strictly maintained throughout the entire structure, V.I. Glushkov introduced the concept of a “forecast graph”.

The goal tree method is aimed at obtaining a relatively stable structure of goals, problems, and directions. To achieve this, when constructing the initial version of the structure, one should take into account the patterns of goal setting and use the principles of the formation of hierarchical structures. Widely used for forecasting possible directions development of science, technology, technology. The so-called tree of goals closely links long-term goals and specific tasks at each level of the hierarchy. In this case, a higher-order goal corresponds to the top of the tree, and below, in several tiers, local goals (tasks) are located, with the help of which the achievement of the top-level goals is ensured. The principle of dividing the overall goal into subgoals and tasks is illustrated by the diagram presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1 - Breaking down the overall goal into subgoals and tasks

A higher-order goal (general, main goal) corresponds to the top of the tree; local goals (tasks) are located in the branches of the tree, which ensure the achievement of the top-level goals. The main requirement for a goal tree is the absence of cycles. The presentation of goals begins at the top level, then they are specified. The basic rule for disaggregating goals is completeness - each goal of the top level must be presented in the form of subgoals of the next level in such a way that the combination of the concepts of subgoals completely defines the concept of the original goal.

The assessment of the relative importance of goals and the significance of the connections between them is carried out with the help of experts, and evaluation matrices are usually used to consistently determine the significance of goals and objectives at various levels. The assessment of the coefficients of relationships using these matrices is carried out, for example, as follows: 10 points evaluate the influence of one factor on another, without which it is impossible to solve the problem. The influence without which the solution to the problem will be strong, medium and respectively is estimated at 9.8 and 7 points. weak degree difficult. Scores of 6.5 and 4 points are assigned in cases where the influence of one factor can, to one degree or another (strong, medium, weak), accelerate the development of another factor or the solution of a problem. The minimum level of influence of one factor on another is assessed as 1 point.

Thus, the process of constructing a “goal tree” is divided into the following stages:

1) script development;
2) goal formulation;
3) generation of subgoals;
4) clarifying the formulation of subgoals (checking the independence of the subgoal);
5) assessment of the significance of subgoals;
6) checking goals for feasibility;
7) checking the elementaryness of subgoals;
8) building a tree of goals.

When building a “goal tree”, you must be guided by the following rules:

- each formulated goal must have the means and resources to achieve it;
- when decomposing goals, the condition of completeness of reduction must be met, i.e. the number of subgoals of each goal should be sufficient to achieve it;
- decomposition of each goal into subgoals is carried out according to one selected classification criterion;
- the development of individual tree branches may end at different levels systems;
- the vertices of the overlying level of the system represent targets for the vertices of the underlying levels;
- the development of the “tree of goals” continues until the person solving the problem, will not have at his disposal all the means to achieve a higher goal.