SMART goals: Effective goal achievement in project management

Summary

Considering the obstacles an effective goal setting can encounter such as lacking organisational capabilities or resistance to change, e.g due to individual anxiety, creating and implementing appropriate goals seem to be challenging. However, in a dynamic company environment establishing effective goals followed by developed action plans is of great importance in any project management process. Initially created by George T. Doran in the Management Review(1981), the SMART goals can be classified as an effective goal setting technique. The acronym SMART stands for: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time bound.

Being in line with the purpose perspective of projects, this goal setting method is not only applicable in professional projects, but also in any project of private nature. Using this tool allows to generate success substantially related to its original efforts, which is of high value for any project manager. Due to the SMART goals' great scope in diverse industrial areas, a deep investigation of the SMART traits and simultaneously a critical reflection of its potential limitations will be conducted as follows.

Application

Project management phases: Planning, performance measurement

Limitations

Bias, human resistance