To achieve efficiency in administrative work, it is necessary to know what should be done at all times and do it correctly, trying to achieve the greatest results with the minimum expenditure of effort and resources, also achieving staff satisfaction.
Before any administrator or manager there are numerous demands of various kinds that require specific analysis to make the appropriate decisions. This type of situation constitutes the manager's daily task, and it is not always possible to identify, with absolute clarity, what are the priorities that must be established.
The Management by Objectives (DPO) is a concept that since 1995 has been promoting the direction of our Government for its application in the Bodies of the Central State Administration, Territorial Management Bodies and Companies. This approach pursues the purpose of concentrating management efforts in achieving the objectives that have been agreed upon in each of the management instances, rather than in carrying out tasks whose link with the stated objectives is not always clear enough. The DPO is a system that focuses the attention of leaders and workers towards the results to be achieved, rather than towards the efforts, successful or not, made.
The implementation of the DPO in our organizations has required a great effort on the part of managers and, in the case of the OACE and Territories, the university centers have collaborated in the training of the leaders and in advising the entities that participate in this process.
Our personal collaboration, during the last four years, has taken place at MITRANS, MINCEX and MINCULT, in trading companies, as well as in the "Hermanos Ameijeiras" Hospital, among others, and the experience that we expose in the present presentation.
Management by objectives (DPO) or, as it is more popularly known, administration by objectives (APO), is the result of the work of Peter F. Drucker and George S. Odiorne, who popularized them through their works: The Practice of Management, published in 1954, from the first; and Management by objectives - A System of managerial leadership, edited in 1965, from the second.
Of course, objectives are inherent in any management process, since there is no direction without objectives. This is something that emerges from a practice elaborated on the basis of the most elementary common sense, therefore, as Koontz and Weihrich well point out: «There is no person who can be considered as the creator of an administration that emphasizes the objectives."
One thing must be clear: when people do their work, they hope to achieve certain results, but the degree of awareness and precision they have over them covers a wide range. On the other hand, experience also shows us that routine and obsession with occupation often motivate people to carry out tasks that have little or nothing to do with the objectives of the position or the organization. In this sense, management by objectives has been an indisputable help to fix the attention of leaders and subordinates on the need and importance of objectives as an irreplaceable guide to their work.
At first glance, the application of management by objectives might seem simple, since the creation of any organization is preceded by the formulation of the objectives that justify its creation. On the other hand, the intelligent activity of man is always preceded by the determination of the objectives towards which he directs his work, but practice has been in charge of demonstrating that this is not as simple as it seems.
On many occasions, when we ask managers to formulate the objectives that are proposed for the next period, they draw up such a long list of objectives, policies, functions and tasks that it is difficult not to get lost in such an open space, since they do not want that nothing that seems important to you is going to be left out. At other times, they do not find a way to formulate the purposes to be achieved, and everything remains in the vague frame of routine.
Other times, despite having properly formulated the objectives, the priorities between them are not precisely established. This is not so complicated when the first priority is confused with the second or third, but it often happens that the person who must solve a problem devotes his or her attention to questions of a lower order, to the detriment of the main questions that must be cared for. We are facing a situation motivated by the conflict between objectives, that is, "they cannot be simultaneously optimized"
In the search for a procedure that solves this problem, we consider that the prior determination of the Key Result Areas (ARC) constitutes an important aspect, given its guiding power regarding the areas in which objectives can and should be formulated.
As Dra. Esperanza Carballal points out, “Key Result Areas are simply essential areas or categories for effective performance in the institution or company. Achievements within these areas are necessary for your institution or company to successfully carry out its Mission and to meet the expectations generated. ”
ARCs do not cover everything the organization will achieve, but they identify the significant aspects on which the organization's performance depends. "These are areas where performance is vital to the company's situation and long-term survival."
The concept of Key Result Area (ARC) constitutes an element of great importance for establishing priorities in the performance of administrative work.
The ARC must be identified as a previous step to the determination of the objectives. This, while allowing us to target important organizational issues, facilitates the participation of the managers and workers involved in the results that depend on each key result area, since they are the ones who know what is relevant to do in their area and how to achieve it.
However, it is still possible to achieve a higher degree of precision in the formulation of the objectives if we can identify those aspects or elements that are most essential for the highest results to be achieved in each ARC. We are talking about the Critical Success Factors (FCE).
Within any task or activity there are a small number of aspects or elements that, if not specifically taken into account, we can lose all the effort we dedicate to that activity, because the role they play is fundamental to it.
In the consulting process that we carried out at the “Hermanos Ameijeiras” Hospital, we determined the institution's ARCs and then went on to identify the Critical Success Factors (FCE) for each of them.
For example in the ARC: Hospitalization. We asked the participants what are the elements that allow us to rate that a hospitalization has been successful?
After a process of search and analysis among the participants, it was concluded that a hospitalization can be called successful if the following elements concur in an effective way:
- Diagnosis (because if it is not possible to identify your disease or discomfort, it will not be possible to carry out any treatment) Treatment (since the improvement of health and well-being are achieved when it is effective) Worker-patient relationship (because the hospitalized person requires certain attentions and care, so that their mental health is not affected) Criteria for admission (since it is not a matter of entering the hospital if it is not necessary from the point of view of the care that the person needs, since any stay in the hospital has a relatively high cost) Non-medical insurance and processes (includes all the food and material comfort resources required by the person who is hospitalized)
From the identification, first of the ARC, and after the FCE, the formulation of the objectives is facilitated, since these must then point towards those most sensitive elements of the activity (the FCE), which are those that have the greatest impact. so that the result of the ARC's work is effective.
The objectives formulated were:
- Achieve the proper diagnosis and treatment, fulfilling the admission criteria. Perfect the worker-patient relationships according to the principles of Professional Ethics. Improve the conditions that guarantee a good stay in the Hospital and compliance with the processes and routines of the hospital. exercise.
Note how five FCE were identified for that ARC; However, with only three objectives, the most significant elements are pointed out, which are the most important aspects that affect successful hospitalization.
Of course, things don't stop at this point. From these formulations, the control system for the fulfillment of these objectives is then elaborated. The Hospital has implemented a system for evaluating medical records in which, from the analyzes and examinations carried out, it is determined whether or not the applied treatment is adequate, and whether the admission criteria have been respected or not. In this way it is possible to evaluate the first objective.
The remaining two are evaluated through the Hospital's routine inspection system and surveys that are applied to a sample, which ranges between 60 and 80%, of the patients who have entered the same.
We have given an example from the health sector, but in other sectors it is equally applicable. In a consulting work carried out in a company that sells automation equipment, we identified the following FCEs, related to the market for a certain type of service:
- Solution capacity Product quality Rapidity Financing
Based on these FCE, we determined the capacities that the entity should possess, to successfully carry out its tasks. The following were considered necessary:
- Highly qualified and up-to-date staff Wide range of products (Assortment) Quality suppliers (and products) Financial capacity Technical infrastructure
Therefore, the entity's objectives had to be formulated on the basis of these aspects, which allowed them to focus their efforts on the fewest elements that allowed them to obtain the greatest results. It is not a matter of listing a large number of objectives, which may be necessary, but rather, it is about seeking the greatest impact, concentrating efforts on the fewest vital elements.
In this way, the Management by Objectives system is implemented as a management system. In other words, the most important spheres in which it is necessary to act are defined at the outset, by determining the ARCs and, for each of them, the corresponding FCEs. From this analysis, the objectives of each area are formulated, in a participatory way, and the work is carried out. Subsequently, through the control system, compliance with the goals set is verified and the necessary corrective measures are taken to ensure compliance.
When there are no FCEs, the formulation of the objectives is carried out in a general way, not guaranteeing that the objectives set are really the most important. Therefore, a list of objectives is often formulated, which may include the most important elements, but also contains others of lesser significance. The usefulness of determining the FCE is to focus the attention of managers and subordinates on those most significant aspects and avoid dispersion, since it often happens that workers, having to work for different objectives, also establish their own priorities, which many times they do not coincide with those of the heads of the organization, with the consequent dispersion of efforts which results in a decrease in efficiency and effectiveness.
Bibliography:
Karl Albrecht, The Company's Mission. PAIDOS, Spain, 1996.
Esperanza Carballal. What is important?: Establishment of Key Results Areas. CETED s / f
WD Coplin. And others. How to persuade power. Editorial Deusto SA. Bilbao Spain. 1987
William C. Giegold. Management by Objectives. Practical guide applied to success. McGraw-Hill. 1982.
Harold Koontz and Heinz Weihrich. Administration Elements. MONTH editions. s / f
Leon Megginson and others. Administration. Concepts and applications. CECSA. Mexico. 1998.
Martina Menguzzato and Juan José Renau. The strategic direction of the company. An innovative approach to management. Edited by the MONTH. s / f.
Heinz Weihrich. Administrative Excellence. Productivity through management by objectives. Editorial Limusa, Mexico. 1987.
Circular Letter # 29/2000 from the Secretary of the Council of Ministers and its Executive Committee.
MINCULT Strategic Planning until 2003.
MINCEX Strategic Planning until 2003.
MITRANS Strategic Planning until 2005.
