There is a hierarchy of long range planning for a business. To begin the mission of the business is documented. The mission is states the purpose of the business. Then within the context of the mission statement various goals can be developed. A goal is a general statement of activity. Further objectives will be established for the goals. Objectives are measureable outcomes against which performance may be evaluated.
Robbins et al (2012) outline the general steps in setting goals as follows:
“Review the organization’s mission. The mission is the purpose of the organization. The broad statement of what the organization’s purpose is and what it hopes to accomplish provides an overall guide to what organizational members think is important.
Evaluate available resources. Even though goals should be challenging they should be realistic.
Determine the goals individually or with input from others. These goals reflect desired outcomes and should be consistent with the organization’s mission and goals in other organizational areas.
Write down the goals and communicate them to all who need to know.
Review results and whether goals are being met. If goals are not being met, make changes to the goals as needed, and in some cases make changes to the plan based on the new information at hand.” (Robbins et al, 2012, pp. 192-193)