personal visions and act on the company’s visions. Effective managers fulfill the
same tasks as others, but in a different way, as Malik has examined in detail:
First Task: Providing Goals
“The first task of effective management is to provide goals” (Malik 2001, p. 174).
According to Malik, it is less crucial whether the goals are assigned or agreed upon.
Leading with goals is one of the most essential duties of management and was
described by Drucker as early as 1955. Yet the “leading by objectives” approach
often fails, the reasons being that no two managers will follow exactly the same
principles, and that defining goals and duties and redefining them to meet all
employees’ needs is highly work-intensive.
Other stumbling blocks managers may encounter consist in having to put all of
their time and effort into their work and neither looking ahead nor being creative.
Beyond that, as Malik laments, employees are often insufficiently informed of the
organization’s principles. In organizations there are many different kinds of goals.
Malik suggests understanding management objectives as leading with individual
wisdom. It is important to first concentrate on the six management principles, then
the goals. The goals should be clear, concise and relate directly to the company.
Effective managers set clear priorities and ensure that no roadblocks arise to derail
their attainment. Drucker makes the point as follows: “Effective executives DO
examine goals and prepare an emergency plan for all projects” (Drucker 1955).
The definition of the goal and the decisions regarding it once went hand in hand;
this is no longer true. The annual review of goals and objectives is the best time to
re-evaluate and streamline goals and objectives that may be outdated. It is effective
in ridding the company of unfinished, labor-intensive tasks and aspects of the
leadership or a management system that may impede employees efficiently com-
pleting a task.
Each goal should be quantifiable and must be examined in regular intervals. The
absolute minimum qualification of the goal is the time restraint or timeline. Also,
the anticipated end product should be defined as clearly as possible: for example,
not only “to increase sales” but to do so by 20% within 12 months. Approached in
this manner, success becomes something the employees and the organization can
grasp. Malik reminds us that a difficult situation may be short term, but the goals
must be able to turn around projects from negative to positive, fuse together disparate
aspects and assist in times of leadership crisis. In addition, short-term goals must
be broken down into smaller sub-goals in order to make them concise and attain-
able. These sub-goals will also be easier to handle, thus thwarting possible chaos.
Apart from a date and specific guidelines for the goal to be achieved, the employee/s
must also be given credit for the accomplishment of the task. Malik reminds us that
the most effective goals are personal goals.
Second Task: Organizing
Effective employees do not wait for someone else to organize or implement a plan;
they do it themselves. “The structuring of the organization and almost all
institutions in society becomes one of the most important topics of all time; it
is a contagious issue with no solutions in the near future” (Malik 2001, p. 191).
2.1 The Craft of Leadership 35