GOALS IN THE 



DECISIONMAKING 



PROCESS 



A goal is some special set of conditions, a 

 state of being, an end, or an object to be 

 achieved sometime in the future or main- 

 tained over a given period of time. Goals are a 

 prerequisite for decisions and serve decision- 

 makers as targets, inspirations, performance 

 standards, and guides to selecting data and 

 personnel. Very often goals appear to be tra- 

 ditional, but they are the result of and evolve 

 from change (Vaux 1968). 



Choice, or decisionmaking, aims at fulfill- 

 ing goals. Rational choice invariably requires 

 selecting from alternative allocations of scarce 

 resources those that maximize the attainment 

 of a predetermined goal (or minimize the cost 

 or pain associated with some specified level of 

 its attainment). These scarce resources may be 

 as concrete as the dollars spent to build a rec- 

 reation campground, or as intangible as the 

 quality of the view seen from a 747 jet flying 

 over a western forest. 



Although decisionmaking may involve a re- 

 vision of goals, the process of rational choice 

 is the same, whatever the goal. Thus, Baumol 

 (1967, p. 46, 47) states, 



People's objectives are whatever they are. Ir- 

 rationality surely must be defined to consist in 

 decision patterns that make it more difficult to 

 attain one's own ends, and not in choosing ends 

 that for some reason are considered to be 

 wrong. Unless we are prepared to determine 

 other people's values, or unless they pursue in- 

 compatible goals, we must class behavior as ra-. 

 tional if it efficiently pursues whatever goals 

 happen to have been chosen. 



Goal setting is a continual and continuing 

 process. Some long established goals may have 

 remained unchanged for years. But more of- 

 ten than not, even these will be altered and 

 adapted through interpretation and applica- 



tion. These changes come about through the 

 steps a decisionmaker takes in arriving at the 

 optimum or correct choice among al- 

 ternatives: 



• First, the problem must be clearly identi- 

 fied and all of the issues properly defined. Un- 

 less a problem is understood, it cannot be 

 solved. 



• Second, the objectives or goals that are to 

 be served must be identified specifically. Of- 

 ten, these are extremely vague. Goals may be 

 single or multiple, simple or complex. 



• Third, once the problem and the goals to 

 be served are clearly identified, alternative 

 courses of action must be set forth and ana-_ 

 lyzed. Rarely is there only one way to deal 

 with a given problem. The probable conse- 

 quences of each of a number of possible alter- 

 natives must be estimated. 



• Fourth, the alternatives must be ap- 

 praised and the decision made. The choice of 

 any one alternative or combination of alter- 

 natives rests on the evaluation of probable, 

 consequences. This step may, and perhaps 

 should, include a reevaluation of the goals 

 themselves. 



This study is primarily concerned with the 

 second step in the process of decision- 

 making — identification of the goal; and with 

 the development of a decision model based on 

 that goal. 



Considerations in 

 Goal Setting 



In the process of defining goals, certain 

 basic principles must be kept in mind. A few 

 of these are particularly relevant here. 



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