What Do You Know About Management And Organizational Goals?

Managers in all types of organizations are expected to apply management func¬
tions and techniques to achieve their organizations' goals. But the specific ac¬tions and responsibilities of managers can differ from organization to organiza¬
tion, depending on the goals of each organization. Because their main goal is profit, the managers of for-profit organizations find that they must pay close attention to the needs and wants of their customers if they wish to make money. Customers are the people and organizations who purchase an organization's products, and if managers don't serve their customers, they cannot achieve their goals.

Even organizations in the public sector have customers in the sense that individuals and other organizations benefit from the services these organizations provide. These public sector customers are called constituents, and their needs and wants are as important to public sector managers as the needs of customers are to private sector managers.
Public sector managers sometimes find managing more difficult than private sector managers because their organizational goals are more ambiguous, often debatable, and sometimes conflicting. For example, public sector managers are expected to operate efficiently, yet they are subject to public scrutiny and to laws and regulations that may dictate how certain situations must he handled. For instance, the U.S. Postal Service must serve all the citizens of the United States, even customers who live in isolated, hard-to-reach locations. Also, public sector managers often have difficulty gauging how well they are achieving their goals because some goals, such as public safety or better living standards, are not easily measured. Nonetheless, these managers are responsible for helping their organizations and employees understand.