Goal Analysis: How to Clarify Your Goals So You Can Actually Achieve Them [Paperback]

Robert F. Mager (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1997

To achieve useful goals, those goals must be translated into specific, observable, desired performances. The new and completely revised Third Edition of Goal Analysis gives you a concise, simple, step-by-step process for doing so. It shows you how to: Discover the meaning of vaguely stated goals, decide what steps are appropriate for achieving those goals, and recognize and demonstrate achievement of your goals. This revised Third Edition includes four new chapters, over 50 practice exercises to sharpen your skills, a dozen diagrams and graphs to help you understand the process and a new index for easy reference. You'll find this technique so useful that you'll use it not only with colleagues, managers and students, but with friends and family as well.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Dealing with abstract goals is a regular part of our jobs as education and training professionals. Goal Analysis will help you describe the meaning of abstract goals so that you can decide how to go about pursuing them and, more importantly, so you'll know when you have successfully achieved them.

From the Author

If your goals are important to you, then it's essential that you do more than just talk about them in "fuzzy" terms. This is just as true for organizational and community goals as it is for personal and family goals. The goal analysis procedure described in this book will help you determine the important dimensions or components of the goals you are trying to achieve. This in turn will help you make good decisions about how to accomplish your goals and how to keep track of your progress toward goal accomplishment. It's a procedure that anyone will find useful, from techies to homemakers, from students to managers.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 159 pages
• Publisher: CEP Press; 3 edition (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1879618044
• ISBN-13: 978-1879618046
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #239,910 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Helpful and Practical, January 9, 2007

By 

Bradley J. Brisco "Brad Brisco" (Kansas City, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Goal Analysis: How to Clarify Your Goals So You Can Actually Achieve Them (Paperback)

Goal setting is a normal part of everyday life. In many vocational settings employees must be concerned with performance measures such as productivity output, customer satisfaction, sales levels and safety standards. Many individuals set personal goals, especially this time of the year, in the areas of education, health issues, and other life-style habits. However, just because a goal or objective has been established does not guarantee the goal will be achieved. In many instances the failure of achieving a goal is directly related to the lack of clarity or definition of both the goal and the performance needed to accomplish the goal. In Goal Analysis, Robert Mager provides a very helpful, concise, step by step plan for making clear, measurable goals that can be achieved in any area of life.

The major strength of the book lies in its simplicity in both language and process. Mager provides a five step process of goal analysis. Step one begins the process by simply writing down the goal in outcome terms. The author's instruction to use whatever words that are comfortable, regardless of how fuzzy or vague they may be is very helpful. I agree that this is the best way to begin the process. Stating goals in words or statements that make you feel good will encourage you to continue the process. In addition, when working with others in a goal analysis people can almost always agree with each other on the importance of vaguely stated goals or intentions.

Step two, which I believe is the most beneficial of the five steps, involves writing down the performances that would cause you to agree that the goal had been achieved, without regard for duplication or "fuzziness." It is within the discussion of this step that the author provides helpful strategies for describing the meaning of the goal. Effective questions include: "What will I take as evidence that my goal has been achieved?" "Given a room full of people, what is the basis on which I would separate them into two piles - those who had achieved my goal and those who had not?" "How will the person know a goal achiever when he or she sees one?" Each of these questions helps to focus needed attention on how to recognize that a goal has been accomplished.

Step three involves sorting out the list created in step two by deleting duplications and eliminating those that on second thought are unwanted. This step is an obvious, yet very necessary part of the process.
Taking the goals that have been loosely stated thus far and writing them in complete sentences is the focus of step four. These statements should now tell what is expected to be done, and they should also describe how well people are expected to do them. With these complete sentences in hand, it should be possible for a manager or supervisor to determine who has the skills to perform each of the items listed and to decide what action to take in those instances where the skill to perform properly is lacking.

The final step involves testing the sentences for completeness. This step is accomplished by looking at the collection of sentences and asking, "If all these things occurred as described, would I be willing to say that the goal had been achieved?" If the answer is "yes" then the analysis is finished and you are ready to decide what you need to do to make sure those performances occur as desired. If the answer is "no" then you need to decide what else would have to happen before you could agree that the goal had been achieved.

With each of the five steps mention above, Mager offers numerous examples of what each step might look like in various settings. The examples bring clarity to each step and provide the reader ample opportunities to completely understand the author's intentions. Additionally, Mager includes helpful exercises throughout the book for the reader to "practice" different aspects of goal analysis. Finally, at the end of the book he also gives the reader an opportunity to "test" how well the material has been comprehended. I found this to be a very effective way of summarizing the material.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beware of the "Fuzzies", June 26, 2000

By 

Ken Myers (Naperville, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Goal Analysis: How to Clarify Your Goals So You Can Actually Achieve Them (Paperback)

A journey of a thousand mile begins with a single step. Certainly this is true. However, a journey can only have length when you know where you are going and when you have arrived. Setting goals is the subject addressed by Dr. Mager in this book. In fact, the book is about setting attainable goals. People can make lofty statements that sound very much like goals - statements that impress but are often impossible to measure. Instruction may be one of several areas to consider when trying to achieve a measurable goal. Dr. Mager provides a prescription for identifying measurable goals and considering all the factors that influence the attainment of a goal. He also provides a set of strategies for finalizing attainable goals. If you suffer from the "fuzzies" and are unsure if your training is achieving results, this is the book to guide you to valid and effective goal-oriented solutions.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Want to learn how to do a Goal Analysis? Read this book!, February 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Goal Analysis: How to Clarify Your Goals So You Can Actually Achieve Them (Paperback)

What? No one has done a review on this classic!

Wow, a book that you can actually apply. So many theory related books out there deny us of what we really need to know - The how to part.

Of course, Robert Mager is a legend in this field and this book lends credence to his knowledge, expertise and years of experience.

This book will walk you through the steps of how to identify a fuzzy, make it a goal and then apply the techniques to demonstrate achievement.

This book covers the five critical steps for conducting a Goal Analysis in complete detail with plenty of examples and exercises.

Even if you are not in this field, you could read this book and apply it to your own life so you can change from a wandering generality to a meaningful specific!