A View On The Concept Of Objective From Two Perspectives: Management And Psychology

The manager’s apprehension of the objectives is mediated by their role and their professional formation. They tend to see the objectives from an organizational point of view, considering them a necessary instrument in order to maintain and to increase the organizational performance. The perception on the concept of Objective in management literature is subjectively deformed by this perspective. In a search for a different perspective, the objective of this article is to analyse and to highlight the differences and the similarities between the perspective on Objectives in the management literature and the perspective on Objectives in the psychology literature. The results of this comparative analysis show that the most important assumptions about Objectives in the management literature are supported by findings in the psychology literature. Useful supplementary ideas for managers emerged from the psychology approach to the subject. The influences of the source of beliefs, the normative pressure and the perceived behavioural control on the objective formulation and acceptance are discussed.