An example of a tree of goals and the principle of its construction

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Any example of a tree of goals demonstrates its construction according to the method of deductive logic using a heuristic procedure. It is represented by a graphic representation of the relationship between goals and the means needed to achieve them.

This tree will allow you to see the full picture of the interaction of some events in the near future before the formation of a list of tasks with information about their importance. It helps to ensure that goals are communicated to the executors by matching the organizational structure and the list of tasks.

Target tree properties

The goal tree example demonstrates the presence of the following properties:

1. Subordination, which is due to a certain construction of production hierarchies in terms of importance and time. At the same time, the tasks of such production units are determined by the direction of the organization's activities, short-term - long-term, and tactical - strategic.
2. Deployability consists in dividing each goal of a particular level into sub-goals of the lower level. An example of this type of goal tree is −deploying the tasks of an industrial enterprise to workshop goals and below for the following structural divisions of a given business entity.
3. Relationship in the importance of tasks, which consists in their difference at the same level in order to achieve their analogue of the highest level. This property allows you to rank tasks in terms of importance with a quantitative definition of relative importance using the appropriate coefficient.

Building a goal tree

An example of a tree of goals shows the construction, the first stage of which is the formation of the main goal. Each separate goal of the highest level can be represented in the form of an independent system, including subgoals as its elements. In this case, a complete picture of the tasks of the lower level should be established, which, in turn, can be divided into analogues of another lower level.

As a sign of the completion of the construction of a tree of goals, an example of which may have a final formulation showing the impossibility of their further division, the possibility of obtaining the final result can be considered.

Methods of forming a goal tree are used in the development of certain programs aimed at solving problems with a hierarchical structure.

Organization goals tree: example

The main objective of a business entity is to increase profits. Based on simple logic, we note that profit growth can beachieved in two ways: by increasing revenues or by reducing costs. With these two strategies in mind, let's say that the goal tree might look like this:

- increase the profit of the enterprise;

- revenue growth;

- cost reduction.

This example of a goal tree should use specific methods to increase revenues and reduce costs, focusing specifically on the business of a particular company in question. Otherwise, it will be no more useful than any thematic textbook.