General concepts of goals and goal-setting in health: A narrative analysis

Abstract

Goal-setting is fundamental to organisational management, yet not every manager knows how do it well. A narrative literature review was done to explore current knowledge of definitions and classifications of goals, and principles of goal-setting in the health sector. Online databases generated 65 relevant articles. Additional literature sources were snowballed from referenced articles, and textbooks. Most academic authors define ‘goal’ synonymously as ‘aim’ or ‘objective’, but with evidence of hermeneutical confusion in general literature. Goal classifications are diverse, differing according to their contextual, structural, functional and temporal characteristics. Many authors agree that goal-setting is problem-based, change-oriented and can effectively motivate attainment, if the goal statement is formulated with a specific and challenging or SMART framework. However, recent authors report varying defining attributes for SMART, and evidence of past studies that have empirically examined the nature and efficacy of frameworks currently used for formulating goal statements for health programmes is lacking.