Although semantic problems are not too serious in this area, there are such terms as purpose, goal, and target which are often used synonymously. Perhaps greater clarity can be achieved by reserving “purpose” to describe the reason for the existence of an enterprise or any of its divisions and departments; “goal” and “target,” terms borrowed from games, to describe the aims of minor or informal plans such as a salesman's goal; and “objective” to describe the end for which a plan is designed.
2.
LintonAfter R., The Tree of Culture (New York: Vintage Books, Inc., 1958), p. 37.
3.
Administrative Reflections from World War II (University: University of Alabama Press, 1948), p. 77.
4.
O'BrienR. P., “Electric Utility Planning,” a paper presented to the Seminar on Long-Range Planning (University of California, Los Angeles: Research Division, Graduate School of Business Administration, Sept., 1962).
