Some say that goals are indispensable to understanding organization action, others say goals merely justify past actions. A rational perspective suggests that they guide decisions on how to define organizational structure. The concept of organizational goals is among the most slippery and treacherous of all those employed by organizatioal analysts. They are important legitimization tools to assuage external constituencies like banks, customers, etc. But goals don't always precede actions.
Goals can also help evaluate the behavior of participants.
Goals often have different functions and arise from different sources. Top management often stress motivational goals to help build commitment and enthusiasm. Middle managers often transform these vague motivational goals into more specific cognitive goals that help subordinates engage in decision-making and take action. He labels these individual goals as motives. A natural perspective argues that individual personal preferences do influence participant decision-making, and people do not always contrain themselves to formally defined roles.