what is management by objectives vs performance management 
somewhat similar to performance management management by objectives mbo is a corporate leadership model that attempts to align employees goals with those of an organization it is often broken down into five basic steps defining objectives communicating those objectives to employees monitoring employees progress evaluating their performance and rewarding their achievements like performance management mbo encourages in theory at least employee participation in goal setting however mbo is frequently criticized as being too rigid and so focused on goals that employees and managers are driven to meet them no matter how they do so according to an article in the january 2003 harvard business review mbo is an approach to performance appraisal that s gone out of fashion for the most part 