SMARTER Framework and Organizational Goal Setting

Goals are statements of a desired future that a person or organization plans to achieve.
They describe what either a person or organization tries to accomplish in the short or long-
term. Whether they are short-term or long-term, having goals has been found to help people
live more focused and successful lives (Daudkhane, 2017). Just like in personal lives, goals
have also been found to have a positive impact on organizations (Daudkhane, 2017). The
ability of an organization to achieve its goals largely depends on the way the goals are set. An
effective way of setting goals is using SMARTER framework as a guide. SMARTER is an
acronym that stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound, exciting, and
reviewed. This paper describes the characteristics of rapid coronavirus tester using
SMARTER framework.

Specific – The coronavirus rapid tester is meant to reduce the time between the taking
of samples from people and release of results. Currently, the time can be as high as four
hours. The new product seeks to reduce the time taken for testing to less than thirty minutes.

Measurable- As of April 2021, the U.S. records 1.5 million tests per day. While the
tests seem high when compared with other countries, they are not enough to help the country
bring the pandemic under control within the shortest time possible. The goal of the new tester
is to help the country test at least 3 million people daily.

Achievable – Since the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic, the speed of testing kits
has been increasing as more information about the virus becomes available. Thus, it is not
impossible for our organization to reduce the speed of testing kits even further.

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Relevant – The United States has recorded the highest number of deaths due to the
coronavirus pandemic (Chu et al., 2021). Unless the pandemic is brought under control, it is
likely to continue claiming the lives of many more people. Therefore, the rapid tester is
relevant to the overall goal of reducing coronavirus deaths in the USA.

Time-bound – For the rapid coronavirus tester to be of help in the next 12 months, the
tester must be in the market in the next three months. Such a relatively early introduction will
help it to have an impact by the time 12 months lapse.

Exciting – The more challenging a goal is the more exciting it tends to be. Coming up
with a rapid coronavirus tester is certainly a very challenging goal. It takes a lot of
intellectual, time, and financial resources. When the goal is achieved it is likely to be an
exciting period for everyone involved not only because it is challenging but also because it
has the potential of turning the tide of one of the deadliest pandemics of recent times.

Reviewed – Reviewing the progress of a given helps the person or organization
involved to increase or maintain their effort. With regards to the rapid coronavirus test kit,
there will be a progress review after every two weeks. The review will determine whether the
organization is on track to achieving the stated goal or not.

Conclusion

Having goals does not necessarily mean that they are going to be achieved. However,
when they are set using SMARTER framework as explained in this paper, the chances of
either the individual or the organization achieving the set goals significantly increase. Using
SMARTER, the goal of developing rapid coronavirus testing kit has been broken down into
different elements that make it likely that the goal is going to be achieved.

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References

Chu, J. N., Tsoh, J. Y., Ong, E., & Ponce, N. A. (2021). The hidden colors of coronavirus: the
burden of attributable COVID-19 deaths. Journal of General Internal
Medicine, 36(5), 1463-1465.

Daudkhane, Y. (2017). Why SMART Goals are not ‘Smart’ enough? Imperial Journal of
Interdisciplinary Research.

Sheridan, C. (2020). Fast, portable tests come online to curb coronavirus pandemic. National
Biotechnology, 38(5), 515-8.