The basic concept of Management by Objectives is to 1) set goals for employees; 2) measure their progress in achieving their goals; and 3) compensate them based on their achievements. The problem is that the most important goals of the company (things like customer satisfaction and inventor relations) are the most difficult to measure. So management sets goals that can be quantified rather than goals that are important. Typically, the goals focus on short-term profit rather than long-term success. Thus, the employees focus their efforts in the wrong place, and frequently, such effort is counterproductive.