Goal ambiguity

In business administration goal setting, goal ambiguity refers to the extent that organizational goals permit interpretative leeway.{{cite journal |last1=Botti |first1=Antonio |last2=Monda |first2=Antonella |title=Goal Ambiguity in Public Organizations: A Systematic Literature Review |journal=International Journal of Business and Management |date=15 June 2019 |volume=14 |issue=7 |pages=137 |doi=10.5539/IJBM.V14N7P137}}{{cite web |last1=Ritchie |first1=Victoria F. |title="UNDERSTANDING THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN GOAL AMBIGUITY, LATERAL ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICAITON, AND JOB SATISFACTION" |website=Research Papers |publisher=Southern Illinois University Carbondale |access-date=11 May 2024 |location=Paper 541 |date=2014|url=http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/gs_rp/541}}{{cite journal |last1=Davis |first1=Randall S. |title=Goal-Setting Theory of Organizations |journal=Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance |date=2022 |pages=5626–5630 |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-66252-3_160|isbn=978-3-030-66251-6 }}{{cite book |title=Open Government: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications |date=6 September 2019 |publisher=IGI Global |isbn=978-1-5225-9861-9 |page=275-276 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1K2rDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22goal+ambiguity%22&pg=PA275 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Durant |first1=Robert F. |title=The Oxford Handbook of American Bureaucracy |date=2 August 2012 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-162832-0 |pages=238–240 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ENoAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22goal+ambiguity%22&pg=PA238 |access-date=11 May 2024 |language=en|location=Defining Goal Ambiguity}}

Higher education in the United States has been criticized as suffering from goal ambiguity.{{cite news |last1=Thompson |first1=Derek |title=No One Knows What Universities Are For |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/05/bureaucratic-bloat-eating-american-universities-inside/678324/ |access-date=11 May 2024 |work=The Atlantic |date=8 May 2024 |language=en}}