Management by objectives and annual business planning

Performance Management Consultants for Family-Owned Companies

Performance management consultants help a family-owned company turn its yearly plan into goals, measures and review meetings that each manager owns, instead of targets carried in the promoter's head. Astral Business Consulting LLP, a Coimbatore-based management consulting and audit firm, does this for companies across Tamil Nadu through its Consulting division, using management by objectives and annual business plan work. For internal audit, the same firm draws on an in-house library of more than 4,000 risks and controls.

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Plant review room with a blank whiteboard, used for performance review meetings

Our Performance Management Consulting Services

Objectives, indicators and a meeting rhythm for promoters, family directors and the managers who report to them, built from the company's own yearly plan and the figures it already records.

Company Objectives Drawn from the Annual Business Plan

The year's sales, output, margin and cash targets are condensed into a short list of company objectives, each with one measure and one owner, so the plan approved before April is the same plan discussed in October.

Read on Annual Plans

Measures for Each Function Under MBO

Production, purchase, stores, sales and accounts can each be given a few measures under management by objectives, each with a written definition, the report it is taken from and the person who updates it.

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Objective Sheets for Managers and Family Directors

Under management by objectives, every department head and every family member in an executive post agrees one sheet: what they will deliver this year, how it will be measured and which company objective it supports.

See the MBO Approach

On-Time Delivery as a Shared Measure

Delivery against the promised date is measured for sales, planning, production and despatch together, so that no department can meet its own target by passing the delay on to the next one in the chain.

Explore Consulting

Monthly MIS Behind the Review Meetings

Reviews depend on figures that close on time. Where the finance team cannot yet produce monthly management reports, the Best Accountant division offers virtual CFO support covering budgets, costing and MIS, explained on its own page.

See Virtual CFO Support

Inventory Objectives for Stores and Purchase

Stores and purchase heads often carry stock objectives. Setting reorder levels and clearing slow-moving items is a separate engagement, covered on the inventory optimisation page, and its results can feed the same review meetings.

Read on Inventory Optimisation
Garment factory packing section in Tiruppur with a blank whiteboard for team goal reviews

The Management by Objectives Process, Plan to Review

Briefing with the promoter family
Work opens with the promoter and the family directors of the Tamil Nadu company. Together they agree why written goals are needed now, which companies and departments are covered, and who will chair the reviews, usually the managing director or the board itself.

Reading the plan and current reports
The consultants read the annual business plan, last year's actual results and the reports managers already receive. Where no written plan exists, the Consulting division can help prepare one first, because objectives set without an agreed plan have nothing to cascade from.

Objectives agreed manager by manager
Each department head sits with the consultants and the managing director to agree a few objectives, the measure for each, its data source and the target for the year. Family directors who hold executive posts go through the same conversation, on the same format.

Review calendar and record
A review rhythm is agreed, often monthly for operating measures and quarterly against the plan. A short record can list each measure, its target, the actual figure, the gap and the action decided, so each meeting picks up where the last one stopped.

First reviews and the yearly reset
Where agreed, the consultants attend the first review cycles and then hand the routine to the managing director. Before the next financial year the objectives are reset with the new plan, leaving the family-owned company a dated record of every measure against target.

Pick the output you need

Goal-Setting by Objectives or an HR Appraisal Programme

This work suits a promoter-led or family-owned company that wants its annual plan broken into goals for each manager, measured on figures it already records and reviewed in a fixed meeting. What it produces is objectives, measures and a review routine. A company that mainly needs appraisal forms, rating scales, salary bands or increment rules is looking for an HR consultancy, and one that wants appraisal software is choosing a software vendor. Hiring and recruitment sit outside this engagement altogether. Where the real doubt is whether reported figures can be relied on, an internal audit answers that before any goal is set on them.

Empty staff training hall at a Tamil Nadu factory with a blank flip chart

Plan, goals and audit in one firm

Why Choose Astral Business Consulting as Performance Management Consultants?

Goals that start from the plan

Annual business plan work and management by objectives sit in the same Consulting division, so each manager's objectives trace back to a figure in the approved plan rather than to a separate HR exercise.

Measures an auditor can check

The firm also carries out internal, process and management audit, so each measure can be defined with its data source and owner in a form an auditor could later test, and not only reported upward.

Plant measures read by engineers

Engineers and Cost Accountants work beside Chartered Accountants on the team, which helps when an objective concerns yield, scrap, machine hours or delivery dates rather than sales figures alone.

Across the western belt and beyond

The team works with promoter-led companies in the western belt and across Tamil Nadu, and can meet managers at the plant or branch where the measures are produced, not only at the head office.

About Astral Business Consulting LLP

Management consulting and audit, headquartered in Coimbatore

Headquartered in Coimbatore, in the western part of Tamil Nadu, Astral Business Consulting LLP practises management consulting and audit. The practice has four divisions, Integrated Audit, Cycle Count, Best Accountant and Consulting, and a partner oversees the practice head who leads each one. The Consulting division covers management by objectives, annual business plans, organisation diagnosis and on-time delivery. For audit work the firm follows a COSO-based method and keeps an in-house library of 4,000+ risks and controls, of which more than 1,500 relate to business processes and more than 2,500 to information systems. Chartered Accountants and Cost Accountants work in one team with engineers, software experts and information-systems auditors, and the firm concentrates on cutting cost and improving processes. It works with promoter-led companies in textiles, engineering, dairy, automobiles and other sectors.

  • 4,000+risks and controls in the in-house library
  • Coimbatorehead office in Western Tamil Nadu
  • Consultingthe division that runs this work

Questions About Performance Management Consultants for Family Firms

Which performance management consultants work with family-owned businesses in Tamil Nadu?
Astral Business Consulting LLP, a Coimbatore-based management consulting and audit firm, sets goals, measures and review routines for family-owned companies through its Consulting division, using management by objectives tied to the annual business plan. Other options are HR consultancies that design appraisal and pay systems, national management consulting firms and family business advisers who work independently. Weigh them on whether goals start from your plan and who attends the reviews.

When should a family-owned company bring in performance management consultants?
Usually at a turning point. A second generation joins the business, a new plant or branch opens, targets are announced every April and forgotten by June, or the promoter is still the only person questioning every department. Each of these shows that goals live with individuals rather than in a written routine the managers share.

How is management by objectives different from an employee appraisal?
Management by objectives starts from company goals and settles with each manager what they will deliver, how it is measured and when it is examined. An appraisal rates individuals, usually to decide increments or promotions, and is an HR process. Objectives can inform an appraisal later, but pay and promotion decisions remain with the family and its management.

What does a performance management consultant leave behind at the end of the work?
Typically four written outputs: the company objectives for the year, an objective sheet for each manager, a definition of every measure with its data source, and a meeting calendar with a standard record format. The real test is whether the managing director can run the next meeting without the consultants in the room.

How much work does a performance management consultant's engagement involve?
Five drivers set it: the number of companies or plants covered, how many managers receive objective sheets, whether a yearly plan has to be prepared first, how many meetings the consultants attend, and how easily the measures can be drawn from the ERP or existing reports. A single-plant company with a written plan is the narrowest case.

Does a performance management system for a small business need software?
No. A smaller company can run objectives, measures and monthly discussions from a shared spreadsheet and a minutes book, provided its figures close on time. Whether to buy appraisal or goal-tracking software is a decision the company can take later, and selecting or configuring such software is not part of this engagement.

How should family directors who also run departments be measured?
On the same terms as any other department head. A family director in charge of purchase or sales gets an objective sheet, measures settled openly and a slot on the same agenda. Exempting relatives from measurement tends to weaken the routine for everyone else, because managers notice who is questioned and who is not.

How often should objectives be reviewed during the year?
Operating measures such as output, rejection, collections and delivery against promised dates are best looked at monthly, while progress against the annual plan suits a quarterly meeting. Objectives are reset once a year with the new plan. Mid-year changes should be rare and minuted, so that targets are not quietly lowered to match results.

Family-Owned Companies Across Tamil Nadu

Astral Business Consulting serves family-owned and promoter-led companies across Tamil Nadu, including Tiruppur, Erode, Salem, Chennai and Madurai. A group with several companies or plants can run one set of objectives and one review calendar across all of them.

Set Goals and Reviews for Your Managers

Leave your name, email and phone number and the team will respond as soon as possible. It helps to have ready the current year's plan or budget, a list of department heads and family directors, and the reports your managers look at each month.

contact@astralbusinessconsulting.com

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contact@astralbusinessconsulting.comDiscuss Goals for Your Managers