Living with the Waikato Foundation Principles, 20 years on

According to the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, and objective seems to have originated as a military term - the point to which an advance of troops is directed. In everyday usage, it basically means something that one's efforts or actions are intended to attain, something in the neature of a purpose, goal or target. Thus it is a practical concept of decision-making and management and it is implicit in this that objectves can and do change in the light of experience.