Which is why MBO is ultimately not a good management tool and is clearly not serving many organizations as well as they need, especially when applied to the man

Which is why MBO is ultimately not a good management tool and is clearly not serving many organizations as well as they need, especially when applied to the management of Systems/Software Engineers who are all too aware of this fact. If you want to be successful, you have to focus on intrinsic motivations of these kinds of staff. By and large, they do not respond effectively to extrinsic motivations. They may respond "positively", but not necessarily "effectively". It's difficult, though, in a world where any non-quantifiable evaluation is rightly viewed with incredible suspicion. It forces managers and leaders to walk a hard line.