An operational or operating objective is a short-term goal whose attainment moves an organization towards achieving strategic or long-term goals. In business, operational objectives define a clear, often measurable, outcome of a business operation or process typically expected to be achieved within a single calendar or fiscal year. The business term is typically used in the context of strategic management

Strategic management

Strategic management is a field that deals with the major intended and emergent initiatives taken by general managers on behalf of owners, involving utilization of resources, to enhance the performance of firms in their external environments...

 and operational planning

Operational planning

An operational planning is a subset of strategic work plan. It describes short-term ways of achieving milestones and explains how, or what portion of, a strategic plan will be put into operation during a given operational period, in the case of commercial application, a fiscal year or another given...

. Operational objectives may be incremental steps or measures leading to the achievement of an operational goal.

An operational objective is also called a tactical objective

Tactical objective

A tactical objective is the immediate short term desired result of a given activity, task or mission, usually entrusted to the lower positioned management in a three-tier organisation's structure of field or front desk, middle and executive management....

 in some contexts, especially when referring to military operations or public safety tactical planning.