form of LINEAR PROGRAMMING that considers multiple goals that are often in conflict with each other. With multiple goals, all goals usually cannot be realized exactly. For example, the twin goals of an investor who desires investments with maximum return and with minimum risk are generally incompatible and therefore unachievable.

Other examples of multiple conflicting objectives can be found in organizations that want to:   (1) maximize profits and increase wages; (2) upgrade product quality and reduce product cost;  (3) pay larger dividends to stockholders and retain earnings for growth; and (4) reduce credit losses and increase sales. Goal programming does not attempt to maximize or minimize a single objective function as does the linear programming model. Rather, it seeks to minimize the deviations among the desired goals and the actual results according to the priorities assigned. The objective function of a goal programming model is expressed in terms of the deviations from the target goals.