Aim

Aim may be used as a general term for purpose, objective, goal and policy. Both in theory and in practice the distinctions between these terms are not fixed although it may be said that a purpose determines why an organization continues to exist, an objective determines what it wants to accomplish, and a policy determines how it carries out its activities in order to fulfil its purpose and achieve its objectives. A goal or aim may be synonymous with either the over-riding purpose of a human grouping or activity, or with any of its strategic or tactical objectives. Among these near synonyms it is interesting, however, that aim is the only one with a verbal form (in English); i.e. to aim, or aiming. In turn, as a metaphor, this brings in its train such related words as target and targeting, project and projecting, direct and directing. This suggests that an aim is a direction chosen consciously from among other possible directions, and that 'aim' may be distinguished as the required effort (or resource) to reach a specific target. While the aim specifies the target, it is not identical with it.