These words, along with 'aim', often get used in management speak, but are also often poorly defined. From my own time in evaluating health programs, we used objective to mean the big, overarching thing you were trying to achieve. "The objective is to increase immunisation rates in children." A target is a measure you set yourself so that you can measure your progress towards achieving your objective - a 10% increase in the first two years, a further 5% increase in the year after that. A target has to be measurable. At least that is how I see it, but different schools of management/program evaluation may use different terminology.

I agree with others' answers. The meanings overlap. It is hard to think of an example where you couldn't interchange them. Mostly, it's a difference in tone. "Objective" sounds important, dignified, formal--and a little evasive. "Target" sounds forceful, direct, and motivational. "Our target is..." would often be followed by a number, like "...$50 million in revenue for 4Q2015." "Our objective is..." would often be followed by something vaguer and broader, like "...to improve customer communications." A "target" is a noun you can draw a picture. It has concentric circles and a bullseye. There's a certain feeling that you'd like to hit the bullseye, but that if you did, you'd celebrate the accomplishment, and that it is a quick process--you take a shot, you either hit the target or you don't, and then it's over. An "objective" isn't a physical object you can draw a picture of. When I think of an "objective" I think of a hill with something at the summit, and you are expecting to climb the hill and reach that summit--quickly or slowly, but you need to get there and you expect to get there. But once again these are just vague differences in tone. Here are some examples I found with Google--I've selected ones that I think are typical: "Our target is to create a million jobs by 2020." "Our target is a national network of 1,000 computer learning centres" "In 2035, our target is 13 percent reduction – the regional plan will achieve 21 percent." "Our objective is to improve the quality of their workplace experience." "Our objective is to encourage and support a new generation of entrepreneurial ecological farmers. " "Our objective is simple, to ensure the right insurance products are available for Toyota customers, at the right time, at the right price and to the right quality."

Hilary's answer is good. Another example: Your 'objective' is to be able to speak fluent English, but your 'target' (for this week) is to learn the verb, 'to be'.

Just to be clear, there's another common use of the word "target." It is short for "target market," "target audience,"--or a group of people we are directing actions against, like a military target. "Our target is parents with young children." These are the people we are trying to sell our product to. "Con artists are targeting the elderly with fraudulent phone calls that pretend to be from the government tax office, and scaring them into paying them money."