Introduction Most companies set annual goals called KPI (Key Performance Indicator) for their employees; however, employees may do bargaining with the companies about the KPI to minimize their duties or responsibilities. Perfunctory words that we can always hear from employees are: “I will try my best to complete tasks, but I cannot guarantee that I could finish them on time.” However, it is difficult to define the expected outcomes after people “trying their best”. Will employees give the same response after managers setting clear goals for their tasks? There is another example providing the similar situation in the conversations between children and parents. Some parents may emphasis on the efforts made by their children to the studying by saying that they care less about the exam marks as long as their children “try their best”. What if specific meanings of “try one’s best” are stated by parents to their children, such as achieving the top five student level in the next stage. Will students perform similar in their academic activities? Goal Setting Theory could function as a theoretical foundation to help people establish a better understanding about those confusions. In this essay, the origins, effectiveness and applications will be summarized first as the extended detailed introduction of goal-setting theory. Limitations in the practices and the corresponding improvements will be discussed later.
Origins The Goal Setting Theory was
“Goal setting implies a discontent with one’s present condition and desire to attain an object or outcome” (E.A Locke & G.P. Latham, 2006). In other words, when one knows he wants something else from life, he builds a map of his journey. In a study conducted by Harvard Business School on what constitutes a failure or a success for a group of similar background and education, they found that only 3% are successful, and 30% are moderately successful, the remainder are watching the world go by. The difference between these two first groups is that the 3% one had specific goals, whereas the 30% group had a general idea of the direction they need to reach but didn’t formalize it. ‘Setting goals gives you long term vision and short-term motivation’ (Mind Tools, 2009). When setting goals, one will often hear that goals need to be (1) Specific, (2) Measurable, (3) Achievable, (4) Realistic and (5) Time bound. The SMART objective of goals ensures proper monitoring and outcome. Short-term goals are the smaller steps to reach the long-term goal and can be seen as the first level of to-do list.
The efforts to reaching a goal begin with self-discipline and confidence that accomplishing the goals with being another milestone completed within the timeframe allotted. Reviewing each goal over and over is something that will happen on a regular basis until satisfaction of the results. Making one’s self-accountable to family and friends is one of the best ways to reach a goal. The family and friends support an individual with his or her vision to do better in life. Determining the big picture of the goals, selecting activities to help achieve goals and choosing daily tasks to make up the chosen goal is heading in a positive direction (Laureate Education,
A goal setting is best practice framework for setting goals. A SMART goal should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound.
- finding strategies to change the perception of the goals to more realistic and attainable.
Often times in the business world, organizations become so fixated on the goals they set, that when they begin to go wrong, an organization will invest more into that goal instead of looking for a different path. Oliver Burkeman’s book, “The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking” devotes a whole chapter to the importance or lack thereof of setting goals. In his book, he tells a story of Chris Kayes who was on the foothills of Mt. Everest at the same time the tragedy that took the lives of eight climbers depicted in the book, “In Thin Air.” Kayes observed even through this
I find myself very fortunate for the opportunity to explore the topic of goal setting more, as I have often grappled with the concept of professional goals. As a healthcare professional working in a business environment, I routinely
While she mentions company goals in a few instances there was nothing really that directly addressed the principles of goal setting, unless you read in between the lines and apply them this way. One of the very purposes of this paper was to outline how HIM can detect, identify, analyze, and solve problems in the work environment which infers that they are trying to reach some form of a goal.
1. Goal Theory: Goal setting as a means to improve performance. Specific goals lead to higher performance than general goals. Additionally, this strategy is useful because others are depending on one another to achieve goals for the greater good.
“All businesses share a primary goal: Success. Most organizations see a dramatic increase in employee and business performance when they effectively set individual employee goals and closely tie them to the company's overall strategy” ("Goal Setting," n.d., p. 1).
Edwin Locke and Gary Latham will be the first ones to openly admit there are active limitations with the goal setting theory. It is not uncommon for individual goals to conflict with organizational goals. Moreover, research has proven complex goals have sparked motivation in teams to implement strategies with substantially high amounts of risk (Knight, Durham, & Locke, 2001). Sometimes people will believe higher risk strategies produce the greatest returns, yet high-risk goals consistently result in failure as well (Knight et. al, 2001). Additionally, when individuals simultaneously create two goals there is a greater chance they exert too much energy and focus on achieving just one of those goals. This can lead to one of the goals not receiving enough attention, which can potentially result in the person failing to reach the end result in either goal. In short, these are three common limitations of goal setting that typically draw concerns from other researchers and theorists. However, it is important people are aware of the limitations that do not receive as much attention, such as team goal setting, unethical behavior in high performance goals, and subconscious goals.
1.SMART goal setting stands for Specific, Measurable, Acceptable, Realistic, and Timely. For a goal to be specific, the question to ask one's self is “do you know what, how, where, when, with whom, and how long you will do this?” For a goal to be measurable, the question to ask one's self is “will you know when it is done?” For a goal to be acceptable, the question to ask one's self is “will you feel good about doing this?” For a goal to be realistic, the question to ask one's self is “are you able to do this?”
“The Goal” is a book written by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox in 1984. The book is very famous in the management field. In 2004, the author published the third revision of it and celebrated selling over than three million copied of it around the world. Also, the goal book is taught in over than 120 collages. The book was recommended by my professor to be read and summarize as an extra credit.
A successful person chooses goals to achieve something that is of great value and importance to them. This in turn motivates the person to achieve the goal because when the desired outcome is very important to a person, that person will be determined to persevere. Goal setting also improves a person 's organizational and time management skills because goal setting requires prioritization and that leads to the successful and sequential completion of necessary tasks. Once a person defines and prioritizes goals a plan should be drawn out detailing how this goal will be achieved. Goals and the time-line for their completion should be clearly defined, it is also important that a person 's
There are five main principles of goal setting which are important (Anthony, n.d). Goal setting provides focus in the sense that it puts objectives in perspective as well as prioritize the important aspects of the company. Aside from providing focus, goals also increases motivation to allow employees to strive for something within their daily lives. In addition, many goals within an organization cannot be reached unless there is cohesiveness within the business. Thus, goal implementation helps to strengthen and improve group cohesion. On the other hand, goal setting can also be responsible to increase employees worth and offers measurability. Using the SMART principle: Specific, measureable, attainable, relevant and timely, setting goals will enable employees to gauge their progress (Anthony,n.d). From this, employees are able to measure their efforts on impact that they have on the company as well as see how far or close they are in achieving the goal laid out.