The Goal Setting Theory By Edwin Locke

* Create real goals. Real goals are specific, achievable, prioritized, measurable, supported by action plans, aligned with the company, linked to your goals, and accepted by you and your employees. It is vital to the success of the company, your success as a leader and the future of

During this class there have been many interesting topics being discussed; topics that I didn’t even begin to think about. After reading Chapter 18 and learning about the importance of performance planning and setting performance objectives, it has opened my eyes up to a lot more ideas. Having a vision and plan to not only make yourself succeed, but those around you and the company is a part of managing performance and objectives.

The employee should know where he/she stands in obtaining performance goals. Thus, providing feedback is an integral part of the task. The feedback should be delivered to the employee to motivate the employee but also help him/her identify any weakness in his/her performance and to help contribute to growth. The employee should leave the appraisal with knowledge of what he/she specifically needs to improve on

Since there is little or no difference between the salaries increases of employees who meet production goals and those who do not, some employees have said they are not motivated to achieve the goals, even if they are capable of doing so. The company must ensure that employees meeting company goals are rewarded with bonuses, salary increases, or other incentives that are greater and more appealing than those received by employees not meeting the goals. The company could further differentiate the

(2) Managers should set reasonable goals. We suggest that managers should set moderately difficult goals. Goals can be a strong motivator to help the company to strive for better. According to Griffin (2011), managers should set goals that are specific and moderately difficult. A specific and moderately difficult goal can motivate people to work harder, especially if attaining the goal is likely to result in rewards (205). In addition to verbal

However on the flip side these same traits used to create a positive environment can also be used to against the organization. We start with the letter “S” for specific as this commands that the goal to be focused and attentive. Unfortunately though, this can actually cause a too narrowed focus where employees will overlook important details of the task. With a narrowed focus, employees become blind to everything else but their task and the often times miss a critical detail that could potentially steer them into a new direction and a more profitable gain or prevent a fatal error from occurring. An example in this can be seen in the automotive industry of late and the entire vehicle recalls that have been made due to faulty engine or ignition parts that have caused human fatalities. The automotive industry giants have a specific goal to create a top of the line vehicle fast and get it out to the market that they continuously pass over safety issues and inspections in order to accomplish this single goal. In keeping with the classic notion that you get what you reward (Kerr, 1975, 1995), goal setting may cause the employee to miss important aspects of their task or performance that are not specifically outlined by the goal setting system.

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.

Different feedback strategys have been used as efficent tools in the promotion of progress and improvement in the professional world (Baker, A. Perrault D. Alain, R., 2013). De Janasz et al. (2014) explains some positive outcomes that result from shariying, asking and getting feedback from others in within a workplace; such as improving and reforcing employee relationships, enforcing a gainnful comunication, promoting teamwork, and increasing the performance of employees. Specificly De Janasz et al. (2014) develops the idea that providing constructive feedback, sustained by strong interpersonal communication skills, enables the individual recognize their strengths and wiknesses in a clear and non risky way, in order to look for the most accurate plan to improve, and obtain significant and necessary behavioral changes. Everyday Feedback as part of an organization strategy help employees feel confident about their possition and process inside the company, and promotes a clear path to achieve personal and organizational goals (Baker, A. Perrault D. Alain, R. (2013); citado en Levy and williams,

Here is where I first disagree with Locke and his theory of motivation of the will according to pain and pleasure. I think this is a difficult notion to be comfortable with. To use the formula of pleasure minus pain equals happiness is in direct conflict with Christian teachings and the common good of all people. Locke, being a self-proclaimed Christian, is revealing himself throughout this book as actually being non-Christian, and I agree with Chappell when she stated that he was an egotist and a hedonist . He discounts the husbands that sacrifice for their wives, the wives that sacrifice for their husbands, parents that sacrifice for their children, siblings that sacrifice for each other, neighbors that sacrifices for neighbors, the priests that sacrifice for the church and all people, people that sacrifice for God, and we can go on and on and on. We are all meant to work toward the good of all and serve one another, but not for Locke. Locke says that “every intelligent Bring really seeks Happiness, which consists in the enjoyment of pleasure, without any considerable mixtures of uneasiness” . I see two was to read this excerpt. First is to take the capital “B” in Bring and interpret the intelligent Being as relating to all human being and saying this is to say all humans think that happiness is maximized pleasure and minimized pain. And to refute this is to point back to the list of people who sacrifice pleasures and even life for the wellbeing of others. The

Layman’s HIS case study article did not explicitly discuss goal-setting. However, thoughtful goal-setting is a well-advised practice for many jobs as it has been shown to increase motivation and performance (Carpenter and Erdogan, 2009). There are four major reasons why goals motivate employees to perform better. The first reason is that goals give direction

To motivate employees, goals must take into consideration the degree to which each of the following exists: clarity, challenge, commitment, feedback and task complexity. If all five of these elements are present, goal theory says that we will be motivated to produce to a maximum. The specificity of the goal acts as an internal stimulus, the more difficult the goal, the higher the level of performance. Difficult goals energise us because we have to work harder and persist to attain them.

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

Well-defined goals make it easier to monitor individual and organizational progress, make necessary changes and address issues before they become threat. Goals setting establish clear job performance which becomes easier for managers for training and support of employees. Therefore; Malcomn Fieschner and J.D. Holzgrefe in Selling Power stated that whether writing long or short term goals, one should follow “SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound” (Lewis, 2000). Additionally; managers might need to provide

These goals simplify the culture of goal setting in this organization. One reason behind the success of HIS Department is the regular adaptation to change in work ethics. In other words, HIS Department engages in job redesign to meet the needs of clients and employees. Besides the goal setting culture in HIS Department, other factor affects work; these factors include department-specific or industry wide, and technology. However, in HIS Department, setting and implementing goal is a norm that employee proud themselves with. First, “goal setting involves establishing specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-targeted goals”. Fiitjeegoal.com. The principle of goal setting applied in this case of how the management of HIS Department always has a culture of planning to meet specific needs and goal. Another way goal setting is applied is re-engineering, restructuring, work re-design and job re-design to meet employee satisfaction. So it is obvious that the principles of goal setting are applied in this organization and implementation of goal is in constant review. Moreover, management of HIS Department is always in readiness to assess the effect of the sector-wide of the daily activities and schedule of their employee.

How is the principle of goals setting applied in the case of “Job Design for Expanded HIM Functions?” Principles of job enrichment applied with the case, what are the outcomes of job enrichment in HIS Department? And what the impacts are of job enrichment on motivation and communication in the HIS Department.