by Goal setting involves the development of an action plan designed in order to motivate and guide a person or group toward a goal. Goals are more deliberate than desires and momentary intentions.
Goal-setting theory is a theory based on the idea that setting specific and measurable goals is more effective than setting unclear goals.
Therefore, setting goals means that a person has committed thought, emotion, and behavior towards attaining the goal. In doing so, the goal setter has established a desired future state which differs from their current state thus creating a mismatch which in turn spurs future actions. Goal setting can be guided by goal-setting criteria (or rules) such as SMART criteria. Goal setting is a major component of personal-development and management literature. Studies by Edwin A. Locke and his colleagues, most notably Gary Latham, have shown that more specific and ambitious goals lead to more performance improvement than easy or general goals. The goals should be specific, time constrained and difficult. Vague goals reduce limited attention resources; goals require realistic time restrictions, illogically short time limits, intensify the difficulty of the goal outside the intentional level and, disproportionate time limits are not encouraging.[4] Difficult goals should be set ideally at the 90th percentile of performance assuming that motivation and not ability is limiting attainment of that level of performance. As long as the person accepts the goal, has the ability to attain it, and does not have conflicting goals, there is a positive linear relationship between goal difficulty and task performance.
The theory of Locke and colleagues states that the simplest most direct motivational explanation of why some people perform better than others is because they have different performance goals. The essence of the theory is:
- Difficult specific goals lead to significantly higher performance than easy goals, no goals, or even the setting of an abstract goal such as urging people to do their best.
- Holding ability constant, and given that there is goal commitment, the higher the goal the higher the performance.
- Variables such as praise, feedback, or the participation of people in decision-making about the goal only influence behavior to the extent that they lead to the setting of and subsequent commitment to a specific difficult goal.
Principles of the Goal-setting theory
According to Locke’s goal-setting theory, there are five main principles of setting effective goals:
Challenge: Goals should be sufficiently challenging to keep employees engaged and focused while performing the tasks needed to reach each goal. Goals that are too tedious or easy have a demotivating effect and will, therefore, result in less achievement satisfaction.
Clarity: Goals must be clear and specific. When employees understand project objectives and deadlines, there is much less risk for misunderstandings.
Commitment: Employees need to understand and support the goal they are being assigned from the beginning. If employees don’t feel committed to the goal, they are less likely to enjoy the process and ultimately achieve the goal.
Task Complexity: Goals should be broken down into smaller goals. Once each smaller goal is reached, a review should be performed to update the employee on the overall progress towards the larger goal.
Feedback: Feedback is an important component of the goal-setting theory. Regular feedback should be provided throughout the goal-achieving process to ensure tasks stay on track to reach the goal.
Advantages of Goal Setting Theory
- Goal setting leads to better performance by increasing motivation and efforts, but also through increasing and improving the feedback quality.
- Goal setting theory is a technique used to raise incentives for employees to complete work quickly and effectively.
Limitations of Goal Setting Theory
- Very difficult and complex goals stimulate riskier behaviour.
- At times, the organizational goals are in conflict with the managerial goals. Goal conflict has a detrimental effect on the performance if it motivates incompatible action drift.
- If the employee lacks skills and competencies to perform actions essential for goal, then the goal-setting can fail and lead to undermining of performance.
- There is no evidence to prove that goal-setting improves job satisfaction.
