Goal Setting in Theory and Practice - Essay Example

Organizational Behaviour Name Institution Date Course Question 1 “A goal is a regulatory mechanism for monitoring, evaluating and adjusting one’s behaviour...Goal attainment also gives people a sense of accomplishment” Importance of goals in motivation and leadership Introduction Despite the environment and the increased competition, organizations still strive to be successful. Irrespective of size and market, organizations strive to attract and keep the best employees, acknowledging their important role on ensuring effectiveness in the organization (Dobre, 2013). For organizations to achieve this, and overcome the challenges presented by the environment and internal structures, the management should be able to build strong relationships with the employees and give direction towards task fulfillment (Dobre, 2013). Over the past years, organizations have strived to provide this direction through clearly spelt out goals which, according to Locke & Latham (2002), have a pervasive effect of the behaviour and performance organizations and the management practice. Goal setting has been the basis for major theories that relate to work motivation – from the VIE theory proposed by Vroom, Maslow or Herzberg’s motivation theories, operant-based behaviorism to the social cognitive theory as discussed by Lunenburg (2011). As Lunenburg further points out, the form in which an individual experiences his/her value judgment is emotional. An individual’s values create a desire within them to do things in a manner that is consistent with them. Properly set goals will therefore, enable the management to direct attention of the employees, as well as their action and help them focus their energies towards the betterment of the organization’s performance. When the goals developed are difficult to achieve or challenging, they have been found to mobilize greater energy. The employees will then put greater effort and ensure consistency in their work (Locke & Latham, 2002). When faced by these difficult to achieve goals, employees will be motivated to find strategies that will enable them perform at the required goals level. Again researchers have revealed that when employees successfully achieve or perform beyond the set targets, they are become more satisfied and are therefore motivated further. While this is greatly beneficial to their future performance, employees will become greatly frustrated and with lower motivation if they do not accomplish these goals (Lunenburg, 2011). Vroom used a different approach to show the relationship between goal setting and employee motivation. He argued that individuals will be motivated to struggle towards achievement of a goal of interest if they understood and believed in the worth of the goal and if they are convinced that their efforts can be enough to attain the goal (Abbah, 2014). The person’s motivation will therefore be a product of the value placed upon the results of the person’s efforts and the person’s confidence these efforts will actually lead to achievement of the desired goal. As a result, organizations should ensure that the management communicates to the employees how these goals, like promotion, recognition, and increased pay, can be attained. If such goals are not communicated, and the means of achieving them not properly understood by the employees, then it is possible that the workforce will remain low confidence and little motivation (Abbah, 2014). Employee motivation has been one of the most effective approaches to increasing the organizational performance. However, psychologists have considered the study on human motivation to be a complex undertaking mainly because motivation is achieved on the inside of the organism (Locke, 1996). Researchers have suggested, nevertheless, that the approach of goal setting theory remains consistent with the cognitive revolution. The theory, which is based upon Aristotle’s final causality, agrees with the axiomatic status of volition and consciousness. It holds the assumption that introspective reports are source of useful data and valid information that could help in formulation of psychological concepts as well as measurement of psychological phenomena like goal commitment, purpose and self-efficacy (Locke, 1996). Locke investigated several aspects of using goals within the organization and the results achieved depending on the nature and difficulty of the goals. According to this researcher, greater achievement could be realized by organizations if the goals set by management are not easy to achieve. This is particularly true if the individual is truly committed to the goal and possess the required knowledge and ability to achieve it. Locke (1996) further states that if the management creates more specific goals or those that are explicit, then it is possible to ensure more precise regulate the performance of employees. Organizations can establish high goal specificity mainly by quantification or by enumeration. Through these means, goal setting can reduce variance in performance and provide employees with control of their own performance. Although specificity may not be entirely desirable, it is known to have certain effects which may be beneficial to the organization. According to Elliot & Harackiewicz (1994), when specific performance goals are assigned or suggested by one person to the other, they represent external directives or extrinsic impositions on the engagement on the task that should minimize any perceptions of autonomy and self-determination. In this regard, goals are seen as an extrinsic intrusion which evokes performance anxiety and which could interrupt task involvement - factors associated with low task interest. At the same time, goals have been known to increase the salience and value of performance competence, instill the perception of challenge, enhance the involvement in tasks and create a means of ensuring continuous competence feedback – factors understood to enhance intrinsic motivation (Elliot & Harackiewicz, 1994). Perceived competence is one process that interest may be enhanced through goal setting. Goals are a way of establishing concrete standards for the evaluation of performance so that in the event that the goals have been attained by individuals, they increase their competence perceptions (Elliot & Harackiewicz, 1994). As a result, people will have high confidence in what they do and will be willing to take on more challenging tasks. In this way, goals can be an effective means through which employee commitment and motivation could be used to enhance the overall performance of the organization. Yearta, Maitilis & Briner (1995) also contribute to the argument that goal setting is an effective tool in employee motivation and is extensively used in organizations around the world. These researchers also agree that as a means of directing individual’s efforts and ensuring provision of a standard against which employee performance can be assessed, it has been extensively used in many performance appraisal schemes. This has caused employees to consider achievement of the goals as a means to perform well during the appraisals. Researchers have also predicted that when goals are harder to achieve, concerned individuals will have the need to put greater effort and performance than when they are easier. In this sense, goals motivate individuals to work harder and commit themselves to the tasks. Therefore, individual’s performances increases as the goals get more difficult (Yearta, Maitilis & Briner, 1995). Goal setting is therefore a major tool for organizations as they seek to enhance the performance of employees through motivation. As Gomez-Minambres (2012) points out, goals are important in determination of worker’s satisfaction since they help in the development of a sense of achievement. To increase to satisfaction among its employees, organizations could enhance the mental challenge in the tasks assigned to individuals. Again, by providing individuals with standards and performance targets, goal setting leads to more focused efforts that are directed towards achievement of these targets. As individuals become more motivated and committed to the tasks due to the goals assigned to them by the management, the leadership becomes able to direct and regulate tasks through these goals. Organization leadership uses goals to make employees understand the organization’s priorities and targets. Employees then get to understand what to focus on during the coming days and can therefore effectively prioritize activities as they consider how their work impacts these goals. The goals also provide focus for the management as it decides on big projects and how to best allocate tasks among the workers (Anthony, 2014). As Van Wart (2005) says, it is very important that the goals assigned by management are coherent. This should be achieved while leadership strives to achieve the balance of the goals across leadership and organizational functions. Through the goals, therefore, leaders are able to ensure that through the commonly used concept of “balanced scorecard, all the main areas of the organizations operations receive all the attention they deserve for the purposes of monitoring and improvement (Van Wart, 2005). For instance, an organization that only focuses on the quantitative aspects of its operations may entirely miss the qualitative aspects that are not easily captured in form of data. It must be understood, however, that leaders must be able to establish the right number of goals in a given period, and these must be correctly balanced for proper results to be achieved. It is also critical for leaders to ensure that the goals assigned are significant to the individuals in the organization. Effective leaders will recognize the importance of goal selection (cognitive appeal and balance) and their articulation (the appeal to inspire and remain clear) for the goals to bring positive impact on the employees. Unless people have belief in the significance of the goals, it is highly unlikely that they will become motivated or that they will recognize effective leadership from the management (Van Wart, 2005). David McClelland suggested in his needs theory that need strength becomes strengthened by childhood learning, social norms and parental style. In his discussion, he paid attention to three needs: power, achievement and affiliation. The need for achievement causes individuals to have the desire to accomplish considerably challenging goals on their own. These individuals will therefore prefer to work alone as opposed to working in a team and prefer tasks with a moderate degree of risk. These people desire unambiguous feedback and recognition for their achievements. Need for approval, on the other hand, causes people to have the desire to seek other people’s approval, submit to their demands and expectations and avoid any confrontations. These people will try to strive to project a favourable image and give others they support, and solve conflicts and disagreements. The need for power causes people to desire to control other people and become focused on remaining in leadership roles. Others will have a high need for socialized power as opposed to personalized power. This researcher, through these findings, reveals that managers and other individuals in positions of leadership can add strength or weaken other employees’ desires for achievement, affiliation and power by setting goals that support an achievement-culture, that recognize and reward employees who demonstrate achievement orientation and that create the environment for hiring co-workers who developed an orientation of strong achievement in their upbringing. By planning goals and developing specific purpose for the organization, leaders influence the organization of people, the resources and activities of the organization, the finances, staffing and selection etc. the leaders therefore, provide direction to the organization and staff, control, monitor and sanction as demanded by the organization. For these leaders, therefore, goal setting remains one of the most important tools that they use to drive business to success (Abbah, 2014). When any form of conflict exists between two or more goals, the realization of the desired results for each goal will likely be undermined. The amount of effort put forward will usually depend on the perceived difficulty of the goal – this is the reason why when goals are difficult, it is easier to realize higher performance that when the goals are easy. Conclusion In conclusion, it is worth noting that leaders must understand that when individuals strive to achieve the desired results for goals on complex tasks, they will not be effective in finding out suitable task strategies unless they possess prior experience or training on the task, there is increased pressure to perform well and there is increased time pressure for them to perform immediately (Locke, 1996). The role of goal setting, therefore, continues to take center-stage in organizations, as they position themselves in the market. Organizations continue to use these goals to provide direction for the entire workforce and also motivate employees in ways already discussed. As has been seen in the discussion, goal setting provides organizations and the managers a tool through which they can motivate, direct and lead other employees with the assurance that employee efforts and strengths are focused upon strategies that will benefit the organizations. List of References Dobre, O, 2013, Employee motivation and organizational performance. Review of Applied Socio-Economic research, 5(1): 53-60 Locke, EA, 1996, Motivation through conscious goal setting, Applied & Preventive Psychology, 5:117-124 Lunenburg, FC, 2011, Goal-Setting Theory of Motivation, International journal of management, business, and administration, 15(1): 1-6 Locke, EA, & Latham, GP, 2002, Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation, American Psychologist, 57(9): 705-717 Abbah, MT, 2014, Employee Motivation: The key to effective Organizational Management in Nigeria, IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM), 16(4): 1-8 Elliot, AJ, & Harackiewicz, JM, 1994, Goal Setting, Achievement Orientation, and Intrinsic Motivation:A Mediational Analysis, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66(5): 968-980 Yearta, SK, Maitlis, S, & Briner, RB, 1995, An exploratory study of goal setting in theory and practice: A motivational technique that works? Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 68: 237-252 Gomez-Minambres J, 2011, Motivation through goal setting, Journal of Economic Psychology, 33: 1223-1239 Anthony, L, 2014, Why Is Goal Stting Important in Organizations? Retrieved on 12th October 2014 from Van Wart M, 2005, Dynamics of Leadership in Public service: Theory and practice, M.E. Shape, New York Read More