Effective Application of Goal-Setting Theory - Assignment Example

Critically Discuss the Effective Application of Goal-Setting Theory Introduction Even in contemporary lifestyles, goal setting has become the singular way in which individuals advance in their careers, in their wealth accumulation, in their family care and in their personal ventures. But perhaps the most notable area of life in which goals are a pertinent foundation of achievement is in organisations. Formulation and pursuit of goals, both long term and short term, is a proven and effective way of nurturing and maintaining motivation as organisations pursue a desired result such as generation of revenue, growth of market share etc (Locke and Latham 2002, 705–717). As such, the concept of goal formulation and pursuit is a common phenomenon in both human personal life and in business setting (Locke and Latham 2002, 705–717). As shall be elaborated hereunder, the concept of forming and pursuing goals towards a desired objective was conceived as a theoretical consensus by organization theorists at around the 1960’s. This theory is today referred to as the goal setting theory, among the most popular if not the most, pervasive motivation theories of contemporary times. Goals in this instance refer to defined objective, endpoint of an action, aim or target that an individual determines as the sought after accomplishment upon application of effort and time (Locke, Shaw, Saari and Latham, 1981). Goals are used to provide direction and focus of the effort activity, thus permitting an individual to evaluate his or her performance by comparing the targeted end and the time frame with the efforts being put during the conscious pursuit (Locke and Latham 2002, 705–717). This brief essay reviews how this theory has been and can be employed in practical settings. The essay begins with a brief description of the theory, its history and development before looking at what current literature postulates on the application of these theory. After this, the paper then critically elaborates on the application dynamics of the goals setting theory, its practicality, use and limitations of such applications in real life scenarios. This allows for a valid conclusion to be drawn as the terminal section of the paper. Goal Setting Literature Review To conceive the origins of the goal setting theory, it is important to look briefly at the history of motivation theories. The beginning of the 20th Century saw the emergence of three motivational theories namely, the Drive Theory (holding that people are motivated only by an intrinsic desire to attain their physiological needs like security, food etc), the Reinforcement Theory (postulating that people are motivated only by having their behaviours reinforced with praise, rewards etc) and the Subconscious Motives theory (postulating that people are motivated only by their subconscious intentions and desires) (Locke 1968, 157-189). By 1960’s however, two organization theorists Gary Latham and Edwin Locke begun an academic quest to challenge the three theories and in the course of that quest developed the goal setting motivation theory (Locke 1968, 157-189). Locke and Latham postulated that employees always act very consciously and purposefully so as to pursue their desired goals. As such, this theory holds people as rational self-determining beings and not as subjects of unconscious and predetermined environment elements (Locke 1982, 512-514). The goal setting theory saw motivation of employees to result from the self-determination of those employees themselves as active agents (Latham and Locke 2006, 332–340), able to make autonomous decisions and choices (Locke 1982, 512-514). Dr Edwin Locke is actually the pioneer in goal setting motivation research, first published 1968’s article "Towards a Theory of Task Motivation and Incentives." In this initial publication, Locke postulated that employees are mainly motivated by having precise goals accompanied by a perpetual feedback. To Locke, employees were motivated when working towards their predetermined goal, the goals being a source of motivation (Latham and Baldes 1975, 122-124). Feedback when provided goals are being pursued, then improves employee performance. This perhaps explains best why Locke’s theory as revolutionary as it was then, remains very relevant 40 years on to both personal and professional aspects of life (Latham 2003, 309–318). Of most importance in goals setting theory is that, Locke's and recent research show a relationship holding between the difficulty of a goal and the performance of the concerned individual (Locke and Latham 2002, 705–717). According to Locke, difficult and specific goals lead to better performance as compared to when goals are easy and vague. A goal that is too easy does not motivate as much as do difficult goals (Locke and Latham 2002, 705–717). Difficult goals are more motivating since even the achievement is greater and more desirable (Locke and Latham 2002, 705–717). After this initial success, Dr Gary Latham took up the findings of Locke and studied how goal setting affected individuals in a workplace. Latham found out that what Locke had postulated was indeed valid and reliable (Latham and Baldes 1975, 122-124). Latham found an inseparable link holding between workplace performance and goal setting (Latham 2003, 309–318). Thus the goal setting theory gained the prominence and fame. When in 1990, both Latham and Locke published a seminal work titled "A Theory of Goal Setting and Task Performance", they reinforced that essential value of setting difficult and specific goals (Locke and Latham 2002, 705–717). The theory has been grouped among cognitive and process theories developed in the last decades of the last century, and classified as a motivational theory (1960’s – 1970’s) belonging with the Expectancy motivation Theory (Latham and Locke 2006, 332–340). In simple expression, the goals setting theory posits that employees or people in general can only be motivated by expectations they consciously determine as the probable outcomes and expectations (Locke 1968, 157-189). In practical applications as shall be discussed in detail hereunder, the goal setting theory employs goals as the fundamental or primary base of motivation. The goals are in most cases performance goals that focus on some predetermined attainments consequent to the effort of pursuit (Locke 1982, 512-514). The goals can also be process goals which focus on an individual’s learning, discovery, understanding or use of a particular skill which will later be used for personal development (Locke 1982, 512-514). Whichever goal type an individual chooses, its time frame of achievement, its demand as regards effort and sacrifices is what qualifies the range of goals people have in life (Locke 1968, 157-189). In Locke’s conception, goals must necessarily be understandable, acceptable and challenging so that they inspire pursuit in individuals. The goals must then be reinforced by feedback which enables the person in pursuit of particular goals to gauge whether the effort and sacrifice is being effective, adequate and promising (Locke 1968, 157-189). If feedback suggests increment of effort, then it triggers improved performance. If the goals setting theory is thus to be applied, it must be understandable, acceptable, challenging and amplified by feedback (Latham 2003, 309–318). Effective Applications of Goal setting Theory Setting goals is a very powerful means of motivating employees or members of an organisation, making the theory very applicable today people. The value of the goal setting theory has become recognized even by management systems such as management by objective systems (Latham 2003, 309–318). The theory is also being applied in organizational psychology, in human resource management and in organisation culture development and in organizational behaviour management (Latham 2003, 309–318). The same is in use in learning centres such as schools, seminars and vocational institutes. It is today a dominant believe that success in life and in business mostly accrues from having SMART goals (Specific-Measurable-Attainable-Relevant-Time bound goals (Latham 2003, 309–318). Locke (1966, 87: 1968, 206) saw motivation to vary when individuals consciously sets difficult goals, easy goals, do-your-best goals and when no goals are set. Locke (1968,206) thus hypothesized that higher motivation levels accrue when goals are set and when those goals are difficult or challenging and specific. This applies equally in any field of life, from industrial, organisational, personal and team contexts (Latham and Locke 2006, 332–340). The goal setting theory is today among the most powerful motivational techniques available to managers and individuals in enhancing productivity and performance (Latham 2003, 309–318). For one, goal setting is very valuable in improving a persona self-motivation in pursuit of long term objectives (Locke 1968, 157-189). Locke and Latham (1990, 101) postulates that goals have an ability to elicit perseverance, commitment, dedication, effort and perseverance in individuals and employees. When individuals want to invest their income in something such as a business, a home or an investment venture, they set monthly savings goals which help them accumulate enough capital. When individuals want to develop their careers, they set career goals such as going back to school for further studies, achieving particular performance evaluations etc. Goal setting has also been largely employed in academic circles where performance of individuals in learning programs is pegged to their goals. Those who want to pass with higher scales or marks have higher motivation levels than those who want to finish their college for instance (Locke 1966, 50-66). Students are today advised to set goals each term, semester or year towards attaining their objective at the end of the course. The same formula is used by teachers, lecturers and instructors in teaching the syllabus. Relevant literature documents findings where goal setting has been employed as a motivational strategy, especially in sport and physical exercise domains (Latham and Locke 2006, 332–340). Numerous sport-psychologists today base most of their works on findings posted by Locke and Latham in 1985, where performance was seen as a net result of the type of goal set. Locke and Latham (1985, 156) recommends that sports performers must strive for the most challenging and difficult ends by setting realistic, measurable and attainable team and or personal goals. In sports application, individuals and teams are motivated by championships, prizes, titles, cups and trophies offered in competitions as the ultimate reward. How important the reward, the championship or title is, the more motivated the teams or individuals are in preparing for the competition. Goal setting is also of immense value to psychology today, especially in behavioural therapy (Latham and Locke 2006, 332–340). A good example is curing an addiction. A smoker who smokes 40 sticks per day can decide to quit smoking gradually by reducing the number of sticks smoked in a day. He or she will thus set goals at daily, weekly and monthly reductions until he or she is finally able to quit. The same happens to alcohol addiction, drug addiction and the like. What is in play here is goal setting theory. In most behavioural psychology, experts use goals to coach their clients to quit or adopt certain behaviours in a gradual process market by short term and long term goals (Latham and Locke 2006, 332–340). Another prominent application of the goal setting theory is in production, marketing and sales departments of organisations (Wegge and Haslam 2005, 400–430). If an organisation intends to amplify their production, they will set goals for improvement where a certain quota is attained after certain changes or additions have been incorporated, resulting to a continuous process of improvement (Wegge and Haslam 2005, 400–430). The marketing department and that of sales always base their performance on the sales volume achieved during a certain period (Wegge and Haslam 2005, 400–430). If the goal is to improve a company’s returns or turnover, the marketing and sales department set goals as a reflection of that targeted increase (Weingart 1992, 682–693). In this application of the goals setting theory in organisations, the objective is mainly attained by a group/team (Weingart 1992, 682–693). This group must thus be harmonized towards the goals targeted at, while the same motivation must be shared by the individuals forming the groups/teams (Weingart 1992, 682–693). In modern times as noted in earlier sections, organisations are governed by goals, policies are based on goals and every action taken is in respect to certain goals (Weingart 1992, 682–693). Limitations of Goal setting Theory in application Despite the success and popularity of goal setting motivational theory, mainly inspired by its applicability and success in results, there are instances in which it cannot be applied (Seijts and Latham 2000, 104–116). In these instances, there are several factors that limit the motivation accruing from the goals set. For instance, arriving at good goals (achievable, measurable, realistic etc) is not a concrete parameter (Locke 1966, 50-66). What is a good goal today may vary tomorrow and across individuals. There are no universal constants in goals setting and they vary based on time, environment, context, individuals, activities etc (Seijts and Latham 2000, 104–116). Motivation derived from goals may also diminish in the process of pursuit as compared to the initial stages in which the goals are formulated. Again, goals achievement is reliant on feedback provision and reinforcement, where these two can adversely affect the performance of the goals setter (Seijts and Latham 2000, 104–116). In most cases, individuals who set goals in their personal life rarely have people to reinforce them or offer feedback (Seijts and Latham 2000, 104–116). Finally, in instances where goals are conceived to involve teams, the members of that team may be motivated in different levels by the same goals, causing limitations to the overall performance (Weingart 1992, 682–693). Conclusion Goal setting theory was developed by Locke and Latham as seen in the paper during the 1960’s to counter the existing motivation theories in dominant use then. As a motivation theory, the theory postulates that individuals are motivated by goals they formulate consciously and intentionally. According to the available literature, the harder the goal is to achieve the higher the motivation levels since harder goals earn higher rewards. Setting goals has thus become a powerful means of motivating employees or members of an organisation. The theory is today applied in organizational psychology, in learning institutions and by learners, in human resource management, in sports and physical exercise training, in organisation culture development, in organizational behaviour management etc, as discussed by the paper. Without question, the goals setting theory is the most prominent and applicable motivation theory so far conceived. Bibliography Latham, G. P. and Baldes, J. J. 1975. The "practical significance" of Locke's theory of goal setting. Journal of Applied Psychology. 60: 122-124. Latham, G. P. 2003. Goal setting: A five-step approach to behaviour change. Organizational Dynamics. 32: 309–318. Latham, G. P. and Locke, E. A. 2006. Enhancing the benefits and overcoming the pitfalls of goal setting. Organizational Dynamics. 35: 332–340. Locke, E. A. 1966. The relationship of intentions to level of performance. Journal of Applied Psychology. 50: 50-66. Locke, E. A. 1968. Toward a theory of task motivation incentives. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance. 3: 157-189. Locke, E. A. 1982. Relation of goal level to performance with a short work period and multiple goal levels. Journal of Applied Psychology. 67: 512-514. Locke, E. A. and Latham, G. P. 2002. Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35 - year odyssey. American Psychologist. 57: 705–717. Seijts, G. H. and Latham, G. P. 2000. The effects of goal setting and group size on performance in a social dilemma. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science. 32: 104–116. Wegge, J. and Haslam, S. A. 2005. Improving work motivation and performance in brainstorming groups: The effects of three group goal-setting strategies. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology. 14: 400–430. Weingart, L. R. 1992. The impact of group goals, task component complexity, effort, and planning on group performance. Journal of Applied Psychology. 77: 682–693. Read More