Effective Application of Goal-Setting Theory - Coursework Example

Topic: Effective Application of Goal-setting Theory Name Course Institution Date Introduction Due to globalization and increased competition in the business environment, organizations have come up with strategies to enhance their competitive advantage and sustainable wealth creation through effective goal setting strategies. Consequently, researchers have focused on formulating theories and concepts to describe how goal setting affects individual employees and the organizations they work for. As such, there have been conflicting perspectives on goal setting with particular emphasis on performance and achievement of organizational goals and objectives. On the other hand, supervisors and company managers are focused on enhancing employee productivity by developing strategies for employee motivation and aligning company objectives to personal goals. In this regard, goal setting has been an integral part of overall business strategies and human resource management in particular. Experts have also focused on formulating hypothesis and providing empirical evidence on the application of goal setting in the achievement of organizational goals. Much work has also been done in describing the role of goal setting as a strategy for enhancing performance through employee motivation. The critics of the goal setting strategy have made their suggestions based on contradicting perspectives like the expectations and social cognitive theories which have been applied successfully in social psychology to describe human behavior. This paper critically examines the theory of goal setting and employee motivation. In addition, the paper reviews theories and concepts that provide conflicting perspectives on goal setting and employee motivation strategies. Organizational Goal setting At the organizational level, goal setting refers to the establishment of corporate goals and objectives and matching these goals to employee capability and personal goals. However, the concept of goal setting elicits conflicting perspectives from researchers and managers. While some managers recognize the need for balancing organizational needs to employee development, others are more focused in achieving organizational objectives in total disregard for employee welfare. Despite these conflicting managerial practices on goal setting, there is an apparent consensus that effective goal setting must focus on specificity, time, achievability, and quantification. More importantly, goal setting has a profound application not only in achieving organizational values and missions but also in personal development. Experts agree that goal setting strategies must strike a balance between organizational objectives and employee capacity and development. This balance must emphasize on the individual needs and behavior of the employees as a major resource in organizational development and sustainable creation of wealth. The theory of goal setting There have been conflicting perspectives on the theory of goal setting as one of the most effective strategies for enhancing organizational performance and profitability while developing the employee. The proponents of the goal setting theory argue that employees are able to identify with organizational values, mission and objectives at personal level. Similarly, employees are able to work towards a clearly defined goal which enhances commitment, involvement and responsibility. On the other hand, goal setting strategies provides an appropriate framework for the implementation of motivational programs (Vancouver, 2000). Organizations use goal setting strategies to implement effective reward programs that reflect employee capability and personality. On the other hand, the critics of goal setting argue that this strategy undermines implicit learning by focusing on goals and objectives at the expense of personal growth. However, there appears to be a convergence of perspectives that goal setting gives employees a sense of purpose and responsibility that enhances overall performance. The relationship between goal setting and performance has been explained as a complex mechanism. This mechanism activates cognitive skills and abilities that enhance employee performance. In addition, the mechanism reinforces persistence and energizes the employees as they attempt to achieve challenging tasks. Moreover, goal setting saves energy and time as the individual employees are aware of what is required of them. The proponents of goals setting argue that this strategy must incorporate some basic characteristics and principles. Locke’s theory; Organizational Goal setting and employee motivation strategy Goal setting has been identified as one of the most effective tools for motivating employees. Some researchers have come up with theories for explaining the relationship between setting goals and motivating employees. The Locks theory of goal setting has received increased attention in recent years for professional and personal performance. According to Locke, there is a direct relationship between employee’s performance and the specificity of a task. In addition, Locke revealed that employees perform better when they know their expectations and job requirements (Deci and Ryan 2002). In a complementary research by Lathan, it was established that employees’ performance is substantially improved by the setting of goals. Other studies have reinforced the existing literature on this linkage by examining the principles of goal setting and their association to employee motivation Principles of goal setting in relation to employee motivation To effectively set goals in an organization, it is vital to ensure that such goals have some characteristics. These characteristics include specificity, challenge, commitment and feedback among others. Specificity There is a certain level of convergence that effective goal setting must focus on clear and measurable goals. The objective of goal setting should be to create clarity, enhance communicate, sense of responsibilities and realization of expectations. In this regard, organizations must be able to come up with appropriate motivational programs based on the clarity of targets and objectives. The supervisor is able to make clear decisions on which employee behavior to reward and which behaviors to discourage. Challenge Challenge is a vital element in goal setting. There is increasing evidence that challenges motivate employees. The need to achieve pushes people to enhance their performance. Moreover, human beings have a natural motivation to produce good work. This motivation can be enhanced by making the task more challenging and increasing the compensation. In this regard, there are arguments that managers need to consistently review goals and objectives to ensure that they are challenging. However, such goals must remain realistic to avoid demoralizing the employee incase the results are not achieved. Relevance An effective goal setting strategy focuses on the relevance of the strategy. This saves time and resources as organizations direct their resources an energy towards a particular course. On the other hand, employees are able to identify their expectation and work hard to achieve targets. Participation and commitment There seams to be a considerable level of consensus that an effective goal setting strategy must incorporate the involvement and participation of all stakeholders to enhance commitment and efficacy. This brings in the concept of participatory management which focuses on enhancing commitment in tasks by encouraging participation. Employees who participate in policy and decision making processes are more loyal and productive. It is therefore imperative that organizations must focus on involving their employees on decision making processes to enhance commitment and performance (Judge and Bono 2001). Feedback The processes of giving and receiving feedback in organizations have been one of the most challenging issues in employee management. This comes against the backdrop of increasing evidence that reveal that effective communications must comprise of effective feedback mechanisms. An effect of communication feedback is essential not only in team building but also in enhancing communication between the employees and the organization. As such, the role of feedback cannot be underestimated in promoting team building and organizational management (VandeWalle and Slocum 2001). Feedback enables the employees to evaluate their performance. When employees find that they are below their targets, they increase their efforts and seek for other ways to improve performance. In this regard, feedback is an effective modulator of employee performance. Challenges and limitations of the goal setting theory However, although goal setting is a plausible theory that has proved to be highly effective in enhancing employee performance and organizational profitability, there are several limitations to this end. One of the challenges of goal setting theory pertains to the conflicts between employee interest and organizational objectives. There are arguments that at times team building processes may aggravate conflicts between employee and organizations (Martocchio, 1994). This is usually counterproductive and results into poor performance. On the other hand, there are arguments that goal setting does not necessarily lead to job satisfaction. Critics of the goal setting theory suggest that an effective goal setting strategy must encompass job satisfaction tactics to enhance employee loyalty. In addition, it is notable that goal setting may be counterproductive if employees lack essential skills and technical competencies. Such employees resist attempts by organizations to set up goals even in circumstances where the employees are involved in decision making processes. The relationship between goal setting and performance Extensive research has shown that goal setting affects performance in a greater way. The mechanism of this action has been described often with conflicting views. One of the mechanisms that have been propagated to explain the association between performance and goal setting focuses on the behavioral and cognitive characteristics of the employee (Kashdan, 2004). In this regard, goal setting enables the organization to direct energy on core and relevant activities hence saving costs and time. The second mechanism for explaining the relationship between goal setting and employee performance is based on the energy they confer to employees. This includes an enhanced physical involvement, commitment and subjective effort. The third mechanism used to explain the relation between goal setting and performance is based on the fact that goal setting enhances persistence of the employee. This has been established by examining the intensity of performance and speed of accomplishing tasks. This is especially important when employees are assigned challenging tasks. On the other hand, goals have an indirect effect on actions by inducing discovery and application of task- relevant skills and experiences. The concept of personal goals as external motivational factor Locke came up with another set of factors that affect employee performance. He came up with the personal goals that constituted what he referred to as the motivational hub. Evidently, individual’s motivation is boosted by self-sufficiency and commitment for the achievement of goals. Employee commitment and self-sufficiency form the external variables that affect employee performance. The personal goals concept focuses on how personal goals affect performance in respect to assignments. In this regard, the interaction of personal goals and self efficacy on one hand and task efficacy and performance on the other hand, provides an effective analysis of goal setting. Although monetary gains are some of the incentives that have been recommended in enhancing personal motivation, several studies have shown that this strategy does not work for all individuals. Some studies have gone further to explain that monetary incentives may not necessarily mediate motivation (Graham and Golan 1991). On the other hand, there are arguments that employee participation in decision making is mainly cognitive and thus soliciting for employee participation must focus on personal behavior and not commitment. However, there is general consensus that participation has the primary effect of enhancing performance and commitment. Goals and job satisfaction Goals form a good criterion for measuring employee satisfaction. This is explained by studies which have shown that employees who exceed their targets are more satisfied than those who fail to reach their targets. Implications of the expectancy and social cognitive theories While goal setting is one of the fundamental theories used to explain employee motivation, the principles conflict with the valence, instrumentality and expectancy concepts which hold that anticipated satisfaction also referred to as valence and instrumentality which refers to the link between performance and reward, as well as the link between effort and performance enhances performance. Under the perceived behavioral control concepts, repeated expectations influence employee behavioral responses. Some of the expectations studied include expectations, motivation, performance and employee frustrations (Cameron and Pierce 1994). The expectations are categorized into those pertaining self efficacy and those entailing to outcome expectancy. According to this concept, an employee who faces repeated failures develops negative attitudes, looses confidence and develops strong perceptions against the set goals. Consequently, employees’ performance drops significantly (Armitage and Conner 2001). Conclusion Given the contribution of a motivated workforce in the current business environment, Goal setting remains one of the most effective strategies for employee motivation. Although experts disagree on several approaches for goal setting by citing the Maslows theory and the expectations and social cognitive theory, it is evident that an effective goal setting strategy enhances employee motivation and achievement of organizational mission, values and objectives. Certainly, goal setting strategies are usually complex and challenging in practice. However, in setting goals, organizations must strike a balance between the objectives and employee interest. On the other hand, it is imperative that goal setting strategies must focus on relevance, challenge, commitment, involvement and specificity as some of the key determinants of effective goals. References Armitage, C. & Conner, M. 2001. Efficacy of the theory of planned behavior: a meta-analytic review. British Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 470–489. Cameron, J. & Pierce, D. 1994. Reinforcement, reward, and intrinsic motivation. A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research 64: 340-465. Deci, E. & Ryan, M. 2002. Handbook of self-determination research. Rochester, NY, University of Rochester Press. Graham, S. & Golan, S. 1991. Motivational influences on cognition: task involvement, ego involvement and depth of information processing. Journal of Educational Psychology 83: 187-194. Judge, T. & Bono, E. 2000). Relationship of core self-evaluations traits – self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control, and emotional stability – with job satisfaction and job performance: A meta-analysis, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 86 pp.80 - 92. Retrieved April 29, 2010 from www.ufstudies.net/.../Judge%20and%20Bono%20CSE%20meta%20JAP%20published.pd.. Kashdan, T. 2004. Curiosity. Character Strengths and Virtues. C. Peterson and M. Seligman. Washington and New York, American Psychological Association and Oxford University Press: 125-141. Retrieved April 29, 2010 from http://www.beswick.info/psychres/management.html. Martocchio, J. 1994. Effects of conceptions of ability on anxiety, self-efficacy, and learning in training, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 79 pp.819 - 825. Vancouver, B. 2000. Self-regulation in organizational settings: A tale of two paradigms, in M. Boekaerts, P.R. Pintrich (Eds),Academic Press, San Diego, CA, US, pp.303 - 341. VandeWalle, W. & Slocum, C. 2001. The role of goal orientation following performance feedback, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 86 pp.630 - 640. Bibliography Armstrong, M. 2006. A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. London: Kogan Page. Legge, K. 2004. Human Resource Management: Rhetorics and Realities. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Mulcaster, W. 2009. Three Strategic Frameworks, Business Strategy Series, Vol 10, No1, pp 68 – 75. Retrieved April 29, 2010 from www.finance.reachinformation.com/strategic_management.aspx Read More