THE VALUE OF GOAL SETTING IN RAISING EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION

Writers Fictions

Kenneth Wayne Thomas (2009) According to In an era where businesses are looking for global expansions, hence the expectation of job roles have dramatically changed, and the need for initiative, creativity, and judgment has increased so employee motivation is a paramount need for the performance of an organization, and it has become one of the biggest challenges the leaders face nowadays.

 Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2006) proposed that, Goal-setting theory explores the effectiveness of specific, challenging goals, their relationship to affect, mediators, self-efficacy, and moderators. Recent studies focus on goal choice, factors influencing it, learning goals, goal framing, well-being, group goal setting, goals and traits, macro-level goal setting, and conscious versus subconscious goals. 

Armstrong and Taylor, (2020) suggest that with human evaluation, the study of human motivation has always been a popular area of research where Greek theorists focused on the perception of intemperance being identified as the primary impelling cause in human

according to recent McKinsey research, While goals have long been used as a quantitative measure for employee performance, many organizations find that the goal-setting process takes a huge amount of time and is, frankly, not very effective. However, when done correctly, goal setting can help improve employee engagement in a way that elevates performance and benefits organizations overall.

((Instance, according to Chowdhury, S. and Hioe, E. (2017). How effective goal-setting motivates employees McKinsey & Company. [online] www.mckinsey.com. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-organization-blog/how-effective-goal-setting-motivates-employees.)

Goal-Setting Theory of Motivation.

An objective of an action that an employee is planning to achieve or set to achieve by an organization that provides the employees a direction and unified leadership to the organization (Brown & Harvey 2006; Ghazzawi 2007) can be defined as a goal. In 1979, Locke and Latham introduced the Goal-Setting Theory of Motivation commonly referred to as Goal Theory, which defined that employee motivation is higher than usual when organizations set clear, specific goals with higher expectations but agree (Armstrong and Taylor, 2020) and when the results are utilized for performance evaluation and given feedback on results, which will form assurance and acceptance (Lunenburg, 2011).

What Is Locke's Goal-Setting Theory?

Atlassian (n.d) Goal setting theory Summarized that, If you’re feeling extra fancy, the formal name is the goal-setting theory of motivation. It was originally outlined and published in 1968 by American psychologist, Dr. Edwin A. Locke. 

In the simplest terms, the theory states that clear, well-defined, and measurable goals improve performance much more than vague objectives do. 

For example, setting a goal for your team like, “Win the company-wide desk decorating contest” will light a fire under all of you much more than an amorphous goal like, “Build a better team reputation.” 

Locke and a fellow psychologist outlined five different principles to help you on your quest for setting effective, motivating goals. So, don’t whip out the crepe paper and silly string quite yet. We’ll cover those principles in detail a little later.

 (Atlassian (n.d.). Goal setting theory | The Workstream. [online] Atlassian. Available at: https://www.atlassian.com/work-management/strategic-planning/setting-goals/theory.

Three imperative attributes enrich an employee’s motivation intrinsically that people will highly commit to specific goals and in return will improve organizational performance as follows (Yuka, 2017)

• Specificity – when the goals are specific the team member will know what is to be attained than a vague goal (Yuka 2017, Schmidt, 2019)

• Difficulty – The level of difficulty of a goal specifies the level of performance. Employees with different levels of expertise will get motivated at different levels of difficulties of the goals (Yuka 2017, Schmidt, 2019)

• Commitment – degree of level of commitment will elaborate the level they wish to achieve the goal (Yuka 2017, Schmidt 2019)

The Goal-Setting Theory has been extensively utilized across multiple domains, such as business, education, sports, and healthcare, to enhance the aim of enhancing motivation, efficiency, and output. For managers, educators, and individuals looking to increase motivation and achieve their goals, it has practical implications.

Locke and Latham's Goal Setting Theory 

A famous structure in organizational behavior and psychology that highlights the need to set specific, challenging targets for improving performance and inspiring people is Locke and Latham's Goal Setting Theory.

This idea states that people have a separate direction and purpose when they create clear and defined goals, which direct their efforts and behaviors toward success. Also, compared to easy or inaccurate goals, hard goals are thought to inspire more effort and resolution, resulting in higher performance levels.

Case Study – 1

In many organizations, it is mandatory to have an annual performance rating that outlines not only performance, but employee goals. Most organizations do not have the time, nor the resources to be specific with their employees on where they fall short of their goals; they have either exceeded or failed. Supervisors generally mark either yes or no as to whether goals have been completed. Oftentimes, there is room for comments from both the employee and the supervisor. If a goal is not completed, the supervisor can indicate whether satisfactory progress has been made. After performance appraisals are completed, employees are sometimes expected to create new goals for the coming year. Most often, the supervisor also comes up with particular goals for each employee. The goals are discussed between employee and supervisor and generally a deadline is set for accomplishing the newly established goals. At mid-year, goals are usually reviewed for progress. Even though organizations go through the steps in trying to make their employees successful, goal-oriented citizens, it seems that most of the time, these goals and accomplishments fall by the wayside. Companies get more involved in production and profit. Most of these goals and performance appraisals are strictly for file records and to “check the box” that they have been completed. On the other hand, some employees tend to have too many goals which makes it very difficult to even complete one. In society today, most companies are just trying to stay afloat. Many organizations have lacked rules on performance appraisals and goal-setting. Employees seem to find only enough time to get their mandatory work completed during the week. There is no room for extra-curricular activities.

Coursehero.com. (2024). Available at: https://www.coursehero.com/file/28212539/Case-Studies-Using-Goal-setting-theorydocx/ [Accessed 16 Mar. 2024].

 

Case Study – 2

Bronkhorst, Steijn and Vermeeren (2013), conducted their research on the second largest municipal council where 13,000 are employed. To minimise the sample the ‘Knowledge Workers’ chosen which narrowed the population down to 6,500 where 3,049 was approached.

The researchers limited themselves to two out of the three goal setting variables; goal specificity (Locke & Latham 2002) and difficulty goals and not included the potentially important moderators (Bronkhorst, Steijn and Vermeeren, 2013) such as feedback, task complexity, self-efficacy, and goal commitment (Locke & Latham 2002)

As a result the researchers suggest that goal setting partly arbitrates the association between leadership and work motivation where there is also an indirect affiliation amongst a leadership style and the goal setting practices and leadership is only one of multiple factors that affect goal setting, and in turn, is not the only forerunner of work motivation.

Even though goal setting is recognized as an important theory in the field of employee motivation, and is a commonly exercised organization practice (Welsh and Ordóñez, 2014) employee motivation can be achieved in many other ways (Bronkhorst, Steijn and Vermeeren, 2013). As shown by the results of researches backdating over 40 years high goals has a possibility of increasing employee motivation which results in higher performance (Locke & Latham, 2002; Welsh and Ordóñez, 2014).

Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2006) proposed that Goal-setting theory explores the effectiveness of specific, challenging goals, their relationship to affect, mediators, self-efficacy, and moderators. Recent studies focus on goal choice, factors influencing it, learning goals, goal framing, well-being, group goal setting, goals and traits, macro-level goal setting, and conscious versus subconscious goals.

 

List of References

•  Thomas, K.W. (2009). Intrinsic Motivation at Work. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

•  Locke, E.A. and Latham, G.P. (1990). A Theory of Goal Setting & Task Performance.

• Armstrong, M. (2020). ARMSTRONG’S HANDBOOK OF STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: improve business performance... through strategic people management. 7th ed. S.L.: Kogan Page.

• Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S. (2020). Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. 15th ed. London, United Kingdom; New York, NY: KoganPage.·         www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Employee Motivation: Goal-Setting Theory. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yj2wsPJEWs.

• Chowdhury, S. and Hioe, E. (2017). How effective goal-setting motivates employees | McKinsey & Company. [online] www.mckinsey.com. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-organization-blog/how-effective-goal-setting-motivates-employees.

• Brown & Harvey, (2007) Motivation through setting goals: Lessons learned from a technology organization, Vol. 12, No. 1&2.

• Lunenburg, F.C. (2011). Goal-Setting Theory of Motivation. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, BUSINESS, AND ADMINISTRATION, 15(1), pp.1–6.

• Atlassian (n.d.). Goal setting theory | The Workstream. [online] Atlassian. Available at: https://www.atlassian.com/work-management/strategic-planning/setting-goals/theory

•  uka, M. (2017). Relationships Between Goal Setting, Intrinsic Motivation, and Self-Efficacy in Extensive Reading. JACET Journal, 61(1), pp.41–56.

•   Bronkhorst, B., Steijn, B. and Vermeeren, B. (2013). Transformational Leadership, Goal Setting, and Work Motivation. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 35(2), pp.124–145. doi:10.1177/0734371x13515486.

• Coursehero.com. (2024). Available at: https://www.coursehero.com/file/28212539/Case-Studies-Using-Goal-setting-theorydocx/ [Accessed 16 Mar. 2024].

• Welsh, D.T. and Ordóñez, L.D. (2014). The dark side of consecutive high performance goals: Linking goal setting, depletion, and unethical behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 123(2), pp.79–89. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2013.07.006.

•  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, [online] 57(9), pp.705–717. doi:10.1037/0003-066x.57.9.705.