Goal-Setting Theory
Goal-setting Theory and its Effective Application
According to the book Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim (2007), motivation is the “forces within a person that affect his or her direction, intensity and persistence of voluntary behaviour in the workplace”. This means that compared to a non-motivated employee, a motivated one is willing to consistently (persistence) give more effort to their job (intensity) to achieve the desired goal or goals (direction). Today, motivating employees is important and has become more challenging for employers due to the fact that an engaged workforce result in greater performance, productivity and success for the business. This is why many managers want to find ways on how to motivate their subordinates so that the employees are willing to contribute to the firm with full potential as it will affect the corporate performance. In order to motivate subordinates effectively, managers need to have a better understanding of motivation which is why there are numerous theories that try to explain the term. Motivation theories can be grouped into two types, the “Need Theories” and the cognitive psychology evaluation theories. The “Need Theories” are the “Hierarchy of Needs Theory”, the “Theory X and Theory Y”, the “Two-Factor Theory”, the “Four-Drive Theory” and lastly the “ERG Theory”. Whereas for the cognitive evaluation, there are the “Job-Design Theory”, the “Reinforcement Theory”, the “Expectancy Theory”, the “Equity Theory and finally the “Goal-setting Theory suggested by E.A Locke, which will be discuss in detail in this essay because this theory has become the most effective and widely used motivational tool that has been supported with many years of empirical research (Barsky 2008).
In 2003, Goal-setting is rated by organizational behaviour scholars as number one in importance among other seventy three management theories (Smith and Hitt. 2005). Goal-setting theory (Locke & Latham. 2002) was build inductively over
According to the book Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim (2007), motivation is the “forces within a person that affect his or her direction, intensity and persistence of voluntary behaviour in the workplace”. This means that compared to a non-motivated employee, a motivated one is willing to consistently (persistence) give more effort to their job (intensity) to achieve the desired goal or goals (direction). Today, motivating employees is important and has become more challenging for employers due to the fact that an engaged workforce result in greater performance, productivity and success for the business. This is why many managers want to find ways on how to motivate their subordinates so that the employees are willing to contribute to the firm with full potential as it will affect the corporate performance. In order to motivate subordinates effectively, managers need to have a better understanding of motivation which is why there are numerous theories that try to explain the term. Motivation theories can be grouped into two types, the “Need Theories” and the cognitive psychology evaluation theories. The “Need Theories” are the “Hierarchy of Needs Theory”, the “Theory X and Theory Y”, the “Two-Factor Theory”, the “Four-Drive Theory” and lastly the “ERG Theory”. Whereas for the cognitive evaluation, there are the “Job-Design Theory”, the “Reinforcement Theory”, the “Expectancy Theory”, the “Equity Theory and finally the “Goal-setting Theory suggested by E.A Locke, which will be discuss in detail in this essay because this theory has become the most effective and widely used motivational tool that has been supported with many years of empirical research (Barsky 2008).
In 2003, Goal-setting is rated by organizational behaviour scholars as number one in importance among other seventy three management theories (Smith and Hitt. 2005). Goal-setting theory (Locke & Latham. 2002) was build inductively over
References: Barsky, A. 2008. Understanding the Ethical Cost of Organizational Goal-Setting: A Review and Theory Development. Journal of Business Ethics 81, no. 1: 63-81. http://www.proquest.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/ (accessed September 10, 2008). goal. Dictionary.com. Webster 's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. MICRA, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/goal (accessed: September 7, 2008). Locke, E.A and Latham, G.P. 2006. New Directions in Goal-Setting Theory. Psychological Science. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/cgi-bin/fulltext/118584110/HTMLSTART (accessed September 10, 2008) Mento, A Rauch, C. 2006. The Goal Setting Theory. Management and Organizational Behaviour. http://www.grin.com/e-book/65341/the-goal-setting-theory (accessed September 10, 2008) Shaw, K.N Terpstra, D. E, Rozell, E. J. 1994. The relationship of goal setting to organizational profitability. Group & Organization Management 19, no. 3 : 285.http://www.proquest.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/ (accessed September 10, 2008). Tubbs, M. E. 1986. Goal-Setting: A Meta-Analytic Examination of the Empirical Evidence. Journal of Applied Psychology 71, no. 3: 474. http://www.proquest.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/ (accessed September 11, 2008).