Goal Setting Theory Of Locke

Question

Task: Define goal setting theory of motivation along with its implementation in the working environment.

Answer

Implementing goal-setting theory in the working environment
The theory of goal setting is considered to be one of the relevant theories in the discipline of corporate physiology (Goal Setting Theory 2006). The ideology of goal-setting theory was being evolved in the 19th century so that the organizations could streamline their focus towards the common goal and thus consequentially achieve success in their business (Goal Setting Theory Has Become One of the Most Popular Theories in Organizational Physiology n.d.). The goal-setting theory was being observed and scrutinized by Edwin A. Locke in 30 years in the mid-1960s. This observation had revealed some of the hidden impacts on the employees at an individual level along with the overall effect on the whole functioning of the firm (Goal Setting Theory Has Become One of the Most Popular Theories in Organizational Physiology n.d.). Roughly saying the goal-setting comprises the set of talents required to bits of help in achieving the customized set of methods to achieve a predestinated group of goals (Goal Setting 1996). The goal-setting theory was being tested and the reviews and feedback regarding its efficiency of the application. This essay on goal setting theory is being drafted by us to make a very in-depth analysis of the practicability of it keeping in mind both individualistic and organizational aspects.

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The management operating in the higher degree of the hierarchy makes use of employee motivation as a major tool in handling a comparatively large group. To add much more value and contribution to the company, the human resources of the company should be motivated towards a common course so that a higher level of productivity should be attained. There had been many types of research in the academic field of management that had revealed that the application of goal setting theory would enhance the motivation level of the staff. As mentioned in the Locke’s Goal Setting Theory 2000 and the works of Burton, Weinberg and Yukelson in 1998 that the goal-setting theory turns out to be a very powerful tool in motivating the staff in a corporate environment. This theory is being followed since it was believed that the goal-setting theory is very effective in influencing the working capability and behavior of the staff on an individualistic level (Locke and Latham 1990). It is the managing team situated at the top of the hierarchy who allocates a person on a certain job while they are made aware of their particular responsibilities and liabilities. These steps are taken so that the selected employees could prove their skills and proficiency to the higher authority and thus make the statement that they are reliable and trustable. Five different principles were been proposed in Locke's goal-setting theory by Locke which included the complexity of the task, review, obstructions and challenges, transparency, and predisposition (Locke’s Goal Setting Theory 2000).

The processes in the goal-setting theory are so well organized that it includes the whole subsidiary and accessory goals drafted the management in the higher position of the hierarchy and because of these traits this theory is considered to be the most efficient and appropriate one (Santhosh 2008). If looked at the popular review it could be observed that majority of them backed up the fact that the goal-setting theory is one of the most efficient and relevant among the present motivational ideologies and theories, no matter on what type of industry it is and regardless of what the size of turnover it possess (Santhosh 2008). The ideology of the goal-setting theory also mandates it to regularly motivate their human resources so that consistency in their performance could be maintained (London, Edward and John 2004). The process of describing the goal is done that each employee should understand the significance of accomplishing the task provided in a given period of the deadline. The peers like Latham, Erez, and Locke had given their elaborate reviews regarding in 1988 that if the goals are assigned without any proper elaboration then it generates the situation of confusion and thus restricts the staff from displaying their full potential.

In the corporate environment there also exists some measures like execution of the tasks essentially, very diligent and smart allocation of team in every activity, investment of quality management efforts in the designated and important cases so that an amplified set of targets should be attained, arranging the targets so that they could be attained in a very convenient way rather than only opting for a goal-setting theory (Dawn, 2004). Similarly, an inappropriate arrangement of the goals would sabotage the process of attaining the target which would eventually reduce the overall productivity of the firm. It could be thus determined that the goals should be arranged very systematically and only the employees who have no record of failure in finishing the task should be appointed in committing the crucial and sensitive jobs. It should also be kept in mind that the employees should display a very receptive and curious approach towards the allocated task and thus contributing and helping the company in attaining the set of targets that were set by the management of the company (Borchardt 2009). The above-mentioned context would help the company in achieving a greater level of efficiency that would eventually bring high turnover to the company.

As mentioned above in this report, the goal setting theory would help in completing the task in a very systematic way. He researcher, Latham, and Saari had also mentioned it in 1979 that the specifically categorizing and mentioning the list of goals would eventually lead the company to the path of success since the employees would be urged to conduct their tasks with great diligence and sincerity. It is relevant to a great extent since if the goals are being set by the workers themselves, then they would ethically be liable to attain the goals along with sustaining the quality of work completed. This process would alleviate the liability of the management team at a higher level of hierarchy from constantly supervising the quality and speed of the work. It is being observed in multinational companies that whenever the companies entitle the workers to determine their targets, they are ethically driven to deliver the promised quality and quantity of work. Hence it is very best recommended that the employees must be entitled to set their targets so that they should consider themselves liable and obligated towards providing premium quality works before the designated deadline. Hence, if contemplated with the present provided scenario while contemplating the factors like target of the firm and the ideologies and common set of goals followed by the firm; the employees should be provided with an opportunity to devise out their own set of goals and hence should be allowed to adapt their way of operation to attain the target that would satisfy or follow the rules and regulations of the firm. As per the arguments of Latham and Saari in 1979 the employees who have decided their own set of goals display a very affinity towards their work as compared to the employees who have been imposed with the targets by the firm.

The employees who have been subjected to goal-setting theory would show a very good probability of achieving the target rather than normal employees (Goldberg 2009). This high probability of the goal-setting theory sustains because the target is being described elaborately to the employees in a very didactic way by the virtue of which the workers are motivated to work cordially and effectively to attain the target point in a very innovative manner. US Fed News Service and US State News (September 19, 2009) had argued that high preference should be given in attaining the targets. There is no limit for the target although it should be noted that no target is meant to be attained if it is demoralizing in nature. In the following stage, the proper list of targets should be listed down (Goldberg 2009). This is being done so that every concerned person should understand the significance and intention of the goal. The goal-setting theory also makes it very evident to the managers at the time and the parameters to be considered for the supervising procedure. If considered from the employee’s point of view, the goal-setting theory would provide clarity on what should be the magnitude of target and the way it should be achieved while keeping in mind the ideologies and laws followed by the organization. In the third stage of this process, the list of the goal is to be made very transparent and clear (Sawyer 2010). This is the most important and crucial stage in the process of the goal-setting theory since if left unattended there is a strong possibility that the employees would develop a stage of dilemma and hence the company may divert itself to the unintended course. In the very last stage, which is being followed by the systematic arrangement of the goals, the motivation of the employees is being done so that they could provide an enhanced level of performance (Goldberg 2009). This stage has its significance since the arrangement of the goals would go in vain if the employees themselves don’t give any significance to it and stay abstain from covering it. Hence the staff should be motivated by the higher officials so that they could stay in focus to achieve the common target.

It should also be taken into account that a person could set his own set of limits for his targets which may reach to any measure, besides it the process and the efforts taken by the employee is the factor which determines the toughness of the task. In this context, the approach of the S.M.A.R.T tool comes very handily. The S.M.A.R.T tool is very popular among the population and is being implemented by people at the individualistic level to attain their real-life personal goals. As per the observations of the globally known goal-setting theory expert Eade (2008), the S.M.A.R.T tool is the most relevant tool among all other tools mentioned in the goal-setting theory in attaining both the official and personal goals. As pert the ideology of the S.M.A.R.T tool the goals should comply with the factors like specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and tangible concerning the deadline. Let’s take two different instances of which the first one would be to curtail the unwanted expenditure and the second one would be to curtail the personal need and trend in the online shopping in RM200 by the end of May 1, 2010. If taken into account both the context mentioned before the goal which is mentioned second would be more specific and accurate in which the perspective and the intention of the individual would be more concentrated and focused on the calculation and estimation of the amount spend in the process of online shopping.

In the course of achieving every single milestone and goal by going through the process of goal setting theory, the individual would gradually attain high self-appreciation and confidence (Oechsli 1991). While a person s engaged in the process of pursuing a particular designated task, the application of the goal-setting theory would make a more streamlined and effects on the efforts made by the individual that ensures that the work is being done in a very dedicated and steadfast way (Eade 2008). These processes are made possible to achieve since the specific guidelines are being provided by the methodology of goal-setting theory making it crystal clear on what actions should be taken in each step and the accurate period in which a certain task should be completed. These specific sets of guidelines provided under the goal-setting theory would provide clarity and confidence to the employee that would consequentially contribute both to the individual career and the productivity of the organization as a whole. As per the observations of Oechsli (1991), the performance a staff member would increase following the increase in his confidence and self-esteem that would make him more competitive in their whole career of which the organization reaps the most of the benefits.

As per the studies conducted by Then (2008), it was being cleared that setting up or arranging the goals in a very organized manner in either personal life or official life would help in pursuing the whole task in a very systematic manner. The ideologies in the goal setting theory would help the person in tracking the process of the ongoing task and make appropriate changes if the progress is lagging behind the decided deadline. The task is being made very transparent and systematic since the approaches and methodologies to approach a certain section would be provided in a very elaborate way under this approach of goal-setting theory. Let us take the instance of a student who decides to finish his homework before the next day 4 pm. If the student wants to complete his homework before the decided deadline, then the student should keep aside the accessory works which may diverse his efforts. To achieve a task before the deadline a person should put aside all of the remaining works so that the concerned task should be given primary preferences.

It is quite often that a person would get anxious if the work is not done properly and appropriate pace and if he applies goal-setting theory in this context, it would help to sort the work out in a very simple way which helps him to carry out the task in a very systematic manner and thus the strain of the person could be relieved to a greater extent (Scott 2009). Since a person had to commit a lot of activities and deadlines in the single day sometimes there arrives a situation wherein anxiety none of the tasks is done effectively which makes him insecure of being insignificant and disrupting the reputation of being reliable. A normal person may incur with around 10 of the deadlines daily and it is quite probable that the person would struggle to meet all of his deadlines and it is in this context that the ideology of goal-setting theory turns out to be very significant. With the implication of the goal-setting theory a person could figure out on which task he should provide most of his effort on, thus making the daily task much easier and hassle-free (Reduce Stress with Personal Goal Setting 2010). Although a person should have the right sense and knowledge of what jobs should be given the higher priority so that the actual ideology of goal-setting theory could work efficiently. Hence there should be better planning from the behalf of the person so that he could sort the rank of preferences to be given for each set of deadlines. Besides these benefits, the implication of goal-setting theory would eventually provide the person with the track of his progress and thus based on the results he could prepare very innovative strategies making his life more productive and sorted (Then 2008).

Hence it was being observed in this report it has been observed that the goal-setting theory was popularly accepted as a very efficient academic framework which has the potential to accurately predict the results and to increase the efficiency by motivating the person to attain his set of goals by very systematic management of the time. Before a person could apply this goal-setting theory in his working process, he should have very good clarity about the seriousness and emergency of each task otherwise there is no point if making these all efforts. If the goals are being covered not according to their deadline or significance then it is more probable that the person would end up in sabotaging all of his routines. All of these preferences are being determined by the level of commitment of the person towards a certain task and the level to which the person considers it urgent. Sometimes the relation of a person with his client would determine how urgent the task is to him. Hence the people who are in link with the ongoing task have strong and determining relations with the preference of the task to be completed. It had been observed that the implication of the goal-setting theory would sort out the processes involved in the assigned task and hence ease out the burden on the person. The goal-setting theory also possesses the potential to change the whole behavior since it makes the person more goal-oriented which proposes an organized way to do the assigned task. It was also observed the goal-setting theory could bring consistency in the efficiency of the person; which is a very important factor to complete the task within the provided deadline.

If taken the case of goal setting theory personally, I have observed it be very effective and systematic in commencing a task and had brought me a representation of a very hard working and diligent person. The approach had sorted out my busy schedule and my immense list of approaching deadlines.