BUS403: Negotiations and Conflict Management (2016.A.01)

People perform better when they are committed to achieving certain goals, emphasizing strategic goal setting.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Apply task complexity, feedback, and Temporal Motivation Theory to the goal-setting process.

• Examine the inherent motivational value in setting meaningful goals and objectives in the organizational behavior frame.

KEY POINTS

• Setting goals is a process that requires buy-in from both the management and employee; it is best executed using tools such as goal-setting theory.
• The SMART model illustrates the goal-setting aims, where objectives are identified and pursued through being specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-oriented.
• According to Locke and Latham, the effectiveness of goal setting can be explained by two aspects of Temporal Motivation Theory (TMT): the principle of diminishing returns and temporal discounting.
• Combining Locke and Latham's perspective with SMART goal setting, individuals should focus on taking small steps towards larger objectives through specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely goals.

TERMS

• quantitatively

  Measurable numerically, demonstrated through numbers.

• diminishing returns

  A condition in which additional inputs into an organization, project, or process produce progressively fewer or lower-quality outputs and may decrease the total quantity or quality of outputs.

Introduction to Goal Setting

Goal setting involves establishing specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-targeted (SMART) goals. Work on the theory of goal-setting suggests that it is an effective tool for progress, primarily through ensuring that participants in a group with a common goal are clearly aware of what is expected from them (and able to measure it). On a personal level, setting goals helps people work towards their own objectives – most commonly financial or career-based goals.

Athletes set goals during the training process. Through choice, effort, persistence, and cognition, they can prepare to compete.

SMART Goals

Setting goals requires both the foresight to perceive future obstacles and a scale to measure and benchmark progress. Setting effective goals and identifying the appropriate way to pursue these goals are important elements of successfully implementing an effective motivational strategy. The SMART method for goal setting effectively summarizes the necessary steps to take when setting objectives:

1. Specific: Establishing the appropriate scope of goals is difficult, and it is important to be as specific as possible to ensure successful implementation.
2. Measurable: The ability to measure and assess progress quantitatively is useful in goal setting, as it provides motivational checkpoints and ensures progress stays on track.
3. Achievable: Ensuring goals are achievable is important in successfully pursuing goals. People have a natural tendency to challenge themselves, but it is important to stay within the confines of ability.
4. Realistic: Similar to achievable, realistic goal setting requires a grounded approach of identifying tangible, results-oriented objectives.
5. Time-targeted: Establishing deadlines is essential for goals, particularly from a motivational perspective. Knowing the time frame necessary to complete the goal is important in ensuring the end product will be useful and relevant to the business.

Deriving Goal Setting from Temporal Motivation Theory

Locke and Latham note that goal-setting theory lacks "the issue of time perspective". Taking this into consideration, Steel and Konig use Temporal Motivation Theory (TMT) to account for goal-setting's effects and suggest new hypotheses regarding two moderators: goal difficulty and proximity.

Motivation over Time

The idea of time perspective is simpler than it sounds. Take an example of a university student who has 30 days to study for a final exam. On day 1, when the exam is still a month away, the student does not feel the time motivation very strongly. They are much more likely to choose an activity that is more enjoyable than studying. However, as the test approaches, the student will increasingly tend to choose to study due to the time perspective.

Larger Objectives vs. Series of Smaller Objectives

With this example in mind, it seems logical that structuring a project based on a series of smaller goals with closer deadlines rather than on one faraway end goal is likely to be more motivating. This is also supported by the idea of diminishing returns, which posits that for each unit of investment (be it a minute of time or a dollar) into a given process, less output will be produced. Therefore, combining a series of small objectives (processes) will be more motivating, causing less output to be lost to diminishing returns over time. It is related to the expression "the sum of the parts can be greater than the whole".

SMART Goal-Setting and TMT

TMT (which draws from these two theories of time perspective and diminishing returns) and SMART goal setting together, therefore, tell us that to maximize motivation and, therefore, output, managers should divide projects into several more immediate, specific, and realistic sub-goals.

Source: Boundless
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