Business // Performance Management – Goal Setting
ABSTRACT
This research study explored and analyzed practical applications of goal setting theory to performance management. The current research was carried out to investigate the importance of goal-setting to performance management.
This analytical research was done based on the data given and reliable articles to explain the matter. The article focused on a thorough research on the given study and improved it by additional scholarly journals to support the paper. After evaluating the context of the chapter, the writer applied its learning on explaining certain principle of goal-setting, performance management, arguments, issues, and different ideas to dig deeper on the topic given.
The whole study was given a whole favorable study skills and ideas. Actions and recommendations are also being demonstrated by forming a goal method like BHAG or Big Hairy Audacious Goal. This method is necessary to promote with more emphasis on specific goal for performance management.
This research topic has to extract and understand “Practical Applications of Goal Setting Theory to Performance Management”. We all have goals in every aspect of our lives. May it be personal, career or a goal for business to satisfy our commitment to further our advancement. We all have been asked what our goal inside our family house is for a day even from school since we spent most of our time in educational environment. We were often asked by every human resource personnel during our interview to their company and also in every test paper we answered to pass our subject specifying our goals as instructed. Goal setting and application is seen always especially in fulfilling our job and responsibilities. Behind every activity and deadline there is a goal itself to achieve. We need goal to finish what we are working at this moment. We need goal to have a purpose. And this purpose lies to the fact that we need to perform well at work and at the same time set limit to motivate our daily endeavor.
Peter A. Heslin et. al discussed developments regarding five factors namely goal commitment, task complexity, goal framing, team goal and feedback that can be managed to enable effective performance management. The authors put statistically that 83 studies have revealed that goal commitment is a serious gist for a difficult goal mainly to be converted to high performance. In order to build goal commitment, Locke & Latham from this research shared to increase goal importance and self-efficacy. It is a focused and result-driven commitment. According to Gary Latham in his journal “Goal Setting and Performance in the Public Sector, “commitment to a performance goal results in the choice to exert and an effort and to persist until the goal is attained by cueing and then using the knowledge and ability already possesses. IN other words, by our commitment to a goal, there is a learning process that will lead to end result of our goal. IT is up to us on how we will integrate this newly acquired information, knowledge and skills. While we are focus on our goal commitment, we are finding way on how to be committed for a long time. For example, we want to learn and to be an expert for all work instructions. We have to be committed by learning new strategies on how to obtain it.
The authors also established self-efficacy for goal commitment. It involves self-mastery, role modeling & then verbal persuasion. This is simply a self-assessment measurement. Task complexity is very simple to understand. Heflin et al mentioned:
“Complex tasks are those on which the path to goal achievement is not immediately apparent or easily understood. Wood (1986) defined task complexity as involving three aspects: component complexity (signified by the number of acts and information cues involved in completing a task), coordinative complexity (indicated by the type and number of relationships among the acts and information cues), and dynamic complexity (reflecting the degree of changes in acts and information cues over time, as well as the relationships among them). “.98-99.
Example is an Airport Traffic Controller, their learning skills and training methods are complex. Learning airport trajectories, navigation, radar system and all technical and mathematical calculations they need to make an input to their goals. This task complexity will measure their performance during the learning progress and how well they can achieve specific complex task and outcome of goal. Same will apply to pilot in command, aircraft mechanics and aeronautical engineers. The authors said that complex tasks should not be given specific and challenging goals. But it should be “proximal” goals or a specific learning goal. But as far as the theory is concern, it must be difficult but attainable and specific to raise performance. Fred C. Lunenburg explained that:
“A goal that is too easily attained will not bring about the desired increments in performance. The key point is that a goal must be difficult as well as specific for it to raise performance. However, there is a limit to this effect. Although organization members will work hard to reach challenging goals, they will only do so when the goals are within their capability. As goals become too difficult, performance suffers because organization members reject the goals as unreasonable and unattainable.” p.3.
Every individual has their own learning technique. Some people start in difficult task and exercise basic and complicated learning goals in order to challenge one’s skills and capabilities. From then on, goal setter or achiever will get used to it. Goal framing is another factor that can be either positively or negatively framed as per the author. It will affect how great people learn and perform their job. It is true that it is better to have a goal in a positive way where the employee as a challenge can achieve a path towards improvement rather than be threatened that triggers anxiety and loss of performance. Let employees learn, commit mistakes, correct and absorb it. It is a natural way of a learning process. Employees may start small and steady. We function also as a team. A goal for sales managers mean expecting his/her team to meet over a given fixed amount of selling, more bookings of products and other important deals to be closed. Sales manager needs to support and prepare his/her staffs to be the best in achieving their goals. He/she must be supportive, motivate and increase their self-confidence. Sales manager should discuss attributions, how they affect performance and self-efficacy. For feedback, the authors also included this last factor exemplifying, “For challenging goals to lead to high performance, they need to be accompanied by adequate feedback (Erez, 1977). However, not all feedback is helpful”. Feedback is an accurate method and they can utilize this feedback to help the organization to attain performance goals with their employees. Feedback from performance encourages people to perform well in order to contribute to business goals.
The reading material is effective, helpful and relevant in every organization. The factors are a great foundation in order to set goals. Companies and their departments used different goal models like SMART, SMARTER, DAPPS, CLEAR, HAR, PURE and BHAG Goals. To recommend the best model for performance management, it is BHAG. It means Big Hairy Audacious Goal. In order to increase and gain a positive feedback based on your performance, an employee needs to go out a bit from his/her comfort zone, being confident and a little bit of pride. An individual should conceptualize a goal by being ambitious, innovative, and action-oriented and with a minimum 10 year plan of his/her goal. Test if it is for short term or long-term process, can be transferrable to your colleagues at training, measurable or if it can create momentum. Just like what Heslin and all discussed in chapter three, you need to commit and start a forward step ahead of the progress immediately. Make it sure that you need to dedicate more checking and evaluating of goals to improve performance. Even though 10 years is so long, well, it is powerful foundations when you commit and are aggressive to stay in a company where you can perform well and in the future use it to your advantage. Bear in mind that in every private or public sector, performance management is the system that includes goal setting, also coaching and evaluation for employee on goal attainment. This research paper is applicable on theories and other principles of goal attainment by employees.
Reference
Fenghua, G. (2016). Study on the Application of Goal-Setting Theory in University Sports Teaching. US-China Education Review A, [online] 6(6), pp.2-4. Available at: http://www.davidpublisher.com/Public/uploads/Contribute/5795d39af01ac.pdf [Accessed 16 Jan. 2018].
Heslin, P., Carson, J. and Vandewalle, D. (2009). Practical Applications of Goal Setting Theory to Performance Management. 1st ed. pp.89-107.
Latham, G., Borgogni, L. and Petitta, L. (2008). Goal Setting and Performance Management in the Public Sector. International Public Management Journal, [online] 11(4), pp.385-403. Available at: http://www-2.rotman.utoronto.ca/facbios/file/30%20-%20Latham,%20Borgogni,%20&%20Petitta%202008%20-%201.pdf [Accessed 13 Jan. 2018].
Lunenburg, F. (2011). Goal-Setting Theory of Motivation. International Journal of Management, Business, and Administration, [online] 15(1), pp.3-6. Available at: http://www.nationalforum.com/Electronic%20Journal%20Volumes/Lunenburg,%20Fred%20C.%20Goal-Setting%20Theoryof%20Motivation%20IJMBA%20V15%20N1%202011.pdf [Accessed 14 Jan. 2018].
2018/5299
