Goal setting involves the development of an action plan designed to motivate and guide a person or group toward a goal. Goal setting can be guided by goal-setting criteria such as SMART criteria. Goal setting is a major component of personal-development and management literature.
Studies by Edwin A. Locke and his colleagues have shown that more specific and ambitious goals lead to more performance improvement than easy or general goals. The goals should be specific, time constrained and difficult. Difficult goals should be set ideally at the 90th percentile of performance assuming that motivation and not ability is limiting attainment of that level of performance. As long as the person accepts the goal, has the ability to attain it, and does not have conflicting goals, there is a positive linear relationship between goal difficulty and task performance.
The theory states that the simplest most direct motivational explanation of why some people perform better than others is because they have different performance goals. The essence of the theory is fourfold. First, difficult specific goals leas to significantly higher performance than easy goals, no goals, or even the setting of an abstract goals such as urging people to do their best. Second, holding ability constant, as this is a theory of motivation, and given that there is goal commitment, the higher the goal the higher the performance. Third, variables such as praise, feedback, or the involvement of people in decision-making only influence behavior to the extent that it leads to the setting of and commitment to a specific difficult goal. Fourth, goal-setting, in addition to affecting the three mechanisms of motivation, namely, choice, effort, and persistence, can also have a cognitive benefits. It can influence choice, effort and persistence to discover ways to attain the goal.
Goal Commitment
People perform better when they are committed to achieving certain goals. Through an understanding of the effect of goal setting on individual performance, organizations are able to use goal setting to benefits organizational performance. In addition, another aspect that goes with goal commitment is also acceptance. This is an individuals willingness to pursue their specific goal. Locke and Latham (2002) have indicated three moderators that indicate goal setting success:
1. The importance of the expected outcomes of goal attainment,
2. Self-efficacy: one's belief that they are able to achieve the goals,
3. Commitment to others: promises or engagements to others can strongly improve commitment.
Goal-Performance Relationship
Locke and colleagues (1981) examined the behavioral effects of goal-setting, concluding that 90% of laboratory and field studies involving specific and challenging goals led to higher performance than did easy or no goals. This is because if an individual is intrinsically motivated by a goal, he or she will want conquer the goal to receive internal rewards, and will be satisfied because of it.
Locke and Latham (2006) argue that is not sufficient to urge employees to "do their best." "Doing one's best" has no external referent, which makes it useless in eliciting specific behavior. To elicit some specific form of behavior form another person, it important that this person has a clear view of what is expected from him/her. A goal is thereby of vital importance because it helps an individual to focus his or her efforts in a specified direction. In other word, goals canalize behavior. (However, when faced with complex tasks and directions that are difficult to specify, telling someone to "do their best," with a focus on learning, can sometimes lead to the discovery of better strategies whereby specific goals can than be set)
In Personal Life
Common personal goals include losing weight, achieving good grades, and saving money. The Strategy for goal setting begins with the big picture; taking a look at the big picture before breaking it into smaller components allows one to focus on the primary goal. Once the main goal is set, breaking it up into smaller, more achievable components helps in the planning portion of setting the goal. These smaller, more obtainable objectives promote self-esteem and provide instant feedback to keep the individual on task.
Time management is the practice of systematically finishing tasks assigned by superiors or one's self in an efficient and timely manner. Time management steps require identifying the objective and laying out a plan that maximizes efficiency and execution of the objective. There are many useful mobile apps that help with personal goal setting. Some of the categories include budgeting, wellness, calendar and productivity apps.
Learning Goals
There are times when having specific goals is not a best option; this is the case when the goal requires new skills or knowledge. Tunnel vision is a consequence of specific goals; if a person is too focused on attaining a specific goal, he or she may ignore the need to learn new skills or acquire new information. This concept is illustrated well by the "basketball game task" study in which observers watched a video of a group of people wearing white shirts and blacks shirt who are passing a basketball back and forth, and the observes were instructed to count the number of times a basketball is passed between only the players wearing white shirts. During the video, a woman carrying a open umbrella walks across the screen. Of 28 observers who were focused on counting the number of passes between only the players wearing white shirts, only 6 reported noticing the woman carrying the umbrella. When observers watched the video without focused on a specific task, all of the observers noticed the umbrella women . In situations where the risk of tunnel vision is high, the best option is to set a learning goal. A learning goal is generalized goal to achieve knowledge in a certain topic or field, but it can ultimately lead to better performance in specific goals related to the learning goals.
Locke and Latham (2006) attribute this response to metacognition. They are believe that "a learning goal facilitates or enhances metacognition - namely, planning, monitoring, and evaluating progress toward goal attainment." This is necessary in environments with little or no guidance and structure. Although jobs typically have set goals, individual goals and achievement can benefit from metacognition.
