Question

Imagine your team is presenting to a company about how and why it should incorporate goal theory, goal setting, and self-efficacy in its employee development practices. Discuss the following:

-Provide examples of goal-setting practices applicable to the company.

-Give an assessment of how well goal setting affects employee motivation.

Answer 1

• Depending on the complexity of the intended target, the goals can be broken down into sub-goals,which would be easier and more clear to achieve by the company. For example, the company sets a goal of increasing revenues by 20% might break down this task into the following sub-goals:
• Increase productivity at local factory by 20%
• 1.Implement automation solutions across 40% of organization.
• 2.Invest 10% of production budget into robotics.
• Reduce transportation costs by 10%
• 1.Install GPS tracking systems across entire fleet to gather data on driver behavior.
• 2.Invest 20% of transportation budget into buying faster, more fuel-efficient fleet.
• Increase demand by 40%
• 1.Increase marketing budget by 20%.
• 2.Create new social media marketing campaign to increase influence among 18-25 year olds.
• 3.Improve search engine rankings to rank on the first page for primary keyword on Google.
• Setting goals gives us a concrete target to work towards, helps increase productivity, and gives us a quantifiable measure of success (or failure). Implementing the goal-setting theory in your personal and business life can give you the edge you need to succeed against immense competition.
• The theory of goal setting is based on the concept that whenever people work toward a predetermined goal, combined with a fixed deadline, they will be more motivated to complete the task at hand. People facing an open-ended task will be less inclined to work toward the end result in a structured and effective manner. Goal setting gives employees a larger sense of responsibility and accomplishment once the acquired goals are reached.
• Four basic elements have to be kept in mind, 1) Most importantly, the system of goal setting has to be open and transparent. Employees should know the goals of their co-workers to avoid having other employees feeling left out or being treated unfairly. 2) Goal setting should be objective. Employees must be able to trust their supervisors to objectively judge the goals that are set. 3) Goals should be open to adjustment. Employees and supervisors always should have the option to adjust goals whenever the goal becomes unrealistic due to circumstances. 4) The reward system underlying the goal-setting system should be characterized by the same openness as the goal-setting system itself.
• Goal-setting structures that do not follow the basic guidelines will result in dysfunctional behavior. Employees will feel like they have no real influence on the process or they will feel that their supervisors are not being objective. If managers succeed in following the basic guidelines and keep all communication open and transparent, only then will goal-setting will be a benefit to the employees and organization.