Goal-setting theory,
developed by Edwin Locke, suggests that employees’ goals help to explain
motivation and job performance. The
reasoning is as follows: Because motivation is goal-directed behavior, goals
that are clear and challenging will result in higher levels of employee
motivation than goals that are ambiguous and easy.
Because it suggests
that managers can increase employee motivation by managing the goal-setting
process, goal-setting theory has some important implications for managers:
- Employees will be more motivated to perform when they have clear and specific goals. A store manager whose specific goal is to “increase store profitability by 20 percent in the next six months” will exert more effort than one who is told to “do the best you can” to increase profits.
- Employees will be more motivated to accomplish difficult goals than easy goals. Of course, the goals must be attainable; otherwise the employee is likely to become frustrated. For example, an inexperienced computer programmer may promise to deliver a program in an unrealistic amount of time. The programmer’s manager may work with her to establish a more realistic, yet still challenging, deadline for delivering the program.
- In many (but not all) cases, goals that employees participate in creating for themselves are more motivating than goals that are simply assigned by managers. Managers may establish mutually agreed-upon goals with employees through a management by objectives (MBO) approach or by creating self-managed teams that take responsibility for establishing their own goals.
- Employees who receive frequent feedback on their progress toward reaching their goals sustain higher levels of motivation and performance than employees who receive sporadic or no feedback. For example, a restaurant manager can motivate servers to provide better service by soliciting customer feedback on service quality and then communicating this information to employees.