GOAL SETTING

(Translated by Google Translate)

The theory of goal setting is based on a simple premise: the performance is caused by the desire to provide the service, performing a job. The intention to act (the target), thus becomes a key determinant of the action.

The targets are all that you try to achieve or that you intend to achieve and, according to this theory, people realize what they are trying to achieve.
The consequences are clear. First of all, who has ambitious goals will have a better performance than those with modest goals, depending on who has an idea of what they want to do will have a better performance than those with unclear goals.

Let's see, now, the basic ideas of the theory of goal setting.

There is a positive linear relation between difficulty and performance

Difficult goals lead to better results than do simple objective and that is the result of research carried out in depth and in areas as diverse as mathematical games, puzzle, etc.
When the same problem is studied within the world of work, the results are identical. The working groups which are assigned higher targets are revealed as the best performance.

This hypothesis is not, however, valid, the achievement of the objectives is too difficult or when it requires skills that people have not. To increase thrust action targets have to be difficult but achievable, because the effort is proportional to the level of difficulty and accessibility of the objectives is not possible (for both capacity and scarce resources) becomes frustrating.

Specific goals lead to better performance than do generic objectives

This concept is particularly important because managers often show a tendency to set targets too generic for its employees.
The support for this statement is very broad. In an experiment has been assigned the same task to two different groups, but while the members of a group was asked to "do their best" to members of the other group who achieved superior performance, was given a specific target.

Numerous studies have shown that individuals who are assigned specific targets and achieve demanding better performance of the entities "do its best" according to broad objectives.
Popular in this regard is the study of Latham Baldes, conducted on groups of lumberjacks. The job of a woodcutter was cutting logs when loading material onto trucks and transporting the material itself to the sawmill.
The trucks were not exploited to its full load because the load is equal to 60% of the maximum capacity allowed by law and in that period were simply asked to foresters working in the best of their ability.
He was subsequently set a target of an average load per truck by 94 percent of the cargo office and increased productivity which resulted from the simple formulation of a specific target, was immediate and high.

(Part two)