A Theory of Goal Setting by Locke & Latham

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and Attainment of Goals

(Commitment)- Ownership to a goal increases the likelihood of its accomplishment. Within an organization, people must understand and agree upon goals in order for them to be effective. Therefore organizations thus should encourage employees to develop goals for themselves that are consistent with the organization & its own vision. So there will more of a drive by the employee to stick to achieving and attaining this goal.

4. Feedback and Goals Improve Performance (Feedback) - Feedback is necessary for people as they pursue a certain goal so they can judge their own progress toward achieving it. This feedback can come from self-judgment or from other people. In addition to selecting the right goals, there should also be a process to listen to feedback, so that can gauge how well you and your team are progressing. Feedback gives you the opportunity to clarify people’s expectations and adjust the difficulty of their goals.

5. People May Abandon Goals If They Become Too Hard (Task complexity) - Highly complex goals can become overwhelming for people. For such goals, people need to be provided sufficient time to work toward the goal, improve performance, practice, or learn what is necessary for success. Special care must be taken to ensure that work doesn’t become too overwhelming when goals or assignments are highly complex. People who work in complicated and demanding roles can often push themselves too hard, if they don’t take account of the complexity of the task

Lack of accomplishment of goals leads to job dissatisfaction. Thus Goal Setting Theory can be useful in predicting job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is an important attribute for employee productivity and commitment to the organization.