Edwin Locke's Goal Setting Theory PDF

BIOGRAPHY Edwin A. Locke is internationally known for his research on goal setting. He was born on January 5, 1938. He is Dean’s Professor (Emeritus) of Leadership and Motivation at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park. He received his BA from Har...

BIOGRAPHY Edwin A. Locke is internationally known for his research on goal setting. He was born on January 5, 1938. He is Dean’s Professor (Emeritus) of Leadership and Motivation at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park. He received his BA from Harvard in 1960 and his PhD in Industrial Psychology from Cornell University in 1964 (Locke, 2017).  Goal – is the aim of an action or task that a person consciously desires to achieve or obtain  Goal setting – conscious effort to establish such performance as to obtain desirable outcomes  Goal setting theory states that a source of motivation is the desire and intention to reach a goal. So setting goals can be very effective in increasing motivation  The goal setting theory was first studied by Dr. Locke in the middle of 1960s. Locke (1996) first described that the approach of goal setting theory is based on what Aristotle called final causality; that is action caused by a purpose. It accepts the axiomatic status of consciousness and volition. It also assumes that introspective reports provide useful and valid data for formulating psychological concepts and measuring psychological phenomena (e.g., purpose, goal, commitment, self-efficacy).  Edwin Locke’s theory of goal setting study  1968 “Toward a Theory of Task Motivation and Incentives”  Employees are motivated by clear goals and appropriate feedback  Working toward a goal is motivating throughout a process and helps to actually reach a goal, which in turn improves performance  Locke’s research: specific and difficult goals lead to better task performance than vague or easy goals  “try hard” vs “try to get more than 80% correct”  Easy goals are not motivating; feeling of accomplishment comes from hard work  Edwin Locke and Garry Latham’s Theory of Goal Setting and Task Performance Five principles of goal setting To Motivate or Be Motivated, Goals must have: 1. Clarity 2. Challenge 3. Commitment 4. Feedback 5. Task complexity  Set SMART goals S – Specific (or Significant) M – Measurable (or Meaningful) A – Attainable (or Action-Oriented) R – Relevant (or Rewarding) T – Time-bound (Trackable)  Starting to set your personal goals 1. Create big picture: identify large scale goals (in a perspective of 10 years) 2. Break them down to smaller targets to be reached before hitting the large scale goal 3. Once the plan is set start working on it and record your progress 4. Reward yourself for achieving milestones