The effects of goal difficulty on performance: A field experiment

Stedry, Andrew C.; Kay, Emanuel

doi:10.1002/bs.3830110605

Cited by 101 publications

(30 citation statements)

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“…Obviously, if the standards are viewed as assigned goals, then the results for the underachievers fit nicely within goal setting theories. Moreover, the findings that (a) quantitative standards did not influence quality and (b) that workers assigned low standards did not perform below the control workers (no assigned standards) are consistent with certain views of goal setting theorists (e.g., Pritchard & Curts, 1973;Shaw, 1984;Stedry & Kay, 1966;Steers & Porter, 1974). It should be noted, however, that the overachievers' failure to respond to the higher goals by increasing their productivity is not consistent with goal setting theory.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

“…Of course, these data are correlational in nature and there may be alternative explanations. Nevertheless, these data are consistent with the results of other studies that show that workers will develop strategies and creative approaches to tasks when attempting to meet a standard or goal (cf., Chaney, 1969;Shaw, 1984;Stedry, & Kay, 1964;Terborg, 1976).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Work Standards, Productivity, and Quality

Tatum¹,

Nebeker²,

Sorensen³

1991

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Public reporting burden for this cc1Xection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, search ing existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other a-oect of this oollection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302, and Approved for public release; distribution is un!imi!td. ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 words)W. Edwards Deming claims that standards should be eliminated because they focus on the quantity of work produced to the detriment of work quality. The present study examined the effects of production standards on work quantity and quality. Thirty-seven employees were hired to perform a "database management" task in a simulated work environment. The first week was the baseline period for productivity (keystrokes per hour) and work quality (percent key entry errors). During the second week, the workers were divided into two control groups and four experimental groups. The control groups differed only in that one group received feedback on its productivity and the other group received no feedback. The four experimental groups represented four levels of work standards (80%, 90%, 110%, and 120% of baseline). The workers were divided into underachievers and overachievers. The underachievers showed a marked increase in keystrokes per hour as the standards increased. Key entry errors for underachievers and overachievers were unaffected by the standards, except that the overachievers made more errors than the underachievers for the moderately high (110%) standard. In general, there was no evidence that productivity increases were related to declines in work quality. Responses to job satisfaction and stress questions revealed no differences between any of the groups. Specific task strategies were identified that might explain how workers were able to increase production without sacrificing quality. FOREWORDThe project reported here investigated the effect of production standards on work quantity and quality. The project was conducted in the Navy Personnel Research and Development Center's Organizational Systems Simulation Laboratory (OSSLAB). The project was originally an Exploratory Development Program entitled "Improving Individual and Unit Productivity" (PE0602233, Project RM33M20, Task 8) and was later sponsored under the Independent Research/ Independent Exploratory Development (IR/IED) Work Unit 0602936N-RV36120.This report is one in a series of publications investigating the relationships of incentives, standards, and feedback to job performance and satisfaction in a simulated organizational setting. Technical reports have been published on the relationships between performance, incentives, job satisfaction, and stress (NPRDC-TR-87-29 and NPRDC...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Work Standards, Productivity, and Quality

Tatum¹,

Nebeker²,

Sorensen³

1991

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“…The reason why hard goals have a better performance record is that such goals give rise to greater effort and persistence, at least as long as the goals are accepted by the agent [7, p. 29]. However, other empirical studies suggest that very difficult goals can be counterproductive [30]. According to those studies agents perform worse when they aim for goals that are very challenging than when they aim for goals that are challenging but not exceptionally difficult to achieve.…”

Section: A Non-toxic Environment: Approachabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Rational environmental goals and sustainable planning

Edvardsson¹

2006

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93

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In Sweden planning towards ecological sustainability starts out from a system of environmental objectives adopted by Parliament in the late 1990s. The objectives express what environmental quality society should aim for within a generation, and are designed to guide decision-making in all sectors of society. In order to form a solid basis for planning towards ecological sustainability, the objectives must meet two types of conditions. First, they must have the capacity to guide and motivate those who are responsible for their implementation. To do so each objective must satisfy a set of rationality (functionality) criteria for individual goals: precision, evaluability, approachability, and motivity. Second, taken together the objectives must constitute a rational (functional) operationalization of the ecological dimension of sustainable development. For this to be the case the goal system must be coherent. An application of the suggested conditions to three Swedish environmental quality objectives illustrates some of the difficulties that are associated with the Swedish system of environmental objectives and ultimately with the whole idea of using goals in environmental management.

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“…Consistent and significant improvements in performance as a result of goal setting have been found in studies by Locke and others (Bryan & Locke, 1967;Locke & Bryan, 1969;Locke, Cartledge & Knerr, 1970;Locke, 1975;and Umstot, Bell & Mitchell, 1976;and Ivancevich, 1977). Setting goals improves performance and the more difficult it is to reach the goals the better the performance, up to the point where goals are perceived as impossible (Stedry & Kay, 1966;and Zander & Newcomb, 1967). The relationship between goal setting and satisfaction is less clear.…”

Section: Components Of Mbomentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of MBO on Performance and Satisfaction in a Public Sector Organization

Thompson

Luthans²,

Terpening

1981

Journal of Management

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This field study examined the effets of MBO on measures of quantity and quality' of performance and satisfaction with the work and supervision among employees in a human services agency. Although not all the quantity measures improved significant/,} the (combined measure for quantity of performance and one of two quality measures showed significant improvement following implementation of MBO. Satisfaction with supervision also significantly improved but not satisfaction with work. The study lends support to the use of MBO in public sector organizations.

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The effects of goal difficulty on performance: A field experiment

Cited by 101 publications

References 4 publications

Work Standards, Productivity, and Quality

Work Standards, Productivity, and Quality

Rational environmental goals and sustainable planning

The Effects of MBO on Performance and Satisfaction in a Public Sector Organization

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