University of TorontoThe authors summarize 35 years of empirical research ongoal-setting theory. They describe the core ﬁndings of thetheory, the mechanisms by which goals operate, modera-tors of goal effects, the relation of goals and satisfaction,and the role of goals as mediators of incentives. Theexternal validity and practical signiﬁcance of goal-settingtheory are explained, and new directions in goal-settingresearch are discussed. The relationships of goal setting toother theories are described as are the theory’s limitations.

https://home.ubalt.edu/tmitch/642/articles syllabus/locke pract goal setting 2002 am psy.pdf

Building a Practically Useful Theory of Goal Setting and Task Motivation

The authors summarize 35 years of empirical research on goal-setting theory. They describe the core findings of the theory, the mechanisms by which goals operate, moderators of goal effects, the relation of goals and satisfaction, and the role of goals as mediators of incentives. The external validity and practical significance of goal-setting theory are explained, and new directions in goal-setting research are discussed. The relationships of goal setting to other theories are described as are the theory's limitations.

/pdf/building-a-practically-useful-theory-of-goal-setting-and-166hp7owum.pdf

Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation. A 35-year odyssey.

A review of 13 years of research into antecedents of university students' grade point average (GPA) scores generated the following: a comprehensive, conceptual map of known correlates of tertiary GPA; assessment of the magnitude of average, weighted correlations with GPA; and tests of multivariate models of GPA correlates within and across research domains. A systematic search of PsycINFO and Web of Knowledge databases between 1997 and 2010 identified 7,167 English-language articles yielding 241 data sets, which reported on 50 conceptually distinct correlates of GPA, including 3 demographic factors and 5 traditional measures of cognitive capacity or prior academic performance. In addition, 42 non-intellective constructs were identified from 5 conceptually overlapping but distinct research domains: (a) personality traits, (b) motivational factors, (c) self-regulatory learning strategies, (d) students' approaches to learning, and (e) psychosocial contextual influences. We retrieved 1,105 independent correlations and analyzed data using hypothesis-driven, random-effects meta-analyses. Significant average, weighted correlations were found for 41 of 50 measures. Univariate analyses revealed that demographic and psychosocial contextual factors generated, at best, small correlations with GPA. Medium-sized correlations were observed for high school GPA, SAT, ACT, and A level scores. Three non-intellective constructs also showed medium-sized correlations with GPA: academic self-efficacy, grade goal, and effort regulation. A large correlation was observed for performance self-efficacy, which was the strongest correlate (of 50 measures) followed by high school GPA, ACT, and grade goal. Implications for future research, student assessment, and intervention design are discussed.

/pdf/psychological-correlates-of-university-students-academic-tr8hhxna2p.pdf

Psychological correlates of university students' academic performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Teams of people working together for a common purpose have been a centerpiece of human social organization ever since our ancient ancestors first banded together to hunt game, raise families, and defend their communities. Human history is largely a story of people working together in groups to explore, achieve, and conquer. Yet, the modern concept of work in large organizations that developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries is largely a tale of work as a collection of individual jobs. A variety of global forces unfolding over the last two decades, however, has pushed organizations worldwide to restructure work around teams, to enable more rapid, flexible, and adaptive responses to the unexpected. This shift in the structure of work has made team effectiveness a salient organizational concern.Teams touch our lives everyday and their effectiveness is important to well-being across a wide range of societal functions. There is over 50 years of psychological research—literally thousands of studies—fo...

/pdf/enhancing-the-effectiveness-of-work-groups-and-teams-1huyatel6n.pdf

Enhancing the Effectiveness of Work Groups and Teams

Quasi-experimentation - design and analysis issues for field settings - cook,td, campbell,dt

The effectiveness of distal outcome goals, proximal plus distal outcome goals, and being urged to “do your best” interventions on self-efficacy and transfer was investigated in a field experiment involving government employees (N = 72). Six weeks after the training session took place, both participants who were urged to do their best and those who set proximal plus distal goals had increased transfer (that is, generalization and maintenance) relative to those who set outcome goals. There was no significant difference in the transfer level of participants urged to do their best and those who set proximal plus distal goals.

Effectiveness of Distal and Proximal Goals as Transfer-of-Training Interventions: A Field Experiment.

Dans cette experience de terrain, on applique la theorie de la fixation des objectifs au sentiment d’efficacite personnelle d’etudiants, a leur satisfaction envers le programme du MBA aussi bien qu’a leur performance (GPA). Immediatement apres leur avoir fixe des objectifs specifiques eleves, nous avons mesure le sentiment d’efficacite personnelle des etudiants en MBA. Celui des etudiants de la condition “objectifs de resultats pour la fin de l’annee” (long terme) etait inferieur a celui de sujets qui etaient dans la condition “faites de votre mieux” ou dans celle “but d’apprentissage”. Les sujets presentant des difficultes specifiques en ce qui concerne les buts d’apprentissage sont plus satisfaits du programme MBA que ceux des autres conditions experimentales. Le GPA etait significativement plus eleve dans la condition “but d’apprentissage” que dans celle “but de performance”a long terme. Les sujets qui ont des objectifs a court terme et un objectif de resultat a long terme ont un GPA plus eleve que ceux qui ont seulement un objectif a long terme ou que ceux qui sont dans l’urgence de faire de leur mieux. Les implications de ces resultats pour la theorie et la pratique sont discutees.

The present field experiment examined the application of goal setting theory on student self-efficacy, satisfaction with the MBA program, as well as performance (i.e. GPA). Immediately after setting specific high goals, the self-efficacy of MBA students who set year end (distal) outcome goals was lower than participants in either the “do your best” or the learning goal conditions. Participants who set specific difficult learning goals had higher satisfaction with the MBA program than those in other experimental conditions. GPA was significantly higher in the learning goal condition relative to the distal performance goal condition. Participants who set proximal goals, in addition to a distal outcome goal, had a higher GPA than those who only set a distal goal or those who were urged to do their best. Implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.

The Effect of Learning vs. Outcome Goals on Self-Efficacy, Satisfaction and Performance in an MBA Program

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to look at the issues concerning barriers that managers face in relation to participation in training and transfer of training, which have become increasingly important to HRD scholars and practitioners. To date, these areas have largely been examined independently. This paper aims to argue that there is an increasing need to understand and explore these two areas in unison.Design/methodology/approach – Although this paper is primarily conceptual in nature, in order to investigate a model derived from relevant literature, survey data from 137 Canadian employees, mostly from the broader public sector, was examined. These respondents completed a short transfer of training questionnaire three months after a one‐day managerial training programme. In this study, open‐ended questions investigating training barriers are analysed.Findings – The exploratory examination of information from participants of a managerial training programme suggests that the model which links lite...

Building a Bridge of Understanding: How Barriers to Training Participation Become Barriers to Training Transfer

Although organizations frequently use teams, few studies have systematically examined training methods designed to improve collective efficacy and team performance. As such, the primary purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of verbal self-guidance (VSG) training, adapted from Meichenbaum (1975,1977), on collective efficacy and team performance. Using a quasi-experimental design, undergraduate students (n= 184) were assigned to 42 teams. These 42 teams were assigned to 2 training conditions (verbal self-guidance/comparison). Results revealed that verbal self-guidance had a main effect on collective efficacy and performance. Collective efficacy was found to mediate the VSG training-performance relationship; it also correlated significantly with both team performance and the use of verbal guidance skills.

The effect of verbal self‐guidance training on collective efficacy and team performance

La recherche recente demontre que les buts d'apprentissage sont superieurs aux buts axes sur les resultats dans le contexte de tâches complexes. L'efficacite des buts axes sur les resultats comportementaux (etablis a l'aide d'une echelle d'observation comportementale), les buts d'apprentissage et l'incitation des personnes a faire de leur mieux ont ete examines dans le contexte d'un programme d'apprentissage destine a ameliorer le comportement individuel en equipe dans le cadre d'une tâche de resolution de probleme en groupe. Les participants (n = 50) qui ont etabli des buts comportementaux ou des buts d'apprentissage ont connu une plus grande autoefficacite que ceux qui avaient ete incites « a faire de leur mieux ». L'autoefficacite entrait en correlation positive avec le comportement en travail d'equipe et l'engagement envers un but. Ces conclusions suggerent que les buts axes sur les resultats comportementaux peuvent attenuer la necessite d'imposer des buts d'apprentissage dans le cas de tâches complexes.

The effects of behavioural outcome goals, learning goals, and urging people to do their best on an individual's teamwork behaviour in a group problem-solving task.

Travor C. Brown

Papers

Effectiveness of Distal and Proximal Goals as Transfer-of-Training Interventions: A Field Experiment.

The Effect of Learning vs. Outcome Goals on Self-Efficacy, Satisfaction and Performance in an MBA Program

Building a Bridge of Understanding: How Barriers to Training Participation Become Barriers to Training Transfer

The effect of verbal self‐guidance training on collective efficacy and team performance

The effects of behavioural outcome goals, learning goals, and urging people to do their best on an individual's teamwork behaviour in a group problem-solving task.