Goal-setting as A Management Tool

Essay by kit007 June 2006

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It is believed that goals are essential in our realistic society, especially in the business world. Goal-setting is becoming widely used in organizations as a management tool for assessment. "Goals are important because organisations exist for a purpose, and goals define and state that purpose" (Samson & Daft, 2003 p.214). For the attainment of this purpose, a consideration of an effective organization is a required part of a manager's job. Therefore, the chief purpose of using goal-setting as a management tool is to point out the purpose and make the organization in the business intended and expected in the direction towards the existing purpose. This essay will argue that goal-setting is an effective tool for management and explain the reasons. It will be divided in two sections. The first section will discuss the goal-setting benefits for organisation by three reasons. One is goal-setting can improve the motivation of employees. The second reason is goal-setting provides the basis of measurement.

Following this how goal-setting provides a sense of direction will be examined. In the second section, the essay will provide a brief discussion giving two opinions that are against goal-setting as effective management tool. One is goals damage intrinsic motivation, the other is goal-setting is an impediment for continuous improvement. These arguments will show that overall goal-setting is extremely important and necessary.

First of all, goals can improve the motivation of employees. There is no doubt that the success of a business is directly relative to the performance of employees. Besides abilities, the motivation of employees is another necessary part to influence their performance. "Both qualitative and quantitative reviews of the research have concluded that goal-setting theory application increase employees' level of effect and performance" (Terpstra & Rozell, 1994, p286). There are two possible reasons for this positive relationship in the...