"Learning Versus Performance Goals: When Should Each Be Used?"
Academy of Management Executive
February 2005, pp. 124-131
Though co-author Gary Latham is one of the best-known proponents of goal-setting as a motivational technique, this article makes the argument that "The assignment of ambitious goals without any guidance on ways to attain them often leads to stress, pressures on personal time, burnout, and in some instances unethical behavior. It is both foolish and immoral for organizations to assign 'stretch goals' and then fail to give employees the means to succeed, yet punish them when they fail to attain the goals."
Performance goals are framed so that the employee focuses on task performance and results. A learning goal focuses on the discovery of effective task processes. The performance goal primarily increases one's motivation, while the learning goal increases one's knowledge or ability. The research of the authors of this article indicates that a performance goal should not be set until the employee has the knowledge to attain it. Therefore, it is often more effective to first focus on goals that increase task ability instead of focusing directly on task performance.
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