Mooncore Telescopes (a fictional company) manufacturers telescopes for the amateur astronomer. The company wanted to improve organization effectiveness by creating the next generation telescope that could fit the needs of the amateur and professional astronomer alike. The goal was to use the latest technology available to create a telescope with an unimaginable viewing of space. In order motivate employees and get in harmony with the vision the company decided to use a strategy called “stretch goals.” Stretch goals involve going far beyond the current levels being achieved, to the point that employees lack a clear understanding of how to reach the goal. In fact, employees usually react with considerable incredulity when approached with the idea of stretch goals.
According to Kerr, S., and Landauer, S. (2004), organizations are motivated to use stretch goals for two primary purposes. First, purpose is to improve the organizations effectiveness, and the second is to improve on personal growth and professional development. Stretch goals to be effective must be implemented carefully. If the stretch goal appears impossible to reach or credit is not given to employees for, progressing toward the goal the organization could result in demotivating employees and worst the organization could see disappointing results. However, easy goals are also demotivating and unproductive. Therefore, it is critical that stretch goals when assigned appear to be difficult and challenging, yet attainable.
Because stretch goals are so difficult to reach, the organization needed to address the issue of how to respond to failure when employees did not reach the stretch goal. Jack Welch ex-CEO of General Electric was in a similar situation in which GE fo...
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...ld interview or observe them, have them become the trainers for your new hires.
Improve processes and remove barriers
Ask employees on how the process could be streamlined and remove any steps not required. Remove all bureaucracy from the process and ask how to improve productivity.
Celebrate and reward
Finally, celebrate the accomplishments and reward those who have performed relentlessly to toward attaining the stretch goal (Zenger, 2009).
Works Cited
Kerr, S., & Landauer, S. (2004). Using stretch goals to promote organizational effectiveness and personal growth: General Electric and Goldman Sachs. Academy of Management, 18(4), 134-138. Doi:10.5465/AME.2004.15268739
Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2011). Organizational Behavior (Vol. 14th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Zenger, J. K. (2009) Stretch Goals. Leadership Excellence, 26(7),6.
When compared, both theories achievement – power- affiliation theory and expectancy theory resemble each other. Both theories can be utilized as strategies for gaining employee buy-in for the upcoming change. Achievement-power-affiliation theory, persons have a specific goal in mind to work towards, and takes responsibility for their own actions. I feel this theory will be effective in promoting employee acceptance of the upcoming changes due to the fact that some employees like to stand out from others in departments, and others may be motivated to stand out with new changes. Expectancy Theory persons, also have goals in mind, but their way to achieve their goals are that is based on past experiences and self confidence. I also feel the expectancy theory will be effective in promoting employee acceptance of the upcoming changes because most employees will know in advance that they will be rewarded by pay increase, advancements in the departments. Expectancy Theory people are committed, and motivated so because organizations rely heavily on employees to produce quality of goods and services produced in organizations.
Falcone, P. (2012). 2600 Phrases for Setting Effective Performance Goals: Ready-to-use Phrases That Really Get Results. New York: American Management Association.
Setting clear expectations is extremely important for leading organizations to successful outcomes. It is the” measuring stick” we use to measure success and define what is expected. By developing effective plans and clearly communicating them, the organization can see the developing organizational vision. Organizational leaders seek to link the organization’s mission, vision, and values to provide a common focus toward achieving successful outcom...
Robbins , Stephen P. and Judge, Timothy, A. Organizational Behavior. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Prentice Hall. Pearson Custom Publishing. 2008 Print
The theory of goal setting was developed by Edward Locke and Gary Latham (1990) and states that there is a direct relationship between the setting of specific high goals and task performance. A higher degree of employee performance is obtained when specific goals are set compared to the performance achieved when employees are simply told to do their best (Latham & Locke, 2007). These findings have helped shape leadership styles and improve employee performance and job satisfaction (Posthuma & Al-Riyami, 2012).
Kreitner, R., & Kinicki, A., (2004). Organizational Behavior (6th ed.). New York: McGraw- Hill/Irwin. pp. 406- 441.
Kinicki, A., & Kreitner, R. (2009). Organizational behavior: Key concepts, skills and best practices (customized 4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
The basic premises of the goal-setting theory is the relationship between how difficult and specific a goal is and people’s performance. We live in a goal-oriented society as people usually adhere to specific targets with a plan of action for guidance. Lack of accomplishment of goals leads to job dissatisfaction. Locke’s Goal-Setting Theory from 1968 has been a powerful way of motivating people and is often utilized in whole organizations to increase focus and productivity. The more specific and difficult goals are designed the more likely staff can achieve these goals as opposed to being too vague or easy goals. An organization should consider the five following principles of goal setting: clarity, goal difficulty, goal acceptance, goal specificity and feedback. Organizations that set clear and challenging goals and are open to honest feedback have a greater chance of achieving goals. According to Locke and Latham (2002), goal setting can be useful in predicting job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is an important attribute for employee productivity and commitment to the
Employee. Because I have a strong sensing personality, I prefer simple and concise goals that have practical application (Kroeger, Thuesen, & Rutledge, 2002). However, managers must create inspirational and challenging goals in order to achieve organizational progress. By knowing this, I can learn to identify the manager’s ultimate goals and in turn implement
Organizations everywhere use different methods to push members of their organization to complete various tasks on a daily basis. Whether these approaches are successful or not successful, displays how effective the organization’s motivating factors really are. Motivation is an essential element that must be incorporated into every organization to ensure that goals are accomplished and so that members of the organization always stick to their mission. James Porter and Lyman Porter define motivation as “the degree and type of effort that an individual exhibits in a behavioral situation…and has to do with the direction and quality of that effort” (Perry, 2005). People often wonder what factors cause an individual to perform their job in a certain
Setting goals that are too high will push one beyond his limits, and it will make one more dedicated and hardworkin...
When establishing goals, leaders must impart a notable strategy to succeed and delineate their motive and core values in essence that is notable and attainable. A powerful vision summons and encourages people to situate their vitality in a common ground. By establishing goals, the organization will expand its capability to fulfill goals, construct employee’s reliance and confidence, ameliorate team’s connection and increase all-inclusive fulfillment and gratification. Creating a vision can be a venture or a challenge, however following the six steps Clark (2014) mentioned – “vision, goals, objectives, tasks, timeless and follow up” can be justly straightforward.
...fectiveness of goals. However, according to (Ramsey, R, D, 2008) when deadlines are unrealistic, too tight and cannot be met, employees become frustrated, give up or resort to cheating and the motivation goes down.
In order for organizational change management to succeed in a highly competitive marketplace, it is important for organization to frequently figure out the need for introducing changes. Since organizational change management is more focused on the people side of management, one can decide how the goals will influence the person in reaching their greatest potential within an organization. So there are techniques that can be applied by simply making a chart, such as focusing on the possibilities of: 1) Directing one’s attention 2) Regulating one’s effort 3) Increasing one’s persistence 4) Encouraging the development of goal-attainment strategies or action plans. Using an approach like this might increase task performance making goal expectations more realistic.
Company goal is to educate us on the many options that will assist us in realizing our full potential and take to action to create the results we desire. From communications to goal setting and time management, we can all become more effective in our work and relationships.