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Debunking the Goal Setting Theory

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Debunking the Goal Setting Theory
Presented to
Trudy Dunson, Instructor
MGMT 2125, Performance Management
By
Andrea Smith
10/13/2014

Often times in the business world, organizations become so fixated on the goals they set, that when they begin to go wrong, an organization will invest more into that goal instead of looking for a different path. Oliver Burkeman’s book, “The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking” devotes a whole chapter to the importance or lack thereof of setting goals. In his book, he tells a story of Chris Kayes who was on the foothills of Mt. Everest at the same time the tragedy that took the lives of eight climbers depicted in the book, “In Thin Air.” Kayes observed even through this tragedy, that the climbers did everything correct based on the goal setting theory; they had a clear goal and worked to achieve it above all else however the results were devastating still. In this example, the climbers ignored the evidence that told them that they should turn away from their goal an instead invested more time and energy which led to their deaths. According to Locke and Latham (2006) as long as a person is committed to their goal and does not have any other conflicting goals, there is a positive relationship between the goal and performance. Unfortunately though, goal setting has been prescribed and not monitored. Therefore, like all prescription abuse, organizations fail to recognize the harm that goals can caused due to creating a narrow minded focus. Goal setting needs to be prescribed and carefully monitored to identify the harmful side effects in order to be effective for the organization and employees and drive success. For years, goal setting has been seen as the next logical step in the performance management planning process after analysis of external and internal influences has been concluded for the

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