GOAL SETTING THEORY (LOCKE)

You have heard the phrase a number of times: “Just do your best. That’s all anyone can ask.” But what does “do your best” mean? Do we ever know if we have achieved that vague goal? Might you have done better in your high school English class if your parents had said, “You should strive for 75 percent or higher on all your work in English” instead of “do your best”?

The research on goal setting by Edwin Locke and his colleague Professor Gary Latham at the University of Toronto shows that intentions to work toward a goal are a major source of work motivation. A goal is “what an individual is trying to accomplish; it is the object or aim of an action.”31 Goals tell an employee what needs to be done and how much effort will need to be expended.