Goal Setting Theory of Motivation

‘Goal Setting Theory of Motivation’ is one of the most important process theories of motivation for motivating employees.
Motivation is an inferred process within an animal or an individual that causes that organism to move towards a goal.

Motivation is the underlying process that initiates, directs and sustains behavior in order to satisfy physiological and psychological needs or wants. Motivation determines the direction, intensity of behavior/effort and helps in sustaining that direction and intensity over time.
There have been many theories of motivation proposed for motivating people, both on personal as well as professional front.
In 1960’s, Edwin Locke put forward the Goal-setting Theory of Motivation.
This theory states that ‘Goal Setting’ is essentially linked to ‘Task Performance’. It states that specific and challenging goals along with appropriate feedback contribute to higher and better task performance. In simple words, goals indicate and give direction to an employee about what needs to be done and how much efforts are required to be put in. Self-efficiency is the individual’s self-confidence and faith that he has potential of performing the task.

Higher is the level of self-efficiency, greater will be the efforts put in by the individual when they face challenging tasks. While, lower is the level of self-efficiency, less will be the efforts put in by the individual or he might even quit while meeting challenges. ‘Goal Setting’ is the process of setting, defining and stating goals toward which individuals, teams, departments, and organizations will strive to achieve.

‘Realistic Goals’ are those goals that are real, ideal and not abstract. Hence, realistic goals are those which are achievable and are not definitely doomed for failure due to chances of success. ‘Unrealistic Goals’ are those goals that not realistic, non-ideal and abstract.  Hence, unrealistic goals are those which are non-achievable and definitely doomed for failure due to their impossible chances of success.