The Importance of Setting Achievable and Measurable Goals
Using goal setting to enhance employee performance Write a research report that informs the senior manager about the most recent research and debates in the domain of the topic.
Resource Management has the direct and indirect role in achieving the organisational goals. An efficient human resource management helps in building a comfortable environment within a workplace that motivate the associated employees to develop their professional and personal skills and achieve the organisational objectives Russell-Smith et al. (2015). It is needless to say that the human resource management is an integral part of an organisation. However, there are some of the situations when the employees face difficulties to beat their excellence without an appropriate goal. They often strive to meet the purpose to utilize their skills and experience towards something worthy (Speklé and Verbeeten 2014). The human resource manager often focuses on making the team members the better employees and helping them along their professional path development. Therefore, the study will focus on understanding the effectiveness of goal setting to improve the employees’ performance parameter. The report also attempts to identify the role of the human resource management in establishing a proper goal setting atmosphere that can help the employees to perform in a better way.
One of the key responsibilities of a manager is to encourage the growth of the employees. The manager can guide the improvement and the better performance parameter of the employees by setting and attainable and measurable goals. Along with this, they can also help in strengthening the business and enhancing the reputation as an employer of choice. According to Latham, Brcic and Steinhauer (2016), the goal setting within a workplace create star high level of performance attributes. It generally helps the employees to stay focused towards the short term and long term success of the company. Moreover, is human resource manager establishes the criteria and guidelines for a well defined employee performance review; it would enhance the performance and create the company bonus program. In addition to this, a significant goal setting activity would drive deep into the engagement of the employees within the workplace.
On the contrary, Kember (2016) argued that establishing the goal is not the only parameters to achieve success. It is important to review the progress of the goals and make necessary amendments by identifying the areas of improvement. The continuous improvement made on this part will help in enhancing the quality of the performance and will ensure the productive outcome at the end. It is important to mention that the employees not only focus on achieving the organisational goals; they even think to look for the better opportunity to develop their careers prospects as well (Mauro 2016). The human resource management needs to identify search specific needs and demands of the employees to make them motivated towards organisational functionalities. During the preparation of the goal setting, these specifications are needed to be taken into consideration (Katzenbach and Smith 2015). The further section of the report would evaluate the benefits of goal setting in developing high performance level within the workplace.
The Role of Human Resource Management in Goal-Setting
Majority of the organisations depend on the goal setting aspects to achieve the success in a significant way to achieve success. However, it is important to identify the best technique to implement a beneficial goal setting. As per the Goal Setting Theory by Edwin Locke, it is noticeable that the goal-setting approach is connected with the task performance (Latham, Mawritz and Locke 2018). The human resource management needs to specify some of the basic aspects associated with the goal setting function. The following features are associated with the theoretical analysis:
The alignment of the goals with the organisational objectives
During the preparation of the specified goals, it is necessary to address the individual goals of the employees. The self-objectives determined by the associated employees should be aligned with the overall growth strategy of the organisation. This process creates more effectiveness that usually drives towards success. According to Wehmeyer and Shogren (2017), when the employees are able to understand their contribution and the responsibilities towards organisational growth, they become more motivated and focused to achieve these that can help in succeeding in their personal lives as well. The maintenance of consistent approach towards establishing strategic business goals is possible by developing the high level of communication. This transparency maintained in the communication all aspects help in keeping the employees engaged in their works.
Self efficiency level
Managers often create several goals in their mind for each of the employee associated with the workplace. However, it has been observed that is the managers motivate the employees to recognize their goals that signify their individual job expertise; it would become more effective to get insightful vision. However, Shields et al. (2015) pointed out that there are the distinctive attitudes noticed in distinguishing the method of imposing goals and encouraging the employees to suggest goals for their betterment. The employees always feel motivated when they contribute towards achieving success in their professional life. The managers can easily develop an action plan to attain the goals suggested by the employees and matching the preferences of the company objectives.
Establishment of SMART Goals
Bratton and Gold (2017) implied that suggesting the employees to develop their performance parameter does not help in constituting an effective goal. It is quite necessary to set their goals within the framework of SMART. The first component of SMART Framework is specific, which determines that the goal should clearly state the specifications, such as the people involved, the place, the focus, and the scheduled time. In fact, it is also necessary to identify the underlying constraints as well as the benefits that can be derived once the goal is achieved. The second component is measurable, which sets the concrete criteria for measuring progress towards accomplishing the goal. The third component is attainable that helps in improving the success likelihood to the determined goals based on the employees capability (Mostafa, Gould?Williams and Bottomley 2015). The next component is real that creates the clear idea about the closer alignment of the gold with the overall objectives of the organisation. The final component is time bound, which suggests the specific time frame for accomplishing the determined goals.
The Benefits of Employee Recognition and Progress Review
Dependency on Attainable Goals
In many of the cases it has been observed that the goal setting open fails when the determined objectives becomes and a terrible or too much ambitious. It is therefore important to identify the available resources and the skills of the employees prior to set any goal. If an employee is burdened with an unattainable goal, it may lead to frustration with the process (Mostafa, Gould?Williams and Bottomley 2015). As a result, they might feel the lack of motivation to improve further. Hence, it is always necessary to understand the likelihood of achieving the goals based on the employees’ expertise level and efficiency parameter.
Maintaining Consistency in establishing the goals for the employees with similar responsibilities
The maintenance of consistency is a useful aspect of achieving an organisational objective. It is noticeable that the goal setting often fails when it is framed as a competition among the employees. This scenario occurs when an employee with similar responsibility needs to achieve different goals, which may discourage them in a significant way (Berson et al. 2015). They are of restrained from encouraging the internal rivalries that hampers the morale and creates the resentments for managers. Therefore, it is important to maintain the consistency while allocating the tasks for an employee, who is entitled to meet the specific goals as per their expertise level.
Reward and Recognition for the employees to accomplish their goals
When the employees feel appreciated, it helps them to become much motivated and perform in a better way. According to Albrecht et al. (2015), one of the critical success factors contributes towards goal accomplishment is the reward and recognition provided to the Employees. It clearly defines a process of recognizing the fruitful contribution and appreciating the employees with a certificate, bonus or any public acknowledgement. The employees also feel that their efforts are quite fruitful for achieving the organisational goals (Shields et al. 2015). In fact, or to develop their values and commitment level with their hard work and achieve the success. If the organisation fails to notice such hard work, it would affect the mental state of the employees and they might even look for better option or new job (Lazaroiu 2015). The human resource management needs to identify such concerned and take the initiative accordingly.
Creating the better environment for the employees by working closely
In some of the cases, it has been observed that not every employee has the capability of attaining their goals in a successful way in spite of their unlimited toils and hard work. Ideally, the manager has to take the responsibility to create a periodic assessing progress report and take the initiative to provide necessary assistance in time of need. For instance, some employees fail to meet their deadlines and achieve the target (Miron-Spektor and Beenen 2015). During such time, the manager needs to conduct an in-depth discussion session to understand the actual constraint that the employee has been facing while performing the organisational activities. Understanding the situation, the manager needs to combine the high level of encouragement and make them try again to work on such stated objectives. In addition to this, it is always necessary for the managers to develop highly motivated working environment, especially when they struggle with negative remarks and several kinds of discrimination. It is important to pay attention towards their sincere attempts for succeeding and achieving goals. Additionally, the necessary resources are needed to provide to complete this within the next schedule time.
Ensuring Consistency and SMART Criteria in Goal Setting
The above specifications are developed to create and in depth and insightful knowledge regarding the goal setting within workplace. At the same time, these specifications suggest the benefits of developing a goal setting that contributes towards achieving success and increasing the performance level. The human resource management plays the integral part in establishing the proper goal setting atmosphere within a workplace. The next section of the study will discuss the role of the human resource management in establishing the goal setting atmosphere and encouraging the employees to develop their performance levels.
The Human Resource Management plays the most significant role within an organisation. Starting from selecting and recruiting people to retaining them depends on the efficient efforts of the human resource management. Albrecht et al. (2015) implied that an effective human resource manager helps in motivating the associated employees towards achieving their personal and professional goals. The current organisational scenario demands for opportunistic ideas and innovative methods. Accordingly, the strategic Human Resource Management develops the insightful research to transform the organisational functionalities into more effective approaches. The above section of the study discussed that the alignment of the organisational goals with individual goals helps in achieving success in a more significant way. An efficient Human Resource Management creates search insights among the employees to develop the specific goals which are related to the organisational objectives. The employees often seek the better environment in which they can find comfort level and high level of energy for meeting the determined objectives (Mostafa, Gould?Williams and Bottomley 2015). The strategic human resource management identifies the efforts of the associated employee and encourages them to perform better. Identifying their demands and contribution, the HR manager provides the rewards and recognition to appreciate and encourage them for the better performance parameter. The manager has to take the responsibility to create a periodic assessing progress report and take the initiative to provide necessary assistance when it becomes essential for the organisational environment. In addition to this, conveying the purpose and objectives of the organisation to the employees, the HR manager helps in developing the fruitful and motivating scenario weed in the workplace (Shields et al. 2015). Therefore it can be implied, the human resource management has the direct involvement in goal setting.
Conclusion
The study develops the insightful ideas regarding the effectiveness of goal setting to improve the employees’ performance parameter. It has been observed that the alignment of the personal goals and professional goals are suggestively considered as the critical success factor. In fact, establishing the appropriate goal-setting atmosphere creates the high level of performance attributes among the employees, which turn out to be profitable for the organization. The human resource management contributes much significantly in developing the goal-setting environment for the employees to accomplish the organisational objectives. The continuous improvement made on this part will help in enhancing the quality of the performance and will ensure the productive outcome at the end. The development of the SMART framework and maintaining the consistent approaches towards following the specific goal is necessary for ensuring the high performance level. The study also identifies that the employees need to feel that their efforts are quite fruitful for achieving the organisational goals. In fact, or to develop their values and commitment level with their hard work and achieve the success. The human resource management needs to take the responsibility in such cases to measure the progress and identify the challenges faced by the associated employees. The extensive motivation provided to the employees would help in making them more focused and engaged towards the organisational goals. The significant role of the human resource management is thus much appreciated in such context. The higher level of motivation and the encouraging scenario help the employees to develop their commitments and performance level that leads the organization towards achieving success.
References
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Berson, Y., Halevy, N., Shamir, B. and Erez, M., 2015. Leading from different psychological distances: A construal-level perspective on vision communication, goal setting, and follower motivation. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(2), pp.143-155.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Katzenbach, J.R. and Smith, D.K., 2015. The wisdom of teams: Creating the high-performance organization. Harvard Business Review Press.
Kember, D., 2016. Relationship to Other Theories of Motivation. In Understanding the Nature of Motivation and Motivating Students through Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (pp. 21-41). Springer, Singapore.
Latham, G.P., Brcic, J. and Steinhauer, A., 2016. Toward an Integration of Goal Setting Theory and the Automaticity Model. Applied Psychology, 1(66), pp.25-48.
Latham, G.P., Mawritz, M.B. and Locke, E.A., 2018. Goal setting and control theory: Implications for job search. The Oxford Handbook of Job Loss and Job Search, p.8.
Lazaroiu, G., 2015. Work motivation and organizational behavior. Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice, 7(2), p.66.
Mauro, M.S., 2016. Book Review: Rehabilitation goal setting: Theory, practice and evidence.
Miron-Spektor, E. and Beenen, G., 2015. Motivating creativity: The effects of sequential and simultaneous learning and performance achievement goals on product novelty and usefulness. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 127, pp.53-65.
Mostafa, A.M.S., Gould?Williams, J.S. and Bottomley, P., 2015. High?performance human resource practices and employee outcomes: the mediating role of public service motivation. Public Administration Review, 75(5), pp.747-757.
Russell-Smith, S.V., Lepech, M.D., Fruchter, R. and Meyer, Y.B., 2015. Sustainable target value design: integrating life cycle assessment and target value design to improve building energy and environmental performance. Journal of Cleaner Production, 88, pp.43-51.
Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., Johns, R., O’Leary, P., Robinson, J. and Plimmer, G., 2015. Managing Employee Performance & Reward: Concepts, Practices, Strategies. Cambridge University Press.
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