The Impact of Supervisory Characteristics on Goal Acceptance

Abstract

Numerous studies have documented the important role that goals play in regulating task motivation and performance (9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17). These studies have been conducted in laboratory situations with college students (9) as well as in real world organizations with managers involved in MBO programs (14). Most of the research has focused on the performance consequences of various aspects of the goal setting process. In particular, Locke and his colleagues have shown that hard goals produce a higher level of performance than easy goals or goals of the do your best type (10). In most of the studies conducted by Locke, subjects have been assigned goals at various difficulty levels by the experimenter. Locke and Bryan argue, however, that goal instructions not inevitably or automatically affect an individual's behavior (11). Only when assigned goals have been consciously accepted by individuals have significant relationships been discovered between goal level and performance. This suggests that supervisors must select the appropriate goal assignment method if subordinates are to accept difficult goals and thus perform at high levels. Unfortunately, little research has examined the relationship between the methods by which goals are set and the degree to which those goals are accepted by the performer.