Difficult Goals Research Articles

Analyzing the Designs of Planet-Finding Missions

ABSTRACTWe present a framework for the analysis of direct detection planet-finding missions using space telescopes. This framework generates simulations of complete missions, with varying populations of planets, to produce ensembles of mission simulations, which are used to calculate distributions of mission science yields. We describe the components of a mission simulation, including the complete description of an arbitrary planetary system, the description of a planet-finding instrument, and the modeling of a target system observation. These components are coupled with a decision-modeling algorithm that allows us to automatically generate mission timelines with simple mission rules that lead to an optimized science yield. Along with the details of our implementation of this algorithm, we discuss validation techniques and possible future refinements. We apply this analysis technique to four mission concepts whose common element is a 4 m diameter telescope aperture: an internal pupil mapping coronagraph with two different inner working angles, an external occulter, and the THEIA XPC multiple distance occulter. The focus of this study is to determine the ability of each of these designs to achieve one of their most difficult mission goals–the detection and characterization of Earthlike planets in the habitable zone. We find that all four designs are capable of detecting on the order of five Earthlike planets within a 5 yr mission, even if we assume that only one out of every 10 stars has such a planet. The designs do differ significantly in their ability to characterize the planets they find. Along with science yield, we also analyze fuel usage for the two occulter designs, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each of the mission concepts.

Factors Affecting Goal Difficulty and Performance When Employees Select Their Own Performance Goals: Evidence from the Field

ABSTRACT: This study examines factors influencing the difficulty of self-set goals and performance in a setting where employees were able to choose their performance goal from a menu of three choices established by management. Rewards for goal attainment were increasing in the difficulty of the goal. We develop a behavioral model of the factors expected to affect employees’ goal choices and performance. Anticipated influences on goal difficulty include employees’ impression management intentions, past performance, experience, and prior eligibility for rewards. We also expect performance to be related to goal difficulty. We use a unique combination of archival and questionnaire data from 476 employees at several call centers of a financial services company to test our hypotheses. All predictions are supported: the difficulty of self-set goals is negatively associated with employees’ impression management intentions; employees with better past performance set more difficult goals; and both prior performance and goal difficulty are positively associated with current period performance. We conduct supplementary analysis examining the extent to which employees selected attainable goals and the impact this had on performance. We also analyze the extent to which ratcheting concerns may have influenced actual performance for those employees who attained their goal. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Modern approaches in the design of complex aerospace systems

Engineering systems are becoming more complex as people try to achieve more difficult and broader goals by taking into account aspects such as lifetime sustainability, logistics, environment, etc. To design a complex engineering system in an effective way it is necessary to understand and analyze the system as a whole, not considering it as just a sum of its subsystems. There will be relevant knowledge coming from the different disciplines involved in the system to be designed and similar previously designed systems. It is highly desirable to be able to transmit all the accumulated knowledge and lessons learned during the design process to the future as well as to better understand the process conducing to the design choices, in all relevant aspects, towards a better systems design. Typically, product design is responsible for only 5% of the total cost of a product. However, the decisions taken at this phase can induce more than 75% of all manufacturing costs, and 80% of the product's quality performance in terms of maintainability and manufacturability. It is the most critical step of the product's lifecycle. In order to understand and manipulate a complex system during the design process, a high level representation with both dynamic visualization and interactive (i.e. perceptive, judgment, reasoning) models for manipulation can constitute an excellent assistance. An adequate visual representation of the system, as well as a way to obtain and build knowledge and, to a certain point, interact with the system (e.g. concurrent engineering process) can strongly contribute to improve and ease the design process. This paper is a preliminary assessment of the problems and needs regarding the high level representation of a complex engineering system, the existence of a common manipulation/interaction algebra, possible optimization methods and knowledge management tools to manage information required or produced during the design phase. Finally, a framework for a software tool to address the issues identified for support of Concurrent Engineering (CE) and Multidisciplinary Optimization (MDO) processes in a knowledge management base environment is also presented.

Surgical Reconstruction of Interdental Papilla Using Subepithelial Connective Tissue Graft (SCTG) with a Coronally Advanced Flap: A Clinical Evaluation of Five Cases

The aim of these case reports was to evaluate the effectiveness of a subepithelial connective tissue graft with a coronally advanced flap to reconstruct an interdental papilla. In the last decade, esthetics has become a major concern in periodontal therapy. One of the most difficult and elusive goals for the periodontist in the esthetic aspect of periodontal therapy is the reconstruction of the interdental papilla. Consequently, the absence or loss of the interdental papilla for a variety of reasons may create significant esthetic, functional, and phonetic challenges for the patient. Five systemically healthy patients between the ages of 23 and 52 years with absence of the periodontal pocket were selected. Loss of interdental papillary height was classified using the Nordland and Tarnow classification system as class 1 to 4. All five patients received a subepithelial connective tissue graft (SCTG) with a coronally advanced flap (CAF). Four parameters were measured at baseline and at six months post-surgery: (1) vertical distance from contact point to gingival margin, (2) soft tissue (papilla) height in the interdental area, (3) horizontal distance at the gingival margin, and (4) width of keratinized gingiva. The changes noted at six months post-surgery were (1) the vertical distance decreased from 3.2±0.44 mm to 0.4±0.54 mm, (2) the mean gain in soft tissue (papilla) height increased from 3.2±0.44 mm to 5.8±0.44 mm, (3) the horizontal distance at the gingival margin was reduced from 2.6±0.54 mm to 0.4±0.54 mm and the width of the keratinized gingiva increased 1.4±0.89 mm. The periodontal surgical technique used for the five reported cases successfully reconstructed the interdental papilla in just one type of papilla loss, the class I situation. Therefore, it should not be concluded that the technique shown would be equally as successful for every type of papilla loss. Furthermore, the postoperative time interval was short, at only six months. A subepithelial connective tissue graft supported by a coronally advanced flap should be considered to surgically correct the loss of an interdental papilla in class I cases.

Self-Control and Optimal Goals: A Theoretical Analysis

Consumers set goals to achieve a variety of objectives such as losing weight, saving for retirement, and achieving better health. A large body of literature in psychology and consumer behavior shows that goals can help consumers achieve these objectives. However, there is almost no research that examines how we should set optimal goals. The purpose of this paper is to develop a parsimonious framework that examines how goals can help performance and how we should set optimal goals. We use the literature on hyperbolic discounting to model these issues. Our results show that goals can often increase performance but can also sometimes encourage procrastination. We show that some goals are worse than having no goals, even when the goals are achieved and the consumer exerts more effort because of the goal. We also find that the presence of goals can lead to myopic consumers behaving as if they were hyperopic. Our results also show that the most difficult goals should be assigned to consumers with moderate levels of motivation and self-control problems. We also find that it is sometimes optimal to set goals that are never achieved.

Something’s got to give: The effects of dual-goal difficulty, goal progress, and expectancies on resource allocation.

The current study developed and tested a model of the interplay among goal difficulty, goal progress, and expectancy over time in influencing resource allocation toward competing demands. The results provided broad support for the theoretical model. As predicted, dual-goal expectancy-the perceived likelihood of meeting both goals in competition-played a central role, moderating the relationship between relative goal progress and resource allocation. Dual-goal difficulty was also found to exert an important influence on multiple-goal self-regulation. Although it did not influence total productivity across both tasks combined, it did combine with other model components to influence the relative emphasis of one task over another. These results suggest that the cumulative demands placed by multiple difficult goals may exceed individuals' perceived capabilities and may lead to partial or total abandonment of 1 goal to ensure attainment of the other. The model helps shed light on some of the conflicting theoretical propositions and empirical results obtained in prior work. Implications for theory and research regarding multiple-goal self-regulation are discussed.

Brainstorming rules as assigned goals: Does brainstorming really improve idea quantity?

In two experiments (n = 264 and 339), I treat brainstorming rules as assigned goals and compare their effectiveness to that of quantity goals as interventions to improve the number of ideas generated by individuals. Controlling for goal commitment, I find that brainstorming rules alone do not convey an advantage over even a vague quantity goal presented alone for enhancing the number of ideas generated in two common tasks. Detailed contrasts revealed that specific, difficult goals were only partially effective on their own, as expected when goal commitment is moderate. However, I find evidence in both studies that brainstorming rules are useful adjuncts to specific, difficult quantity goals. Importantly, their combination was the only consistently effective improvement over both vague quantity goals and brainstorming rules presented alone. I discuss implications for future research adopting a goal-based view of intervention in idea generation.

Easy and Difficult Performance-Approach Goals: Their moderating effect on the link between task interest and performance attainment

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that the positive link between task interest and performance attainment can be negatively affected by the pursuit of difficult performance-approach goals. This was tested in a sample of 60 undergraduate students at a Dutch university. In line with expectations, for difficult performance-approach goals there was no link between task interest and performance attainment. Furthermore, among women this relation turned out to be negative. In an easy performance-approach goal condition, a positive link between task interest and performance attainment was found for both men and women, while in the control condition the same expected positive relation was not found. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Visual feedback distortion in a robotic environment for hand rehabilitation

Robotic therapy offers a means of enhancing rehabilitation for individuals with chronic stroke or traumatic brain injury. The present research targets members of this population who demonstrate learned nonuse, a tendency to use affected limbs below the level of the individual's true capability. These individuals may not strive for difficult goals in therapy, which ultimately hampers their progress and the outcome of rehabilitation. Our research uses a paradigm called visual feedback distortion in which the visual feedback corresponding to force or distance is gradually changed by an imperceptible amount to encourage improved performance. Our first set of experiments was designed to assess the limits of imperceptible distortion for visual feedback concerning the force exerted or the distance moved by the index finger. A second set of experiments used these limits to gradually distort visual feedback in order to manipulate a subject's force or distance response. Based on this work, we designed a paradigm applying visual feedback distortion to the rehabilitation of individuals with chronic stroke and traumatic brain injury. Initial tests are reported for two subjects who participated in a six-week rehabilitation protocol. Each patient followed visual feedback distortion to levels of performance above that predicted by her performance during an initial assessment. Both patients showed functional improvements after participating in the study. Visual feedback distortion may provide a way to help a patient move beyond his or her self-assessed “best” performance, improving the outcome of robotic rehabilitation.

The Use of Self-Set Goals as an Impression Management Tactic: Antecedents and Consequences

Using survey and archival data from 598 employees of a Fortune 100 financial services firm, this paper studies the antecedents and consequences of using goal selection as an impression management tool. We find that poor performance relative to performance targets in one period increased employees' desire to use goal setting as an impression management tactic in the next period. In addition, using goal setting as an impression management tactic causes employees to self-select less difficult performance goals, which in turn negatively impacts actual performance. Given the extensive use of goal setting in organizations, understanding its use and effects as an impression management tactic is important.

Do States Have the Capacity to Meet the NCLB Mandates?

THE STATES have always been central to the American public school systems, and they have been sharply expanding their authority over local school districts since the 1980s. The states adopted education reforms that increased course requirements (especially in science and math), mandated uniform testing, and put in place higher teaching standards. A number of states also experimented with takeovers of schools and districts that were falling behind. Then in 2002 along came the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, which constituted a huge expansion of federal authority over the schools. However, NCLB relies on state education agencies to carry out its mandates to produce massive improvement in educational outcomes for all groups of students. NCLB makes the states responsible for defining student proficiency, and if schools or districts fall behind the increasingly demanding standards, as a great many have done, the law directs the states to take action to improve outcomes and grants them sweeping powers over local schools and districts. All states are now required to accomplish goals that none have ever met, and they have been given very little money to do so. If the law is to be extended, it is vital that Congress define a role for states that is feasible and give them reasonable resources and sufficient discretion to carry it out. We do not say this because we oppose the exercise of federal power. Federal action against discrimination, for example, has been essential. But we believe NCLB can work to produce more equal and effective schooling only if it makes sense to educators and provides the necessary resources. If Congress were to require the states to end all pollution within a decade, regardless of huge technological and economic barriers, and sought to drive that change only by imposing sanctions with very few additional resources, the plan would ultimately mean very little and would probably breed considerable cynicism. NCLB was built on the assumption that state education agencies have the capacity to implement all of the requirements called for in the law. It also assumes that states have the capacity to provide the support and technical assistance necessary to help low-performing schools and districts bring all students to the proficient level on state tests. Supporters of the law argued that federal policy would leverage the way states allocate resources and would create the professional and political incentives for states to marshal the resources necessary to respond to the accountability directives. The law itself provided only modest resources and paid scant attention to how the state role would need to change if such ambitious goals were to be achieved. Our research in six states shows that state administrators took the law very seriously and largely succeeded in implementing its demanding data-collection and testing requirements. (1) But when confronted with the much more difficult goals of ensuring large-scale educational change and providing support to low-performing schools, the states were much less adept, their history of success in such efforts was limited, and the new resources available were small. Under NCLB, the states were required to develop testing systems that few liked; to collect and publish sensitive racial and ethnic data; to brand schools as failures on the basis of congressional, not state, criteria; to demand levels, timing, and uniformity of educational progress that were unprecedented; to force dramatic educational change; and to implement drastic sanctions and interventions against many schools and districts. For relatively small agencies that generally work on distributing resources, collecting data, and ensuring compliance with laws much less coercive than NCLB--and usually in a climate of professional collaboration--these were drastic changes. If the modest federal share of school spending could actually leverage such vast reforms, it would represent a fundamental change in the development of the nation's most visible and important public institutions. …

Exploring the Relationships Among Sales Manager Goals, Ethical Behavior and Professional Commitment in the Salesforce

As the desire to forge mutually beneficial long-term buyer-seller relationships increases, the need to take actions necessary for doing so likewise increases. Sales managers have the opportunity to influence critical selling behaviors that can affect relationships. This paper examines how sales managers' drive to reach their goals may adversely impact the behavior of their salesforce by their willingness to allow unethical behavior to occur amongst their salespeople. Furthermore, it examines the impact these goals may play on their commitment to a career in sales management. Results from an analysis of sales managers indicate that difficult goals may negatively impact managers' reactions to unethical behavior amongst salespeople. Furthermore, such goals negatively impact their desire to pursue a career in sales management. Implications of the Study are offered.

Assigned goals and task performance in a Caribbean context

Purpose – The purpose of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of goal setting in improving performance in an emerging economy, Barbados.Design/methodology/approach – There is a substantial body of literature which has shown that goal setting improves performance in the developed world, but there is relatively little research examining these relationships in emerging economies. This experimental study sought to extend understanding of the impact of goal setting by testing goals in a carefully controlled environment in an emerging economy. The study considered assigned goals and performance, as well as the moderating impact of personal and cultural characteristics.Findings – Results supported the hypothesis that specific, difficult goals improve performance. Personal characteristics did not moderate the relationship, but the cultural characteristics of individualism and uncertainty avoidance (UA) did.Research limitations/implications – The results of this study are limited because of the experimen...

Goal setting via videoconferencing

In two experiments (N = 126, N = 120) telework in an advertising company was simulated. Participants communicated either face-to-face or via a PC-videoconference with a supervisor who motivated employees to solve brainstorming tasks using several goal setting strategies. In addition, communication with the supervisor prior to goal setting was manipulated to examine the impact of a personal meeting with the supervisor and to investigate the effect of having some prior experience with this technology. In both experiments, stimulating challenging goals improved performance compared to “do your best” instructions when goal setting was conducted via a videoconference. Moreover, it was found that participative goal setting was more effective than directive goal setting. However, a prior personal meeting with a supervisor or an additional interaction via videoconference prior to goal setting had no impact on performance or the effectiveness of goal setting. In sum, these findings indicate that goal setting effects are robust and can be found even if communication is based on a videoconference. When difficult goals have to be set within a videoconference, participative goal setting strategies are most effective.

Características clínico-epidemiológicas de la neumonía adquirida en la comunidad en niños menores de 6 años

Acute respiratory infections are an important cause of consultations in primary care and hospitals. Most published epidemiological studies have analyzed pneumonia in hospitals and very few include information on primary care. We performed a multicenter, prospective, epidemiological study in 17 primary care centers and four hospital pediatric emergency rooms. All children under 6 years of age with a clinical diagnosis of pneumonia were included. There were 311 patients with a mean age of 32.2 months. The incidence of community-acquired pneumonia was 3,600 cases/100,000 children/year under 6 years old in primary care centers. Of these, 136 were diagnosed in hospitals (43.7 %). The most common clinical signs and symptoms were fever (95.4 %), cough (94.4 %), tachypnea (58.2 %), and auscultation abnormalities (90.2 %). Antibiotic therapy was started in 298 patients (98 %). The most frequent antibiotic was amoxicillin-clavulanate (39.5 %), followed by cefuroxime (32.7 %) and clarithromycin (8.3 %). The most frequently isolated microorganism was respiratory syncytial virus followed by Streptococcus pneumoniae. Hospital admission was required in 15.6 % of patients. Only 24.6 % of the patients had been vaccinated with the heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and 12.7 % of the children with underlying respiratory diseases had been vaccinated with the influenza virus vaccine. In our milieu, the diagnosis and treatment of community-acquired pneumonia is usually carried out in primary care and the incidence is high. Although most patients do not require hospitalization, etiological diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia and optimal antibiotic therapy remain difficult goals to achieve.

Differences in Psychological Strategies of Failed and Operational Business Owners in the Fiji Islands*

This study investigates the differences between failed and operational businesses from a psychological perspective. The sample included 71 operational and 20 failed business owners from Suva, the capital of Fiji. It was hypothesized that operational business owners more often employ a detailed and long‐term planning strategy, whereas failed business owners more often pursue a reactive strategy, that operational business owners set more specific and more difficult goals, and that they have a higher degree of human capital than failed entrepreneurs. The data were analyzed using discriminant analysis. Results confirmed the hypotheses regarding planning and goal specificity.

Testing a model of the antecedents and consequences of budgetary participation on job performance

This paper examines the effect of antecedents (such as task exceptions and task analysability) and consequences (such as job-relevant information, budget goal level, budget goal acceptance and budget goal commitment) of budgetary participation on job performance. The responses of 135 middle-level managers, drawn from a cross- section of manufacturing firms, to a survey questionnaire, were analysed by using a structural equation modelling (SEM) technique. The results of this study suggest that task exceptions and task analysability are important antecedents of budgetary participation. The results further suggest that the cognitive effect of participation in goal- setting allows subordinates to gather, exchange and share job-relevant information. The availability of job-relevant information allows subordinates to develop effective strategies or plans, which will help them to exert effort over time, in an attempt to attain their goals. The results support the proposition that setting difficult but attainable budget goals increases subordinates? budget goal level, acceptance, and commitment to the budget goal, which in turn improves job performance.

Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals.

The importance of intellectual talent to achievement in all professional domains is well established, but less is known about other individual differences that predict success. The authors tested the importance of 1 noncognitive trait: grit. Defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals, grit accounted for an average of 4% of the variance in success outcomes, including educational attainment among 2 samples of adults (N=1,545 and N=690), grade point average among Ivy League undergraduates (N=138), retention in 2 classes of United States Military Academy, West Point, cadets (N=1,218 and N=1,308), and ranking in the National Spelling Bee (N=175). Grit did not relate positively to IQ but was highly correlated with Big Five Conscientiousness. Grit nonetheless demonstrated incremental predictive validity of success measures over and beyond IQ and conscientiousness. Collectively, these findings suggest that the achievement of difficult goals entails not only talent but also the sustained and focused application of talent over time.

New Directions in Goal-Setting Theory

Goal-setting theory is summarized regarding the effectiveness of specific, difficult goals; the relationship of goals to affect; the mediators of goal effects; the relation of goals to self-efficacy; the moderators of goal effects; and the generality of goal effects across people, tasks, countries, time spans, experimental designs, goal sources (i.e., self-set, set jointly with others, or assigned), and dependent variables. Recent studies concerned with goal choice and the factors that influence it, the function of learning goals, the effect of goal framing, goals and affect (well-being), group goal setting, goals and traits, macro-level goal setting, and conscious versus subconscious goals are described. Suggestions are given for future research.

Deepening compassion through the mirror of painting

Context and setting A 2-hour workshop on ‘Suffering in the Mirror of Arts’ was held at the Annual Meeting of the Israel Association of Family Medicine (IAFM) in March 2004. The focus of the workshop was to enhance the understanding of suffering and deepening compassion for sufferers. Why the idea was necessary One of the tasks of medicine is to alleviate suffering. Understanding the nature of suffering is the first step in attempting to relieve it. Medical students can learn about suffering and sufferers by reading books and articles, by their own experience, or through the experience of their loved ones. Effective doctor–patient communication is vitally important to the understanding of patients' narratives and their suffering: this is why a significant part of medical schools' curricula is devoted to teaching interpersonal communication skills. However, understanding suffering and deepening compassion to sufferers continue to be difficult goals for doctors and a challenge in medical education. Literature and the arts offer a different perspective on human experience as well as on human suffering. Throughout history, artists have expressed the theme of suffering in painting. Painting has been used mainly in undergraduate medical education for improving observational and diagnostic skills. Looking at paintings as a mirror of human suffering could be a valuable tool in medical education for the better understanding of suffering and deepening compassion for the sufferer. What was done The workshop was facilitated by a family doctor with a medical humanities MA specialising in arts and medicine and an art historian. The aim of the workshop was to improve participants' ability to observe paintings in which human suffering was the central theme. The goals were to enhance the understanding of human suffering and deepening compassion for sufferers. The participants were shown 3 paintings: ‘The Return of the Prodigal Son’ by Rembrandt, ‘Death in the Sickroom’ by Edvard Munch and ‘The Doctor’ by Sir Luke Fildes. After viewing each painting, the participants were asked and encouraged to write a short story about what they had seen, and present it in the group. Each presentation was followed by a group discussion, facilitated by the family doctor, in which all ideas and analyses were welcome. At the end of the discussion the art historian gave a short comment on each painting and the artist. Evaluation of the results and impact A total of 18 participants completed a questionnaire at the end of the workshop. They indicated a change in their attitudes towards suffering and compassion for the sufferer. Some of the participants wrote that the workshop was a unique experience for them. They found the opportunity to view paintings with colleagues, to write a short story about painting and to discuss suffering in paintings within the group fruitful and enriching.