Goal-setting Process Research Articles

Empower, not impose!—Preventing academic procrastination

ABSTRACTIn the frame of the goal setting process between supervisor and student while writing a thesis, it is hypothesized that mutually set goals (participation) and writing down the results of the meeting (recording) can prevent procrastination and increase engagement of the student. With a questionnaire relating to the latest written thesis (n = 97, academic sample), the effects of goal setting characteristics (recording, participation) and task characteristics (ambiguity, control) on engagement and procrastination were examined. Results of a multiple mediation model indicate that recording indirectly influences engagement and procrastination through its effect on ambiguity. Moreover, participation indirectly influences engagement through its effect on control. It is concluded that goal setting characteristics and task characteristics can affect student’s procrastination. Thus, the present research provides criteria for how supervisors can prevent students from procrastinating.

Goal setting in paediatric rehabilitation for children with motor disabilities: a scoping review

Objectives: The three objectives of this scoping review were to (1) identify key conceptual/theoretical frameworks and the extent to which they are used to inform goal setting related to rehabilitation goal setting with children with motor disabilities, (2) describe research that has evaluated goal setting processes and outcomes, and (3) summarize the purposes of goal setting described in paediatric rehabilitation literature. Methods: The scoping review process described by Arksey and O’Malley was used to guide article selection and data extraction. Results: A total of 62 articles were included in the final review. While the concept of family-centered care was well represented, theoretical frameworks specific to goal setting (i.e. goal setting theory described by Locke and Latham, mastery motivation, social cognitive, personal construct, and self-determination theories) were rarely addressed. No articles reviewed addressed prominent behavior change theory. With the exception of the description of tools specifically designed for use with children, the role of the child in the goal setting process was generally absent or not well described. Few studies (n = 6) discussed the linkage between goals and intervention strategies explicitly. Only two studies in the review evaluated outcomes associated with goal setting. The primary purpose for goal setting identified in the literature was to develop goals that are meaningful to families (n = 49). Conclusion: The results highlight significant gaps in the literature explicating a sound theoretical basis for goal setting in paediatric rehabilitation and research evaluating the effects of goal qualities and goal setting processes on the achievement of meaningful outcomes.

A qualitative investigation into the patient-centered goal-setting practices of allied health clinicians working in rehabilitation

Objective: To explore the ways clinicians engage rehabilitation patients in patient-centered goal setting and identify factors influencing the goal-setting process. Design: Ethnographic study utilizing observed practice—thematic analysis. Setting: Four rehabilitation wards of a large metropolitan hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Subjects: Participants included 17 rehabilitation patients, 18 allied health clinicians and one family member. Disciplines represented were speech pathology, occupational therapy, social work and physiotherapy. Method: Multiple qualitative methods were used. A total of 18 routine goal-setting interviews between clinicians and patients were audio recorded and transcribed. Together with associated entries in the patient medical record, transcripts were coded and developed into themes using thematic analysis. Finally, focus groups with clinicians were conducted to validate themes identified. Results: Three themes were identified describing factors which influence patient centeredness: “a goal-setting collaboration”—the interpersonal exchange between client and clinician; “the environment”—physical, temporal and structural; and “clinician self-awareness”—clinicians’ insight into the ways they influence goal setting. The practice of patient-centered goal setting varied considerably between clinicians. Goals developed were strongly influenced by the clinician’s views, although strategies of respect for the patient and reflective listening skills increased patient participation and the patient centeredness of goals developed. Conclusion: Goals developed with rehabilitation patients are more likely to be patient-centered when the interaction encourages the patient to express their needs and preferences, and these are heard by the clinician. For this to influence treatment, it must occur in an environment structured to support and value patient-centered goals.

Goal-setting to Promote a Healthier Lifestyle in Later Life: Qualitative Evaluation of the AgeWell Trial

ABSTRACTObjective: We report a mixed method evaluation of the feasibility and implementation of the AgeWell goal-setting intervention to promote healthy ageing later life.Method: Researcher field notes, goal-setting interview content, and semi-structured interviews with participants were content analysed to review trial implementation and participants’ perspective on the goal-setting and mentoring intervention.Results: 75 people were recruited: 21 in the goal-setting and 22 in the goal-setting with mentoring arms of the intervention. Goal-setting was feasible in the main domains of interest. Adherence to the protocol was good and the mentoring schedule was adhered to. Participants reported satisfaction with their goal attainment, but barriers for non-achievement were also identified. Recommendations for small changes to the intervention included reducing the number of goals.Conclusions: Participants understood the goal-setting process, and were able to set realistic and achievable lifestyle goals. The intervention and the procedures were acceptable but changes in how goal-setting is both introduced and monitored are needed for wider implementation.Clinical Implications: Goal-setting can be a useful process to help people alter their lifestyle to allow them to age more successfully and reduce risk factors associated with dementia.

Модель целеполагания в многоагентной системе с ограниченным ресурсом времени

The article considers the goal-setting model concept in modeling the reasoning of cognitive agents in dynamic hard real-time systems. An important issue concerned with processing tasks by means of hard real-time systems is the ability to estimate the amount of time available for processing till the moment of time it becomes too late to produce the result. To avoid such a situation, it is necessary to be able to correlate the steps and results of ongoing reasoning with the events occurring in the external environment. Reasoning of this type is called reasoning in time. To formalize such reasoning, formalisms of active logic are suggested. When regarded as a deduction model, active logic is characterized by a language and a set of deductive rules and observations. By using an observation function, one can model a dynamic environment, information about which arrives to the agent as changes occur in that environment. Reasoning in time is characterized by accomplishment of deduction cycles (steps) serving as a time standard. The agent's knowledge is associated with the index of the step on which it was gained for the first time. Observations can be carried out at any step of the deductive process, and a formula expressing some statement and associated with the relevant step serves as its result. To construct a goal-setting model for solving problems in hard real-time environment, a logic system (a metalogic of knowledge) is introduced to formalize in the general case the metareasoning of several intellectual agents about the tasks they face, about their own knowledge, and about the possibilities of solving these problems in interaction with the other agents, taking into account the limited time resource available to each of the agents. The goal-setting process gives an answer to the question of which subgoals and in what sequence at a given moment in time should be achieved for the main goal faced by the multi-agent system be fulfilled within acceptable time. It should be noted that the response may vary depending on the current situation and as additional information becomes available, because the assigned targets may be canceled and new ones assigned. The knowledge metalogics language is shown as a combination of three languages: the language of problem domain, the language of agents, and metalanguage, with the last two being multigrade ones. The language of agents contains special predicate symbols for reasoning about goals, about the tasks associated with them, about the structure of these tasks, and about possible methods and admissible timeframes for solving them. Metalanguage allows one to express general statements about the arguments of agents. Formal theories constituting the meta-knowledge system of knowledge are presented.

Transformative Process of Goal Setting by Sharing Feedback and Goal in Sports

Transformative Process of Goal Setting by Sharing Feedback and Goal in Sports

“Can you tell me about the future?” A narrative of the goal-setting process in family business

By relying on the taxonomy introduced by Kotlar and De Massis (2013), the present study proposes to investigate the dynamics and the set of goals perceived by the family members strategic for the future growth of their family business. Using an interview approach, the researchers recorded the professional stories of 15 family firm owners and managers. Through the interpretation of the narrative material emerged that the interviewees never mentioned the role that family-centred non-economic goals (i.e., ‘family harmony’, the ‘family social status’ and ‘the family identity’) plays in the performance of the family firms. Contrary, non-family non-economic goals, such as innovation and internationalisation, are considered two keys growth drivers. In particular, if both innovation and internationalisation have equal importance amongst the current goals, internationalisation assumes a greater importance in relation to the future goals of growth.
 
 Keywords: Goal setting process; Family business; Growth Strategy; Narrative analysis

Patient-centred goal setting using functional outcome measures in geriatric rehabilitation: is it feasible?

BackgroundPatient-centred goal setting is regarded as a beneficial intervention for geriatric rehabilitation. Nevertheless, its known laborious implementation in clinical practice remains an ongoing challenge. To improve implementation of patient-centred goal setting, the integration of goal setting with standardized measures has been proposed. Our objective of the current study was to explore the feasibility of Collaborative Functional Goal Setting (CFGS), i.e., using standardized functional measures to set and evaluate functional goals during geriatric rehabilitation.Materials and methodsThree medical professionals working in two geriatric rehabilitation wards were trained in CFGS and interviewed at the end of the study. We aimed at including 20 patients who underwent the CFGS intervention and could participate in open interviews. Both interviews of the professionals and patients were qualitatively analyzed.ResultsEight patients were included in the study, five of which could be interviewed. Both patients and professionals expressed a need for patient-centred goal setting. Patients indicated that goals were mainly set by the professional and that a rehabilitation plan was either not presented or its content was not clear to them. In contrast, the professionals regarded CFGS as patient-centred and potentially helpful in facilitating the goal-setting process. Nevertheless, the professionals indicated having difficulty with the implementation of the intervention.ConclusionIn the current study, we demonstrated that patient-centred goal setting supported by functional measurements was not feasible in its present form which confirms the evidence from the literature that is difficult to perform patient-centred goal setting in clinical practice.

Co-Determination as a Path to Goal Commitment: Managing Danish Upper Secondary Schools

AbstractPerformance management systems that include goal setting have become a widespread instrument in public management, intended to ensure that the entire organization is working to meet the same goals. One key question, however, is how public managers can ensure their employees’ commitment to the goals that management has chosen to prioritize. This article examines the importance of “co-determination” for the relationship between managers’ goal prioritization and the goal commitment of the employees in upper secondary schools in Denmark. Co-determination has the potential to create a common direction and committed employees, thereby rendering it a valuable tool for public managers in goal setting processes. Analysis of ten qualitative interviews with teachers and principals provides rich insight into the concept of co-determination in the context of Danish education, and a quantitative analysis of two parallel questionnaires with 73 principals and 1353 teachers reveals how co-determination has a positive impact on the association between a school principal’s prioritization of the goal of achieving a high completion rate and the teachers’ commitment to the goal.

A situated process model of vocational achievement goal striving within members of the academic staff at university

Building on achievement goal approach and self-determination theory (SDT), we propose a concise process model of achievement goal striving within academic staff members working at universities. We investigate this model in a sample of 107 academic staff members, who we questioned twice a day over the course of 2 weeks resulting in 1653 measurement occasions. Using two-level structural equation modeling, we found that substantial amounts of variance in situated achievement goals could be attributed to personal goal orientations. Life aspirations indirectly predicted the general strength of situated achievement goal striving via personal goal orientations. Finally, the situational satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness was differentially predictive for fluctuations in situated achievement goal striving, which in turn predicted situational intrinsic work motivation and work engagement. Our research ties achievement goal approach more closely to SDT and delivers a first outlook on the importance of working conditions in academia for goal setting processes and vocational motivation.

Let's Talk about the Talk: Exploring the Experience of Discussing Student Performance at the Mid- and Final Points of the Clinical Internship.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of physiotherapy students and clinical instructors (CIs) when discussing student clinical performance at the mid- and final points of clinical internships. The objectives were to identify why performance assessment discussions are valuable, explore the role of each participant throughout the discussion, identify the challenges associated with these discussions, and explore the effect of the standardized assessment tool on the discussion. Methods: This study used a qualitative descriptive design, consisting of student and CI focus groups in the Greater Toronto Area from January to June 2016. Results: All participants (N=29) recognized the importance of having face-to-face performance assessment discussions in a quiet and private space. Students and CIs agreed that the Canadian Physiotherapy Assessment of Clinical Performance helped to structure and focus the discussions. Valuable discussions occurred when students were open minded and self-reflected on their performance and when CIs were honest and used their expertise to guide learning. Other key features included mutual preparedness, two-way feedback that was constructive and tangible, and a goal-setting process. Students described the emotional component of these discussions as being challenging, and CIs found it difficult when a student took a more passive role in the discussion. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that valuable discussions can provide meaningful feedback, strengthen the student-CI relationship, and engage the learner in an ongoing and cumulative learning process that contributes to professional development.

Disentangling self-management goal setting and action planning: A scoping review.

IntroductionThe ongoing rise in the numbers of chronically ill people necessitates efforts for effective self-management. Goal setting and action planning are frequently used, as they are thought to support patients in changing their behavior. However, it remains unclear how goal setting and action planning in the context of self-management are defined in the scientific literature. This study aimed to achieve a better understanding of the various definitions used.MethodsA scoping review was conducted, searching PubMed, Cinahl, PsychINFO and Cochrane. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were formulated to ensure the focus on goal setting/action planning and self-management. The literature was updated to December 2015; data selection and charting was done by two reviewers. A qualitative content analysis approach was used.ResultsOut of 9115 retrieved articles, 58 met the inclusion criteria. We created an overview of goal setting phases that were applied (preparation, formulation of goals, formulation of action plan, coping planning and follow-up). Although the phases we found are in accordance with commonly known frameworks for goal setting, it was striking that the majority of studies (n = 39, 67%) did not include all phases. We also prepared an overview of components and strategies for each goal setting phase. Interestingly, few strategies were found for the communication between patients and professionals about goals/action plans. Most studies (n = 35, 60%) focused goal setting on one single disease and on a predefined lifestyle behavior; nearly half of the articles (n = 27, 47%) reported a theoretical framework.DiscussionThe results might provide practical support for developers of interventions. Moreover, our results might encourage professionals to become more aware of the phases of the goal setting process and of strategies emphasizing on patient reflection. However, more research might be useful to examine strategies to facilitate communication about goals/action plans. It might also be worthwhile to develop and evaluate goal setting/action planning strategies for people with different and multiple chronic conditions.

Patient influence in home-based reablement for older persons: qualitative research

BackgroundReablement services are rehabilitation for older people living at home, being person-centered in information, mapping and the goal-setting conversation. The purpose of this study was to gain knowledge about conversation processes and patient influence in formulating the patients’ goals. There are two research questions: How do conversation theme, structure and processes appear in interactions aiming to decide goals of home-based reablement rehabilitation for the elderly? How professionals’ communication skills do influence on patients' participation in conversation about everyday life and goals of home-based reablement?MethodsA qualitative field study explored eight cases of naturally occurring conversations between patients and healthcare professionals in a rehabilitation team. Patients were aged 67–90 years old. The reablement team consisted of an occupational therapist, physiotherapist, nurse and care workers. Data was collected by audio recording the conversations. Transcribed text was analyzed for conversational theme and communication patterns as they emerged within main themes.ResultsPatient participation differed with various professional leadership and communication in the information, mapping and goalsetting process. In the data material in its entirety, conversations consisted mainly of three parts where each part dealt with one of the three main topics. The first part was “Introduction to the program.” The main part of the talk was about mapping (“Varying patient participation when discussing everyday life”), while the last part was about goal setting (“Goals of rehabilitation”).ConclusionsHome-based reablement requires communication skills to encourage user participation, and mapping of resources and needs, leading to the formulation of objectives. Professional health workers must master integrating two intentions: goal-oriented and person-centered communication that requires communication skills and leadership ability in communication, promoting patient influence and goal-setting. Quality of such conversations is complex, and requires the ability to apply integrated knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to communication situations.

Solution-Focused Coaching in Pediatric Rehabilitation: Investigating Transformative Experiences and Outcomes for Families

ABSTRACTAims: A qualitative study was conducted to investigate family experiences and outcomes of Solution-Focused Coaching in pediatric rehabilitation (SFC-peds). Methods: Two interviews (5 months apart) were conducted with nine sets of family members who had received SFC-peds, within the past 6 months, from therapists with 3–10 years of experience using the approach. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis and a phenomenological approach. Results: Participants experienced a goal-oriented collaborative process, high engagement, enhanced capacity and community participation, and empowered mindsets. The therapy process was seen as a collaborative solution-focused conversation, situated in the client's world, and involving individualized and co-created goals and plans. SFC-peds provided families with a supportive, structured, and paced goal-setting process. Reported enhancements to capacity included child/youth skill development, enhanced parent skills, enhanced parent knowledge of their child and options, and changes in parenting. Increased community participation was also reported. Empowered mindsets involved increased confidence, increased self-efficacy and self-determination, and broadened perspectives and expectations. Conclusions: The study provides evidence for the utility of SFC-peds and the importance of engaging families in a goal-oriented collaborative process. Implications concern greater understanding of transactional dynamics in therapy and real-world client change, and the need to develop measures of client/family resiliency.

Implementation of a Multidisciplinary (MDT) Goal Setting Programme for Inpatient Neurosurgical Patients Implementation of a Multidisciplinary (MDT) Goal Setting Programme for Inpatient Neurosurgical Patients

Introduction: Neurosurgical patients are a complex and diverse population of patients requiring involvement from several members of the MDT. The complexity of the surgical interventions that this population of patients undergo has the potential to create a significant degree of morbidity. Practice change implemented: The process of implementation of the MDT initiative involved the formulation of an MDT working group, involving senior neurosurgical representation from the three disciplines. A standard operating procedure was developed that outlined the process involved in the implementation of the initiative. An initial pilot phase was introduced that aimed to trial the process with three patients, to allow reassessment of the process and allow modification and adjustment as required. Aim of change: The implementation of the GAS (goal attainment scale) goal setting programme was a collaborative initiative undertaken by the neurosurgical physiotherapy, occupational therapy (OT) and speech and language therapy (SLT) services, to formalise and optimise MDT goal setting in the neurosurgical rehabilitation department. Target Population and stakeholders: Suitable patients for inclusion in the process were identified as inpatient neurosurgical patients that required involvement of at least two of the rehabilitation disciplines. A core worker was also identified for each patient that acted as a liaison with the patient and family members. Timeline: The proposed timeframe for establishment and implementation of the goal setting programme was two years, to allow a pilot study to be completed, with the process to be implemented as part of routine practice. Highlights: (innovation, impact, outcomes) Establishment of the MDT goal setting process was aimed to reduce duplication of interdisciplinary goals, optimisation of goal setting by enhancing collaborative rehabilitation practices across disciplines, facilitation of interdisciplinary communication, facilitation of goal reviewing structures, optimisation of inter-hospital communication and handover and facilitation of optimal patient focussed goals, with patient involvement. Comments on sustainability: Implementation of the goal setting has been achievable by streamlining the process, between disciplines, resulting in a reduction in the timeframes spent independently setting goals. The goal setting process has as a result been more effective and efficient, due to its implementation. Comments on transfer ability: This goal setting process has the potential to be implemented in any rehabilitation service in which at least two disciplines set patient orientated rehabilitation goals, with very little guidance or extra resources required. Conclusion: This neurosurgical MDT goal setting process has enhanced the setting of patient goals, reduced therapist duplication, enhanced MDT communication and facilitated patient engagement in their rehabilitation process. Discussion: This programme has facilitated the involvement of patients in setting their rehabilitation goals and subsequently enhanced patient engagement in their rehabilitation. It also facilitated interdisciplinary communication and reduced duplication of assessments and treatments. Lessons learned: Facilitating active patient engagement in the goal setting process ensured patients were maximally engaged in the achievement of their targets. Collaboration in goal setting across disciplines reduced the burden of participation on the patient and released increased therapist time to rehabilitation.

Goal-Oriented Ethics: Framing the Goal-Setting Concretely

Joseph Selling, professor emeritus from KU Leuven, Belgium, recently made a significant contribution towards ethical methodology. It is in fact a continuation of the in-house conversations that have been in vogue about methods in moral reasoning since Vatican II in the discipline called theological ethics. What is specific about Selling’s attempt is that he re-orients or reframes the evaluation of the moral event to consider human intentionality or motivation before considering human behavior or human acts. He convincingly establishes his method by a meticulous reading of Thomas Aquinas. This paper is a response to the goal-oriented ethics that he has posited. As illustrated below, this paper evaluates the goal-oriented approach as solid and sufficient. While fully endorsing this approach, this paper argues that the process of ethical goal-setting is to be framed concretely. In a concrete historical context, so that a goal-oriented approach fully serves its purpose, this paper proposes that it is to be reinforced by four supportive pillars, which are in fact assumed by Selling in his work. They are openness to human sciences, conversation among various narratives, positing a theological frame for ethical reasoning, and recourse to non-discursive reasoning.

Management by Objectives: An Overview

The main finding from this review of Management by Objectives is a comprehensive detailed guide administrators and managers at any level in an organization can use to immediately implement this participative goal setting process in an effective manner. Administrators and managers in for profit and nonprofit organizations must perform the four functions of management, namely, planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Management by Objectives (MBO) is a systems approach that can assist managers with these functions. This review of the literature includes: (a) a history of MBO, (b) a description of the MBO process, (c) advantages and disadvantages of using this process, and (d) guidelines for managers to use in implementing this participative goal setting technique. In organizations that top management has not implemented the process, supervisors and managers at any level can benefit from implementing MBO techniques managers at any level.

Goal-Focused Leadership, Leader-Member Exchange, and Task Performance: The Moderating Effects of Goal Orientations and Emotional Exhaustion

An important role of leaders is to foster followers’ performance through goal setting processes, which involve reciprocal interactions between leaders and followers (Locke & Latham in American Psychologist, 57, 705–717, 2002). Drawing upon the theory of role-making processes and a resource allocation framework, this study examined (a) how leaders’ goal setting activities interact with employees’ goal orientations and emotional exhaustion in predicting leader-member exchange (LMX), and (b) how LMX intervenes between goal-focused leadership and followers’ task performance. Hypotheses were tested using data collected from a sample of 187 leader-subordinate dyads from South Korea. Follower learning goal orientation (LGO) weakened the positive relationship between goal-focused leadership and LMX and, indirectly, task performance, contributing to the literature on goal orientations by revealing a “backfire effect” of LGO. Additionally, employee emotional exhaustion also reduced the positive relationship of goal-focused leadership to LMX and, ultimately, task performance. Integrating the theory of role-making processes from the LMX literature and a resource allocation perspective on self-regulation behavior, the present findings indicate that LMX is a key process through which goal-focused leadership relates to follower task performance. Furthermore, this study contributes to the goal-focused leadership literature by pointing out the importance of adopting an interactional perspective on leaders’ influence. Specifically, findings suggest that followers with divergent characteristics in terms of goal orientations and resourcefulness respond differently to leaders’ goal setting activities. This is one of the few studies that have examined the mechanisms and boundary conditions by which leaders’ goal-focused behaviors relate to followers’ task performance.

Совершенствование механизмов управления и организации процесса целеполагания инновационного развития авиационной промышленности

Совершенствование механизмов управления и организации процесса целеполагания инновационного развития авиационной промышленности

Ready for goal setting? Process evaluation of a patient-specific goal-setting method in physiotherapy

BackgroundPatient participation and goal setting appear to be difficult in daily physiotherapy practice, and practical methods are lacking. An existing patient-specific instrument, Patient-Specific Complaints (PSC), was therefore optimized into a new Patient Specific Goal-setting method (PSG). The aims of this study were to examine the feasibility of the PSG in daily physiotherapy practice, and to explore the potential impact of the new method.MethodsWe conducted a process evaluation within a non-controlled intervention study. Community-based physiotherapists were instructed on how to work with the PSG in three group training sessions. The PSG is a six-step method embedded across the physiotherapy process, in which patients are stimulated to participate in the goal-setting process by: identifying problematic activities, prioritizing them, scoring their abilities, setting goals, planning and evaluating. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected among patients and physiotherapists by recording consultations and assessing patient files, questionnaires and written reflection reports.ResultsData were collected from 51 physiotherapists and 218 patients, and 38 recordings and 219 patient files were analysed. The PSG steps were performed as intended, but the ‘setting goals’ and ‘planning treatment’ steps were not performed in detail. The patients and physiotherapists were positive about the method, and the physiotherapists perceived increased patient participation. They became aware of the importance of engaging patients in a dialogue, instead of focusing on gathering information. The lack of integration in the electronic patient system was a major barrier for optimal use in practice. Although the self-reported actual use of the PSG, i.e. informing and involving patients, and client-centred competences had improved, this was not completely confirmed by the objectively observed behaviour.ConclusionThe PSG is a feasible method and tends to have impact on increasing patient participation in the goal-setting process. However, its full potential for shared goal setting has not been utilized yet. More implementation effort is needed to achieve the required behaviour change and a truly client-centred attitude, to make physiotherapists totally ready for shared goal setting.