MOTIVATION AND GOAL-SETTING
Theories
Goal-setting theory (Latham and Locke, 1984)
Gary Latham and Edwin Locke’s goal-setting theory is a very popular theory which emphasises the role of specific performance goals and workers’ commitment to these goals as determinants of work motivation.
According to this theory, people with relatively difficult but attainable goals perform better than those who have less difficult goals. Goals can motivate people towards accomplishing them based on the extent to which they have clarity, challenge, commitment, feedback and task complexity. Goals may be either “directional” or “accuracy” goals.