A Preliminary Study of the Dispute between Pitfalls and Side Effects of Goal Setting Theory: A Systems Thinking Perspective-A Case Study of a Hypermarket

• Main Authors: Po-jen Chiu, 丘博仁
• Other Authors: Showing Young
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/98577902266103752824

碩士 === 國立中山大學 === 企業管理學系研究所 === 101 === Goal setting theory has been developed over nearly half a century, which is widely used in business, government, education, non-profit organizations etc. However, corporate scandals and business crisis continue to happen in recent years. People began to think and ask whether the business performance goals leading enterprises toward danger and decay? For this question, Latham &; Locke who building goal setting theory think that this question’s causes is the interference of external factors. Ordóñez et al. think that this question’s causes is the systematically side effect of goal setting theory. This study collected information about practical application of a case study of a hypermarket which implement goal setting by interview survey. There are three problems related with goal setting from the interviews: (1) the goal inhibited managers’ motivation of working hard; (2) the manager applied a symptomatic solution or a more fundamental solution in achieving goal; (3) narrow focused on their own goal and caused a negative side effect to others, then harmed Organization''s overall performance. It all depends on your choice, which decided your state of mind and how to deal with these three problems. It was found that two respondents have very different approach to the same problem in the interviews. After analysis, it was found that the goal setting theory is just a necessary condition of the problems. Human factors and the way subordinates achieving the goal is another necessary conditions. In order to achieve the goals setting by managers, subordinates choose to apply the symptomatic solution which produces side effects. In the short term they solved the problem symptom. In the long term they make bigger problems. When we face a problem symptom, we have to make choice between symptomatic and fundamental solution. The “shifting the burden” archetype tells us the fundamental solution is always on the slow, difficult and hard way.