Individual and group goals when workers are interdependent: effects on task strategies and performance

Article Abstract:

The effects of four different goal setting conditions on the performance of subjects working on an interdependent task were examined. The results indicated that an individual goal condition performed worst when compared with a no specific goal condition, a group goal condition, and an individual plus group goal condition. Questionnaire items assessed feelings of cooperation, competition, and reported task strategies. Behavioral measures also reflected the strategies used. The analyses suggested that task strategies mediated the relationship between goal setting and performance. More specifically, people in the individual goal condition tended to be more competitive and less cooperative than those in the other three conditions. These results are discussed in light of the current research on the effects of goal setting on task strategy development. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Work groups, Teamwork (Workplace)

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Effects of valence, expectancies, and goal-performance discrepancies in single and multiple goal environments

Article Abstract:

This study was designed to investigate the effects of goal-performance discrepancies, valences, and expectancies on tasks extending through three goal-performance-feedback cycles in both single and multiple goal environments. Results demonstrated a different role for expectancies and valence in multiple as compared with single goal environments. Valence and expectancies had a minimal influence on responses to feedback in the single goal condition, although discrepancies predicted the dependent variables. In the multiple goal condition, however, valence and expectancies, as well as discrepancies, strongly affected goal priority and resource allocation. The implications of these findings for goal setting, control theory, and motivational processes in general are discussed. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

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Expectancy, valence, and motivational force functions in goal-setting research: an empirical test

Article Abstract:

Expectancy-valence (EV) theory has often been used as a model for understanding goal setting. The authors attempt to further distinguish within-person from across-persons uses of EV theory concepts in the goal-setting literature and present a within-person empirical test. The key element of the approach examined here is that an assigned goal's initial effect is on the patterns formed across levels of potential task performance by a person's judgments of expectancy, valence, and motivational force (i.e., performance-expectancy, performance-valence, and performance-motivational force functions). By examining these functions, the authors make available more detailed information regarding the motivational effects of assigned goals. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

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