Goals Gone Wild

Goals Goals Gone Wild: The Systematic Side Effects of Over-Prescribing Goal Setting

Ordóñez, Schweitzer, Galinsky, Bazerman. 2009. (View Paper → )

Goal setting is one of the most replicated and influential paradigms in the management literature. Hundreds of studies conducted in numerous countries and contexts have consistently demonstrated that setting specific, challenging goals can powerfully drive behavior and boost performance. Advocates of goal setting have had a substantial impact on research, management education, and management practice.

In this article, we argue that the beneficial effects of goal setting have been overstated and that systematic harm caused by goal setting has been largely ignored. We identify specific side effects associated with goal setting, including a narrow focus that neglects non-goal areas, a rise in unethical behavior, distorted risk preferences, corrosion of organizational culture, and reduced intrinsic motivation.

Rather than dispensing goal setting as a benign, over-the-counter treatment for motivation, managers and scholars need to conceptualize goal setting as a prescription-strength medication that requires careful dosing, consideration of harmful side effects, and close supervision. We offer a warning label to accompany the practice of setting goals.

Goal setting is often treated as a benign, over-the-counter supplement for motivation; whereas it should be viewed as a prescription-strength medication with severe, systematic side effects that require a "warning label". Beyond the well-known benefits, the paper highlights "non-obvious" hazards, such as the phenomenon of goals acting as "ceilings" rather than floors; for example, New York City taxi drivers often stop working early on rainy days because they hit their daily revenue targets quickly, despite high demand making it profitable to stay longer.

Furthermore, goals can cause "inattentional blindness," where a narrow focus leads individuals to miss critical information, similar to a study where observers counting basketball passes failed to see a person in a gorilla suit. In complex or novel tasks, specific performance goals can actually inhibit learning and degrade performance by discouraging the exploration of alternative methods. The authors also note that challenging goals often distort risk preferences, prompting dangerous behaviour like the excessive lending that collapsed Continental Illinois Bank or the risky decisions during the 1996 Mt. Everest disaster.

Goal setting can erode organisational culture by displacing intrinsic motivation with a "hedonic treadmill" of external targets and fostering unethical behaviour, as seen when Sears mechanics overcharged customers to meet specific hourly quotas. The authors criticise prior research for relying on simple, isolated tasks (like anagrams) that fail to account for the complex, interdependent nature of real-world business environments.