Goal setting and employee performance management in organizations

Abstract

The success of every organisation depends on the goal of an organization as a whole and as this other studies showed; goal setting is the first step in turning the invisible in to the visible. Before organizations can think of great achievements, there is need to have goals in the place, for it is through such goals that a clear direction is provided across the entire organization. Without having a goal as the focus of an organization, the overall plan and intentions of the organization is bound to fail. Once the overall goal of the organization is set, there is need to find the possible means of achieving it, and to do this, employees must be observed as the first concern since they are the main reason behind either the success or failure of any organization. Organizations can not a achieve long term goals in one day but it is a journey and so as an organization look forward to achieving the bigger goal of the entire organization, there is need to manage employee performance by matching their roles and responsibilities in line with short term performance goals which are specific, challenging and time bound. This in turn can help them realize the need to work even harder. It is through such hard work that the big strategy of the organization can reach its ends. This study was intended to investigate the relationship between goal setting as a whole and employee performance management, however it identified key concerns, which are believed to have a greater impact on performance management while using goal setting and such includes goal specificity, goal difficulty, and time bound goals. The results of this study found out that what the previous authors discussed about the relationship between goal setting through goal specificity, goal difficulty, time bound goals and performance management are true, however the study also managed to identify some few gaps which the management of organizations are expected to indentify and deal with