The effect of goal setting on group performance: A meta-analysis

Introduction to Something New!

This blog is 24 years old, and I’ve done many things with it. I’ve blogged, Tweeted, shared talks, diagrams & images, and run series like Gleanings (link round-up) and my favorite, The Half-Bakery, where I put up half-baked ideas for comments.

Now I’m going to try something new; I’m going to take us both on a journey through Goal Setting Theory as I research the research. It’s basically the opposite of the Half-Bakery: these are fully researched heavily cited papers. If people think OKRs are just a made-up theory from Andy Grove, guess again.

I plan to continue through the other elements of Radical Focus, such as cadence, and see what could be better and what is just fine.

Commentary

This is a juicy meta-analysis. I like meta-analysis best, because an army of people have done the heavy lifting for me, and they have found the patterns. It’s particularly useful for beginners to the topic, as it collects much of the worthwhile research into one place.

This particular paper is a gold mine if you work with OKRs. It supports much of the radical Focus approach, and suggests a few new directions to me, such as breaking hyper matrixed organizations into smaller initiative-driven groups. I may dig in there later….

Today’s Paper

Kleingeld, A., van Mierlo, H., & Arends, L. (2011). The effect of goal setting on group performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(6), 1289–1304. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024315

Key Takeaways

Setting specific difficult goals for groups leads to increased group performance compared to nonspecific goals and specific easy goals.
Moderately difficult and easy goals also have positive effects on group performance, although to a lesser extent.
Factors such as task interdependence, task complexity, and participation do not significantly moderate the effect of group goals on group performance.
Individual goals within groups have a contingent effect on group performance, with egocentric goals having a negative effect and group centric goals having a positive effect. 
There is a lack of recent field studies in organizational settings on group goal-setting research, highlighting the need for further research in real-world contexts.
Future research should focus on conducting more field studies in organizational settings with complex tasks to further explore the effects of different goal strategies on group performance.

In Plain English

Introduction: In the Journal of Applied Psychology, a research report titled “The Effect of Goal Setting on Group Performance: A Meta-Analysis” by Ad Kleingeld, Heleen van Mierlo, and Lidia Arends explores the impact of goal setting on group performance.

Goal Setting Theory:

Goal Setting Theory (GST) is a well-established motivation theory that suggests specific and difficult goals lead to better performance compared to nonspecific or easy goals. This theory has been extensively researched and applied in organizational practice. see Breaking the Rules: A Historical Overview of Goal-Setting Theory for more.

Specific difficult goals direct attention, mobilize effort and persistence, and encourage the development and use of task strategies.

The goal-setting effect is influenced by factors such as goal commitment, task complexity, and feedback.

Group Goal Specificity and Difficulty:

The researchers hypothesize that specific difficult group goals yield higher group performance compared to nonspecific goals and specific easy goals. Goal specificity reduces performance variance, while difficult goals initiate goal striving and enhance performance through various mechanisms. Group goals trigger unique motivational mechanisms such as planning, cooperation, morale-building communication, and collective efficacy.

Moderators of the Group-Goal Effect:

Task Interdependence: Task interdependence refers to the degree to which group members need to share or exchange information, materials, or expertise to achieve desired group performance. The researchers hypothesize that task interdependence moderates the effect of group goals on group performance.
Higher levels of task interdependence strengthen the positive impact of specific difficult goals on group performance, as group goals emphasize collective outcomes and encourage cooperative task strategies.
Task Complexity: Task complexity involves the number of acts and information cues, the relationships among acts and cues, and changes in acts and cues. The researchers hypothesize that task complexity moderates the effect of group goals on group performance.
As tasks become more complex, the effect of group goals on performance decreases because complex tasks require planning and strategy development, which may be hindered by a focus on specific difficult goals.
Participation: Participation in decision making (PDM) refers to influence sharing among supervisors and subordinates. The researchers hypothesize that participation moderates the effect of group goals on group performance.
Group goals set through participative approaches, such as “tell-and-sell” or delegation, are expected to have a stronger positive effect on group performance compared to goals set in a “tell” manner.
Study Type: The researchers report separate results for lab and field studies to examine the generalizability of individual GST from lab to field settings.

Multilevel Goals in Groups:

Groups are multilevel goal systems where goals can be set for the group as a whole and/or for individual members. Egocentric individual goals focus on maximizing individual performance, while group-centric individual goals aim to maximize the individual contribution to the group’s performance. The researchers hypothesize that for interdependent group tasks, egocentric individual goals are associated with lower group performance, while group-centric individual goals are associated with higher group performance compared to nonspecific goals.

Conclusion:

The meta-analysis on goal setting and group performance provides valuable insights into the impact of specific difficult goals on group performance.

The findings support the core principles of GST and highlight the importance of considering task interdependence, task complexity, participation, and multilevel goals in understanding the relationship between goal setting and group performance.

Further research is needed to explore the role of multilevel goals in more detail and to bridge the gap between individual and group goal-setting research.

Citation

Kleingeld, A., van Mierlo, H., & Arends, L. (2011). The effect of goal setting on group performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(6), 1289–1304. https://doi-org.stanford.idm.oclc.org/10.1037/a0024315