Goal Setting..lets imagine

 

"Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another" 
John Dewey

SMART Goals
The class on goal setting focused on importance of using the SMART framework for setting goals.
SMART refers to specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timely goals. Each aspect is described below:

 

Specific

• Well defined tasks in order to reach the goal
• Easily understood by a layman
• E.g. My goal is to publish two research papers related to principles of organizational management in 2 years at NITIE

 

Measurable:

• There should be a way to  measure extent to which tasks involved in achieving the goal are completed
• Evidence must be there to confirm successful achievement of goal (this can also be useful to celebrate the achievement of a goal.
• E.g. : "...increase productivity by 50%,"

 

Achievable:

• The goal should be within the capability of the individual/organization
• One must ensure availability of  resources necessary to achieve the goal
• Annual turnover of my company is 10 crore. My goal is to achieve a turnover of 14 crore the next financial year.

 

Relevant:

• Is the goal sensible enough in the current scenario
• Does the goal fit with the work pattern of the individual/organization working to achieve it

 

 

Timely:

• There should be a deadline to complete different tasks involved in achieving the goal
• One should analyze whether working towards the goal is appropriate at present or not

 

We were asked to imagine words starting with S,M,A,R and T which captured the 

meaning of SMART goals.

The one that I liked the most was Simple (starting with S) because according to me ,

the lecture was focused on simplifying the concept of goal setting and teaching it

to the students in such a manner that they can apply this concept to real life 

situations.

 

Relationship Between Goal Set , Goal Achieved, potential and History:

The relationship between Goals set, goals achieved, potential and history was further explained. Goal set should be greater than historical performance. As long as the individual accepts the goal, has the ability to attain it, and does not have conflicting goals, there is a positive linear relationship between goal difficulty and task performance.

In addition, if the goal set is high (yet achievable),  the potential is the worker is utilized more efficiently. Such a relationship between higher goal set ,higher goal achieved , higher historical data(past performance for the next cycle) and again higher goal set results in a vicious circle that can be represented by the famous Fibonacci spiral

Pygmolian Effect and its application to organizational management

In addition to SMART goal setting , proper understanding of the pygmolian Effect and its application in organizational management results in better performance by the individuals/teams

Pygmolian Effect has its roots in the Greek Mythology wherein a sculptor named Pygmolian fell in love with the statue that he created. His hope and desire to bring the statue to life became a reality and reflected the effect of expectation and desire in real life.

The effect is used in the organizations and can be summarized as follows:
Our actions towards others impact others beliefs about us
Others beliefs about us cause others actions towards us
Others actions towards us reinforce our beliefs about us
Our beliefs about us influence our actions towards others.
Our actions towards others impacts others beliefs about us.
....
....
Above cycle becomes a self fulfilling prophecy with positive beliefs in turn resulting in positive results