DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2015.v03i03.006

Pages: 632-638

Goal setting is a key link in human resources management chain. Goal is set reasonably, which helps to make the human resources yield well and the management operate effectively, and in the end high performance is attained. Many researches’ findings indicate that goal setting has an important effect on performance. However, few researches explore how individuals and organizations set their goals. At present, there exist two different theories in modes of goal setting: rational expectations model and incremental adaptation model. The present studies examine modes of goal setting systematically. In study, 106 participants are required to write a specific goal in some subjects in a questionnaire, including Chinese, Mathematics and English, and a correlative analysis of temporal sequence is conducted with performance obtained subsequently. Results show that, modes of goal setting has an significant positive effect on performance; modes of goal setting in individuals neither belong to rational expectations model, nor incremental adaptation model, but belong to inherent unite of two models, that is, rational expectation model and incremental adaptation model affect modes of goal setting together. The further implications of findings for goal setting and performance management are discussed, and some suggestions are also put forward.