How to Set Goals That Lessen the Temptation to Cheat
Managers have long used ambitious goals as motivational tools, but that can backfire, with employees sometimes crossing ethical lines to make their numbers. Recall Wells Fargo, where employees created millions of unapproved accounts in an effort to satisfy lofty sales targets. Yet numerous studies have shown that when goals are made less challenging or are dispensed with altogether, performance declines—creating a dilemma for managers seeking to drive results without inadvertently encouraging unethical behavior.
A new study suggests a way around the problem, relating to the type of goal that is set. In one experiment, 231 university students were given three rounds of anagrams to solve. In the final round they did not have to show their solutions but merely had to check a box next to each anagram they had unscrambled. One group of students was told that the task was intended to evaluate their performance—a so-called outcome goal. Another group was told that the task was meant to develop their skills—a learning goal. Sixty-one percent of the students with an outcome goal inflated their performance, versus 44% of those with a learning goal. This happened, the researchers say, because outcome goals stimulate what’s known as a prevention focus: People become so intent on preventing a negative outcome that they will go to great lengths to avoid falling short.
Experiments involving numerical problem solving yielded similar results, and the effect was heightened when the goals were especially difficult. Importantly, framing a task as a learning exercise had no negative effect on how well participants did. “Managers can motivate performance and avoid unethical behavior if they implement challenging learning goals rather than assigning ends-focused outcome goals,” the researchers write.
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