Learning Organizations: “Goal-Setting Theory” and “Transformational leadership”

Goal setting theory denotes to the impact of setting goals on ensuing performance.  According to Locke, individuals who subscribe to specific goals and especially challenging goals get better performances than those setting overall and easy goals. The combination of difficulty in goal setting and specificity results in an attempt to outline strategic measures to achieve the specified goal. Locke outlines five major principles of setting goals; commitment, complexity, feedback, clarity, and challenge. “Goal setting theory posits that conscious and well-specified goals – defined as the object or aim of an action to attain a particular standard – which employees find meaningful positively affect the actions of employees” (Paarlberg & Lavigna, 2010, p. 5). One of the most strategic ways to learning and remaining effective in any given endeavor is to remain inspired towards setting goals and achieving them. For example, a retail shop owner wanting to increase sales by a margin of 50 percent must put in place all the available options of achieving the goals. “Such initiatives can increase the effectiveness of goal setting” (Wright & Grant, 2010, p. 3). Going through achieving such a goal entails learning within the business environment giving rise to a learning organization.

A learning organization is a business enterprise that expedites and assists learning of its memberships and unceasingly changes itself. There are five key characteristics of a learning organization that entail knowledge sharing (Team learning), forward-thinking leadership (share vision), lifelong learning (personal mastery), room for innovation (mental models) and collaborative learning culture. A collaborative learning culture is also referred to as systems thinking. There exist various strategies for creating a learning environment. They include building trust, good relationships, clear communication and setting goals. “Consistent with goal setting theory, Wright (2007) found that public employees are more motivated to perform their work when they have clearly understood and challenging tasks” (Paarlberg & Lavigna, 2010, p. 5). The need to succeed despite the challenge of a goal is the first initiative to building a learning organization. At the same time, the choice to pursue such a decision helps people to focus and develop their engagement within a specific environment. Setting a clear and definite goal is essential to establishing the required climate for putting in place the measures that will lead to success. It is these measures and strategies put in place that will help in building and creating a learning environment in which all the frameworks of achieving the set goal is/are analyzed and worked out.

Goal setting principles entail clarity, challenge, commitment, feedback, and task complexity. By formulating goals bearing in mind the above principles, the organization is, in essence, a process of knowledge acquisition in which the members will work within the identified frameworks towards achieving specified goals. Goal setting thus creates the desired environment encouraging learning by way of encouraging the leadership and members to follow and uphold the principles that promote learning. According to Wright (2007), as quoted by Paarlberg & Lavigna (2010, p. 5), “Establishing clear goals requires managers to explain not only what employees should do, but also why they should do it.”

Goal setting goes hand in hand with learning. At the same time, goal setting within a conducive environment encourages goal setting learning by adhering to the goal setting principles that focus more on entail a complex ideology, efficient communication, commitment to work at hand, and insurmountable challenge. This will, in turn, form the framework upon which learning will take place. According to learning theory, the way in which learners absorb knowledge is dependent on various factors that include emotional, environmental, and cognitive influences. Considering the seven principles of learning that involve communicating high expectations, prompt feedback, active learning, cooperation among learners, motivation, it is evident that goal setting theory is responsible for setting the required environment for learning within an organization.

It is evident that the goal setting principles are set upon the very principles of learning. Within an organization, the learning principles play an essential role in engaging learners to adhere to the critical objectives of achieving set goals or objectives. While an organizations leadership in formulating the best environment for goal achievement, behind the backdrop, it is also setting the right environment for learning. Attributes of learning that include effect; exercise, readiness, and primacy all play a significant role in focusing the attention of the members of the organization towards goal achievement. For example, the standard of effect is made much stronger if and when it is accompanied by a satisfying feeling of accomplishment or realization.  One of the main aspects of goal setting is setting challenging goals. The prospect and ideology of facing a challenging goal are no doubt motivating and thought stimulating thus encouraging the need for high performance. Thus encouraging and promoting learning organization. By and through their principles and frameworks, learning organization and goal setting theory are directly related. At the same time, goal setting principles can be used to outline and establish the structures of goal setting within an organization to achieve set goals and objectives.

Wright, Moynihan, and Pandley (2012, p. 3) argue that “Over the past 30 years, transformational leadership has become one of the most prominent theories of organizational behavior.” Transformational leadership is anchored on the precipice of inspiration, motivation and high level of morality. It is a situation whereby leaders and followers build and raise one another to the highest levels possible. It is evident here that transformational leadership is having the basic requirement in attaining a difficult task as required in goal setting theory. A key concept of goal setting theory is setting “difficult” goals. Transformational leadership is anchored on the basis of raising others to the highest level possible. “Transformation leaders give meaning to jobs within the organization by energizing employees about the importance of their work and by linking employees work to organizational goals and employees values” (Paarlberg & Lavigna, 2010, p. 6). A learning organization, on the other hand, is aimed at transforming a state of an organization through continuous improvement. Continuous improvement within an organization can only be attained by eradicating redundancy, setting clear goals and inspiring people to rise above their ordinary level. Transformational leadership is characterized by setting clear goals, having high expectations, stirring emotions in others and encouraging others. Others include setting up members to focus above self-interest and inspiring others to look beyond the impossible.

Learning organization is modeled on continuous transformation, growth and knowledge sharing. At the same time transformation leadership is established for motivation innovation. It is about change and growth, the same principles of a learning organization. Transformational leadership is set on inspiring members towards modification and promoting a culture of ownership, goal oriented workplace autonomy, and accountability. Transformational leadership shares the necessary frameworks of a learning organization that entail inspiring transformation. The essential traits of learning organization also are shared. For example, collaborative learning culture, knowledge sharing, and lifelong learning all share the necessary attributes of transformational leadership.  

To become a learning organization, members or employees must be provided with innovative ways, work leading to goal achievement and working in ways that recognize and reward members. At the same time, the organization must be improving all the time with consistency towards goal achievement. To achieve this, the organizational leadership must model itself towards continuous learning and growth. Thus transformational leadership has a direct relationship with a learning organization. For an organization to be at a position to transform itself, inspire its members, provide members with innovative ways, work with structures that support strategy building and objective realization, it must put in place relevant leadership structures. “The art of the creative leader is the art of institution building, the reworking of human and technological materials to fashion an organism that embodies new and enduring values” (Paarlberg & Lavigna, 2010, p. 3). It is only by having a leadership that is encouraging, motivating, inspiring, ready to create change, and help the members grow will the organization establish a learning culture.

One key attribute of transformational leadership is giving members or employees the authority to make critical decisions within the organization. At the same time, it provides employees the mandate to find better solutions to past problems. “Leaders can create an alignment between employee values and the organization’s ideology by articulating an organizational mission that clearly reflects individual pro-social values, using values to guide the onboarding process, setting goals and significant goals, and designing work in a way that maximizes social significance (Paarlberg & Lavigna 2010, p. 3). Similarly, employees within the leadership trail can also be modeled to take over as transformational leaders by way of training and mentoring.

“Good leaders can ill afford to have “out” groups” (Van Wart 2013, p. 6). Transformational leadership is characterized by providing mentoring and coaching to the members, building organizational culture, nurturing ethical work setting and encouraging positive growth and development. “The five characteristics of transformational leadership is their ability to elevate the interest of their employees, generate awareness and acceptance of the group mission, and look beyond their self-interest to the greater good of the larger group” (Paarlberg & Lavigna, 2010, p. 3). A closer look at the learning environment provides the very framework of achieving the above concepts of leadership that entail building the required learning environment and encouraging members to reach beyond their ordinary expectations. To incorporate transformation leadership into an organization, it is best to establish concepts and principles that mirror traits of the organizational culture. The same case applies to implementing goal setting theory into the organization. Both goal-setting theory and transformation leadership can be achieved in an organization by synchronizing their principles and establishing a standard model upon which they are aligned to the organization’s culture and work ethics.   

References

• Paarlberg, L. E., & Lavigna, B. (2010). Transformational leadership and public service motivation: Driving individual and organizational performance. Public administration review, 70(5), 710-718.
• Van Wart, M. (2013). Lessons from leadership theory and the contemporary challenges of leaders. Public Administration Review, 73(4), 553-565.
• Wright, B. E., & Grant, A. M. (2010). Unanswered questions about public service motivation: Designing research to address critical issues of emergence and effects. Public administration review, 70(5), 691-700.     
• Wright, B. E., Moynihan, D. P., & Pandey, S. K. (2012). Pulling the levers: Transformational leadership, public service motivation, and mission valence. Public Administration Review, 72(2), 206-215.