Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Goal
Summary
A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines.
A goal is roughly similar to a purpose or aim, the anticipated result which guides reaction, or an end, which is an object, either a physical object or an abstract object, that has intrinsic value.
Goal setting
Goal-setting theory was formulated based on empirical research and has been called one of the most important theories in organizational psychology. Edwin A. Locke and Gary P. Latham, the fathers of goal-setting theory, provided a comprehensive review of the core findings of the theory in 2002. In summary, Locke and Latham found that specific, difficult goals lead to higher performance than either easy goals or instructions to "do your best", as long as feedback about progress is provided, the person is committed to the goal, and the person has the ability and knowledge to perform the task.
According to Locke and Latham, goals affect performance in the following ways:
goals direct attention and effort toward goal-relevant activities,
difficult goals lead to greater effort,
goals increase persistence, with difficult goals prolonging effort, and
goals indirectly lead to arousal, and to discovery and use of task-relevant knowledge and strategies
A positive relationship between goals and performance depends on several factors. First, the goal must be considered important and the individual must be committed. Participative goal setting can help increase performance, but participation itself does not directly improve performance. Self-efficacy also enhances goal commitment. For goals to be effective, people need feedback that details their progress in relation to their goal. This feedback needs to be positive, immediate, graphic, and specific. Providing feedback leads to set references points and "comparisons to the standard inform their behavioral responses" (Stajkovic A.D.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Ontological neighbourhood
Related courses (32)
MATH-502: Distribution and interpolation spaces
The goal of this course is to give an introduction to the theory of distributions and cover the fundamental results of Sobolev spaces including fractional spaces that appear in the interpolation theor
MATH-351: Advanced numerical analysis
The student will learn state-of-the-art algorithms for solving differential equations. The analysis and implementation of these algorithms will be discussed in some detail.
PHYS-467: Machine learning for physicists
Machine learning and data analysis are becoming increasingly central in sciences including physics. In this course, fundamental principles and methods of machine learning will be introduced and practi
Related lectures (166)
Linear Programming Exercise
Covers exercises related to linear programming, focusing on solving optimization problems.
Trust region methods: framework & algorithms
Covers trust region methods, focusing on the framework and algorithms.
Weak Derivatives: Definition and Properties
Covers weak derivatives, their properties, and applications in functional analysis.
Related publications (427)
Mesh-based topology, shape and sizing optimization of ribbed plates
In this paper, we present a new parameterization and optimization procedure for minimizing the weight of ribbed plates. The primary goal is to reduce embodied CO2 in concrete floors as part of the effort to diminish the carbon footprint of the construction ...
Springer2024Cybersickness assessment framework(CSAF): An Open Source Repository for Standardized Cybersickness Experiments
Ronan Boulic, Nana Tian, Adriano Viegas Milani
Studies of cybersickness (CS) often require a significant invest- ment in creating the primary VR environment and other experiment- related features. In addition, minor differences in VR content in independent studies may lead to opposite results. This mot ...
IEEE2023Related people (37)
Related units (1)
Related concepts (17)
Goal setting
Goal setting involves the development of an action plan designed in order to motivate and guide a person or group toward a goal. Goals are more deliberate than desires and momentary intentions. Therefore, setting goals means that a person has committed thought, emotion, and behavior towards attaining the goal. In doing so, the goal setter has established a desired future state which differs from their current state thus creating a mismatch which in turn spurs future actions.
Goal orientation
Goal orientation, or achievement orientation, is an "individual disposition towards developing or validating one's ability in achievement settings". In general, an individual can be said to be mastery or performance oriented, based on whether one's goal is to develop one's ability or to demonstrate one's ability, respectively. A mastery orientation is also sometimes referred to as a learning orientation. Goal orientation refers to how an individual interprets and reacts to tasks, resulting in different patterns of cognition, affect and behavior.
SWOT analysis
SWOT analysis (or SWOT matrix) is a strategic planning and strategic management technique used to help a person or organization identify Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats related to business competition or project planning. It is sometimes called situational assessment or situational analysis. Additional acronyms using the same components include TOWS and WOTS-UP. This technique is designed for use in the preliminary stages of decision-making processes and can be used as a tool for evaluation of the strategic position of organizations of many kinds (for-profit enterprises, local and national governments, NGOs, etc.
Related MOOCs (10)
Instructional Design with Orchestration Graphs
Discover a visual language for designing pedagogical scenarios that integrate individual, team and class wide activities.
Instructional Design with Orchestration Graphs
Discover a visual language for designing pedagogical scenarios that integrate individual, team and class wide activities.