Effects of feedback and goal setting on job attitudes and productivity : a field study

• Main Author: Kildahl, Stephen
• Format: Others
• Published: PDXScholar 1988
• Subjects: Employee motivation; Feedback (Psychology); Goal (Psychology); Job satisfaction; Labor productivity; Psychology
• Online Access: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/3813; https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4822&context=open_access_etds

Two theories of work motivation taken from the field of Industrial/Organizational Psychology were compared in a six-week field experiment at a Fortune 500 company. A Job Enrichment Model (Hackman & Oldham, 1975) was used and the Motivating Potential Score (MPS) of three groups of machine operators was obtained before and after a six-week productivity study. Three goal conditions based on Goal Theory (Locke, 1968) were assigned one to each of three groups of machine operators and comparisons were made between the treatment groups. Production increases resulted from providing goals and feedback to subjects, but these increases were not statistically significant. The hourly goal condition with feedback had the largest increase over baseline, greater than either daily goals with feedback or the "do your best" goal condition with no feedback. A weak correlation exists (r =.17) between the change in worker's MPS and the worker's change in production.