Goal Clarity (goal + clarity)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Capturing Flow in the Business Classroom

DECISION SCIENCES JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE EDUCATION, Issue 2 2008
Yi Maggie Guo
ABSTRACT This study focuses on the flow experience in business education. Flow experience, characterized by concentration, control, and enjoyment, can lead to better learning outcomes. Leading preconditions of flow include the balance of challenge and skill, feedback, and goal clarity. Other situational factors affect the flow experience through the mediating effects of these three factors. In this article, we extend an existing framework linking flow and learning. Using the model as a guide, we start our research effort of flow in business education by conducting a field survey of student learning experience in terms of flow and influential factors. Data were collected using business students taking an introductory Operations Management course. The analysis reveals that flow does exist in classroom learning. Its key dimensions are concentration, sense of control, and enjoyment. The more important leading factor is having clear feedback. Characteristics of both the instructor and students play a role in the flow experience of students during lecture. It is evident that flow theory offers a useful framework for business education research. Suggestions for future research are made. [source]


Getting the most from MBA internships: Promoting intern learning and job acceptance

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2010
Gerard Beenen
Abstract MBA internships are commonly used for training and recruiting management talent. Yet, research overlooks what makes them effective. A longitudinal study investigates the relationships that goal clarity, autonomy, and prior experience have with MBA intern learning and job acceptance intentions. Results show learning partially mediates the relationship of goal clarity to job acceptance intentions, and that less experienced MBA interns learn more under conditions of high goal clarity and low autonomy (i.e., when their roles are more structured). We discuss how role structures and learning can inform effective training and recruiting of interns, and management of short-term workers in general. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Performance measurement: a critical analysis of the literature with respect to total quality management

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT REVIEWS, Issue 2 2000
David Sinclair
This paper represents a comprehensive review of the literature on performance measurement. The roadmap used for this analysis is from the evolution of performance measurement, to the way it is currently defined and how it is applied from a corporate-wide perspective. One useful contribution of this review is a special focus on performance measurement in a non-financial, non-traditional sense. This discussion was further amplified by referring to newly developed tools and techniques and by highlighting critical factors of success in the application of performance measurement. The key factors from this literature review reveal that, although interest in the area of measurement is growing significantly, this is not reflected by the tangible and credible experiences in the organizations concerned. There is a concurrent view amongst various writers that there are both hard and soft issues reflecting, for instance, the lack of strategic thinking and goal clarity, putting measurement systems in the driving seat and therefore trusting unreliable designs and not focusing on the true ethos of modern measurement towards continuous improvement and thereby not engaging employees and neglecting the culture change aspects. The paper concludes by highlighting the dearth in research in the important field of performance measurement and, in particular, the design and implementation of performance measurement systems that cover all the essential aspects through an integrated perspective. [source]


Do Satisfied Employees Satisfy Customers?

JOURNAL OF APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 8 2001
Parents, Satisfaction Among Public School Administrators, Students, Support-Services Staff Morale
Data were obtained from school staff (N= 1,567) who provided support services to schools in a major metropolitan school district. These data were analyzed in relation to data obtained from 3 customer groups (school administrators, students, and parents) who provided ratings of their satisfaction with services. Several aspects of employee morale (e. g., quality of supervision, teamwork, and goal clarity, along with workgroup service climate) were significantly and positively related to administrator and parent satisfaction, but not to student satisfaction. Relations of employee morale and workgroup service climate to administrator satisfaction and parent satisfaction were moderated by customer contact with employees. Results are discussed in relation to expectations of customers and employees that affect the nature of the service-exchange interaction. [source]


An analysis of predictors of team satisfaction in product development teams with differing levels of virtualness

R & D MANAGEMENT, Issue 5 2009
Eric M. Stark
The purpose of this study is to empirically examine and assess the moderating effects of extent of virtualness on a variety of well-established predictors of new product development team satisfaction. We focus our study on 178 different new product development teams from a variety of industries and use extent of virtualness as a structural characteristic of the teams, measuring it on a continuum. The predictors of team satisfaction we studied are relationship conflict, familiarity, goal clarity and preference for group work. Primary findings include: (1) relationship conflict has a more deleterious effect on team member satisfaction as teams become more virtual, mainly because it is very difficult for team members of virtual teams to resolve their interpersonal disputes; (2) the relationship between preference for group work and team satisfaction is moderated by extent of virtualness, such that preference for group work increases team satisfaction more as virtualness increases; (3) goal clarity and familiarity are not moderated by extent of virtualness, but have a significant direct effect on team satisfaction. Managerial and research implications of these findings relative to new product development teams are also discussed. [source]


Effects of a Psychologically Based Management System on Work Motivation and Productivity

APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 3 2000
Uwe Kleinbeck
Introducing group work as a principle of work organisation to increase productivity in organisations operating in a globalising economy requires new methods of measuring performance in groups. This study describes the introduction of a measurement instrument as part of a participative productivity management (PPM) system in a medium sized factory producing rubber compounds. Using a simple quasi-experimental design, the PPM intervention was found to produce an increase in productivity and was also related to goal clarity, but not to higher group cohesion. It is concluded that PPM helps to increase productivity mainly by increasing task and goal clarity, and that increases in productivity can only be reached reliably when no competing system of performance appraisal exists besides PPM. L'introduction du travail en groupe comme principe de structuration du travail pour ame´liorer la productivite´ d'organisations e´voluant dans une e´conomie globalise´e impose de nouvelles me´thodes pour mesurer la performance dans les groupes. Cet article de´crit l'application d'un instrument de mesure comme e´tant un e´le´ment du syste`me de gestion participative de la productivite´ (PPM) dans une usine de taille moyenne produisant des composants en caoutchouc. En faisant appel a` un plan quasi expe´rimental, l'intervention PPM a ame´liore´ la productivite´ tout en e´tant relie´e a` la clarte´ des objectifs, mais pas a` une meilleure cohe´sion des groupes. On en conclut que la PPM accroit la productivite´ surtout grâce a` une meilleure transparence des objectifs et des tâches, mais que ces gains de productivite´ ne peuvent être obtenus avec certitude si un syste`me concurrent d'e´valuation de la performance fonctionne en paralle`le avec la PPM. [source]