MZMORALE ZEROthe antithesis of employee engagement
DIRECTIVE 019 / FEEDBACK

SET A STRETCH TARGET

If the number is difficult enough, reality will eventually become more cooperative.

Choose a specific ambitious target and attach visible consequences. Keep measurement rules technically clear but operationally narrow. When teams discover behavior that improves the metric faster than it improves the underlying work, reward the result and schedule a governance review.

Primary: FEEDBACKMEANINGFAIRNESS
RATIONALE
Specific goals focus attention. They should therefore be aimed at the part of reality that fits in the dashboard.
SUCCESS INDICATOR
Performance against the target improves faster than confidence that the target still represents the objective.
COMMON FAILURE
Using difficult goals with appropriate task knowledge, safeguards, multiple dimensions and review mechanisms that detect gaming, neglected work and ethical trade-offs.
STATUS
Canonical / approved

Reconstructed Handbook series.

THE UNFORTUNATE PART

Unfortunately, the research…

Claim

Specific, difficult goals can improve performance under appropriate conditions, but goal pressure can also narrow attention and, in some settings, increase incentives for misrepresentation or other unethical behavior.

Evidence

Goal-setting research documents strong motivational effects for specific difficult goals while also identifying moderators and limits. Experimental research has found that unmet goals can increase unethical behavior relative to do-your-best conditions.

Strength: Strong

Sources

The Directive is satire. The research summary is not. Evidence is stated separately and qualified to the underlying literature rather than treated as proof of the joke.

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