Effects of Group Norms and Goal Setting on Productivity

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Abstract
The present research investigated the effects of goal assignment and coworker feedback on the goal level set, and the effects of number of coworkers on quantity of production. Results indicated that the effects of goal setting are moderated by the presence of group norms. This finding can easily be incorporated into goal theory. However, contrary to expectations, subjects who were assigned the average of the self-set goals coded significantly more data than subjects who set their own goals. Moreover, neither of these means differed signifi cantly from that generated by subjects who had been assigned a specific hard goal set by the experimenter. Social comparison theory proved usefulfor explaining all the results obtained, including those that appeared to be inconsistent with previous findings.