The Effects of Goal Setting on Perceived Job Enrichment.

Behavioral theories of work motivation and satisfaction are being applied increasingly with successful results in both the federal sector and private enterprise. Two prominent theories are job enrichment and goal setting. Past research has been conducted to test the effect of integrating these two management techniques with the intent of improving both productivity and worker satisfaction. This research study examined the effect that a goal setting program had on job enrichment as perceived by the workers involved in the experiment. A statistical analysis of the results of the experiment revealed that the goal setting program did not cause any significant change in perceived job enrichment. The authors concluded that the lack of positive results may be attributed 1 to contamination of a job enrichment program conducted prior to the goal setting intervention, and 2 to the nature of the goal setting program itself. Author