Organizational behavior

by | Apr 11, 2025 | business

You are managing a team at your company, and one of your key responsibilities is to motivate your team to achieve their goals. In organizational behavior, setting and achieving goals can be compared to making New Year’s resolutions. Reflect on the last New Year’s resolution you made. Was it to get healthier or lose weight? Were you initially successful but found it challenging to maintain your progress over time? This difficulty arises because most people are not inherently motivated just by having a goal set for them.

To build a more motivated and engaged workforce, you need to understand the role of goals on employee motivation and behavior. Understanding your goal orientation is the first step to understanding goal setting in organizations. Go to Connect and take the assessment to estimate your goal orientation and growth needs.
Note: You must access the McGraw Hill Connect Platform to complete the personality assessment for this discussion board. Access this through the link provided in the classroom under Assignments for Unit 1, Unit 3, or Unit 5.

Using what you have learned, respond to the following questions:

What are SMART goals, and why are they important for motivating employees and improving job performance? How do SMART goals differ from one of the traditional goal-setting methods?
When a manager tells you to give it your all or do your best, is this goal likely to be effective? Why or why not? Why is it important for goals to be specific rather than vague?

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.


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God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

What are SMART goals, and why are they important for motivating employees and improving job performance? How do SMART goals differ from one of the traditional goal-setting methods?

SMART goals are:

  • Specific: Clearly defined, leaving no room for ambiguity.
  • Measurable: Quantifiable, allowing progress to be tracked.
  • Achievable: Realistic and attainable within the given resources and timeframe.
  • Relevant: Aligned with the employee’s role and the organization’s overall objectives.
  • Time-bound: Defined with a clear deadline for completion.

Importance:

  • Increased Motivation: SMART goals provide a clear sense of direction and purpose, motivating employees to exert effort.
  • Improved Performance: By setting clear expectations and tracking progress, SMART goals enhance job performance and productivity.
  • Enhanced Accountability: Measurable goals create a sense of accountability, encouraging employees to take ownership of their work.

What are SMART goals, and why are they important for motivating employees and improving job performance? How do SMART goals differ from one of the traditional goal-setting methods?

SMART goals are:

  • Specific: Clearly defined, leaving no room for ambiguity.
  • Measurable: Quantifiable, allowing progress to be tracked.
  • Achievable: Realistic and attainable within the given resources and timeframe.
  • Relevant: Aligned with the employee’s role and the organization’s overall objectives.
  • Time-bound: Defined with a clear deadline for completion.

Importance:

  • Increased Motivation: SMART goals provide a clear sense of direction and purpose, motivating employees to exert effort.
  • Improved Performance: By setting clear expectations and tracking progress, SMART goals enhance job performance and productivity.
  • Enhanced Accountability: Measurable goals create a sense of accountability, encouraging employees to take ownership of their work.
  • Clear Expectations: SMART goals minimize misunderstandings and ensure everyone is on the same page.
  • Effective Progress Tracking: Measurable goals allow for easy monitoring of progress, enabling timely adjustments and feedback.

Difference from Traditional Goal-Setting:

Traditional goal-setting methods often lack specificity, measurability, and time constraints. They might involve vague instructions like “improve sales” or “enhance customer satisfaction.” In contrast, SMART goals provide a structured framework, ensuring clarity and accountability. For example, instead of “improve sales,” a SMART goal would be “increase sales of product X by 15% in the next quarter.” This level of detail makes a huge difference.

When a manager tells you to “give it your all” or “do your best,” is this goal likely to be effective? Why or why not? Why is it important for goals to be specific rather than vague?

No, “give it your all” or “do your best” is unlikely to be effective. Here’s why:

  • Lack of Specificity: These phrases are vague and subjective. “Your best” is interpreted differently by each individual, leading to inconsistent effort and results.
  • Lack of Measurability: There’s no way to quantify “giving it your all.” This makes it impossible to track progress or provide meaningful feedback.
  • Lack of Direction: Employees need concrete targets to focus their efforts. Vague goals provide no clear direction, leading to confusion and frustration.
  • Reduced Motivation: Without clear targets, employees may feel unmotivated and unsure of what’s expected of them.

Importance of Specific Goals:

  • Clarity and Focus: Specific goals provide clear targets, enabling employees to focus their efforts and prioritize tasks.
  • Increased Motivation: Specific goals create a sense of purpose and direction, motivating employees to achieve them.
  • Improved Performance: By providing clear expectations, specific goals enhance job performance and productivity.
  • Effective Feedback: Specific goals allow for objective feedback, enabling employees to improve their performance.
  • Enhanced Accountability: Clear targets create a sense of accountability, encouraging employees to take ownership of their work.

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