Impact of Goal Setting on Organizational Capacity Building

Goal Setting in Capacity Building
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Goal Setting in Capacity Building
Introduction
Capacity building refers to the ability of organizations and individuals to perform their functions efficiently, effectively and sustainably. In other words, it is a planned development of output rate, knowledge, skills, management and other organizational capabilities through incentives, training and technological improvement. It is an evidence-based process that strengthens the ability of people to perform the core functions well and continue to develop and improve over time. Capacity goals state the overall aim of the capacity development program. Capacity building is a conceptual framework that focuses on understanding the obstacles that inhibit organizations, governments and individuals from realizing their development goals and enhances the ability of firms to achieve sustainable and measurable results.
Capacity building enables organizations to deliver their mission effectively and attain sustainability in the future. The capacity building projects that a firm can undertake include thoughtful leadership succession, technology advancement, improving the communication strategies and evaluation of the measures of company outcomes. The process enables a firm to move to the next level financially, operationally, programmatically and in terms of organizational maturity. It is a continuous process towards the creation of an effective and sustainable organization (Luthans & Youssef, 2007).
Capacity building is important in shaping firms to enable them to achieve their desired results. It equips the leaders with the desirable qualities, thus enabling them to effectively carry out the management and leadership roles in the firm. To facilitate the program, organizations must evaluate their capabilities through self-assessment practices to identify the areas that require improvement. Additionally, successful planning is crucial for the continuity of the effectiveness of the process. Several theories have been brought forward to explain the concept of capacity building. The theories include the goal setting theory of motivation by Edwin Locke. The theory explains the importance of establishing goals when carrying out various projects and the key qualities of good goals.
The capacity goals focus on the initial and middle level and long term results of the capacity development framework. For the goals to be achieved, the objectives must be specific, measurable, result-oriented, achievable and time-bound. Therefore, for the process to be successful, the objectives must be designed depending on the level of desired outcomes. The capacity goals must cover questions relating to the target recipients of the program, the need for capacity building, the type of capacity project that fits the requirements of the entry level.
It is important for a firm to set goals when carrying out capacity building projects. Goals drive the firm towards the achievement of the desired results and provide an overview of the overall expectations. Both short-term and long-term goals are used to determine the success of the process since they make the different parties in the project to work together as a team to attain the objectives. The team members understand the decisions and the effects of the projects and thus become more committed to attaining the objectives. Goals are also used to measure success during the capacity building by comparing the progress with the estimated results. By setting goals during the capacity building, the success rate of the projects is increased. Individual performance is also enhanced by promoting persistence, motivating and energizing the employees (Folke et.al., 2002). The goals offer guidance and direction to employees, facilitate planning, inspire and motivate employees and helps the firms to control and evaluate performance during capacity building.
Goal setting theory
Various theories explain the subject of goal setting. One the most common approach is the goal setting theory of motivation. The theory was put forward by Edwin Locke in 1960. According to Locke, goal setting is linked to the performance of various tasks. Specific and challenging targets, coupled with appropriate feedback results in better performance since the employees gain knowledge on the activities that need to be done and focus their efforts on performing the tasks. According to the theory, goals must be clear, specific, challenging and realistic. The challenging nature makes the participants yearn for greater rewards on attaining the basic levels of the goals and pride themselves for the achievement (Krishnaveni & Aravamudhan, 2013). Consequently, a high level of achievement is achieved.
In capacity building, goals encourage the employees to participate actively in the programs, and as a result, the outcome of the process is enhanced. The eventualities of the theories are self-efficiency and goal commitment of the participants. The participants must be confident in the capacity building programs and the desire to achieve the results out of them. They must also be ready to encounter the challenges that come along when trying to meet the inspiring goals during capacity development. The goals must be made known to all the parties involved to enhance joint efforts in the capacity building team. Besides the team goals, the individuals must also design the initiatives they wish to take and the objectives they wish to attain at the end of the process. The individual goals must be consistent with the project goals to facilitate the success of the process.
Goal setting acts as an incentive to the employees and is used as an incentive to enable the employees to achieve the objective of the capacity building process and complete work effectively and timely. Additionally, goal setting results in increased efforts and motivation and improves the quality of feedback during the projects that aims at developing the capacity of the workers. The skills of setting goals are important and influence the activities of the workers. Despite the advantages of goal setting, the activity also has some limitations. The goals may have detrimental consequences on the level of performance and the outcome of the programs if the project goals lead to a drift from the overall organizational goals. Complex and difficult goals can result in risky behaviors among the participants in the attempt to attain them (Luthans & Youssef, 2007). If not handled well, goal setting in the capacity building may result in demotivation of the employees and reduction in the level of satisfaction.
Setting goals affects the motivation of the employees. In the goal setting theory, the author outlines the mechanisms that improve the behavior of the team members towards achieving the desired results. The mechanisms serve to affect the response of the team to achieve the objectives of capacity building by increasing the energy of the individuals and strategizing their energy to enable them to focus on the behaviors that will aid in the accomplishment of goals. One of the mechanisms is direct attention which refers to direct attention on the behavior that aids in the achievement of goals. Energization of the employees is the second mechanism that promotes the achievement of the objectives of capacity building programs. Well-motivated employees are likely to achieve the goals of capacity development and apply the skills acquired for the benefit of the organization they work for.
Literature review
Krishnaveni, R., & Aravamudhan, N. R. (2013). Capacity Building: A New Paradigm for Development. Effective Executive, 16(2), 27.
The Strategic Plan for Development theory offers guidance for capacity building at an organizational level in the member countries of UNDP. The strategy focuses on a visionary leadership, access to knowledge and accountability mechanisms to develop the skills of the practitioners operating from both within and outside the United Nations development system. The development process comprises of various steps. The first step involves encouraging the stakeholders to participate in the process. According to this approach, a successful capacity building process must involve the participation of all involved stakeholders to enable them share ownership of the program and act more responsibly. Engaging the group that is directly affected by the situation facilitates effective decision making and increases transparency of the work. UNDP uses policy advisory and advocacy to improve the engagement of the stakeholders in the process. Accessing the pre-existing capacity needs and assets is useful in the programs. More attention must be paid to the areas that require training to enable successful incorporation of the development strategies.
On completion of the assessment, the next step is the formulation of the capacity development response based on the core issues which include the institutional arrangements, knowledge, leadership and accountability. Institutional arrangements strengthen the procedures, policies, resource management, communication and leadership framework. The approach works to solve the problems associated with institutional arrangements by developing frameworks and policies that promote the development of skills, ethics and values and appropriate evaluation programs....