<p>Previous research has identified creativity goals and process goals as two contextual interventions for enhancing creativity in the workplace. Whereas creativity goals direct attention and effort toward outcomes that are both novel and useful, process goals direct attention and effort toward the creative process – behaviors and cognitions intended to enhance creative outcomes. The current research draws from past research and theory on goals and intrinsic motivation to explain how creativity goals and process goals influence creative performance, and perhaps more importantly, <i>why</i>. Specifically, I suggest that creativity goals have a direct, positive relationship with creative performance; however, process goals have an indirect, positive relationship with creative performance through creative process engagement. Additionally, specificity has the ability to focus attention on relevant processes and outcomes within the creativity criterion space. While specific creativity goals are predicted to direct attention toward desirable solutions without thwarting needs for autonomy, specific (i.e., structured) process goals may thwart autonomy perceptions, resulting in lower levels of intrinsic motivation, and ultimately creative performance. The hypotheses proposed were examined in a sample of 560 undergraduate students utilizing a 3 (creativity goals: specific, general, and no goal) x 3 (process goals: structured, semi-structured, and no goals) between-subjects experimental design. Results revealed creativity goals, particularly specific creativity goals, have a direct positive influence on creative performance. Process goals have an indirect positive relationship on creative performance through creative process engagement. Moreover, process goals have a negative impact on perceptions of autonomy, which in turn negatively impacts creative performance by reducing intrinsic motivation. The specific creativity goal had the strongest effects and appears to be an effective way to enhance both creative process engagement and creative performance. Taken together, these findings suggest that goals are a tenable means of enhancing creative performance; however, care should be taken to reduce adverse consequences for autonomy perceptions. </p>

Learn to …. (1) Use the ICF-CY framework for assessment; (2) use the ICF-CY framework for goal setting; (3) address the child's own perspectives in goal setting (person-centred goal setting); (4) include a parent's perspective in planning everyday functional activities for intervention; (5) formulate therapy goals across different language and cultural groups.

<p>This dissertation consists of three journal articles about using open digital badges to improve learning performance and facilitate students’ goal setting processes. In the first study, we investigated the impact of instructional ODBs on pre-service teachers’ perceived technology capabilities and their actual learning performance in a large undergraduate technology integration course. A positive relation between using ODBs and academic learning performance was found in the study. The second study conceptually argued that the use of ODBs can positively impact learning because it helps optimize the effects of goal-setting on learning which then indirectly impacts learning performance. In the third study, we explored college students’ experiences of using ODBs as an innovative approach to facilitate their goal-setting processes in a large undergraduate technology integration course. We found that ODBs could support college students’ goal-setting processes by helping students connect different types of goals, improving goal commitment, controlling task complexity and providing prompt personalized feedback. </p>

Positive psychology emphasizes growth, adaptive functioning, and human potential. The present study contributes to this literature by examining the impact of exposure to a positive psychology curriculum among nontraditional students taking foundational courses in a career college. Mixed methods were utilized to assess changes in student well-being and goal setting quantitatively through pre- and post-tests of the Authentic Happiness Survey and the Satisfaction with Life Scale as well as identifying emergent themes from qualitative analysis of student reflections and written assignments over a 9-week term. Twenty-five students participated in foundational courses, which placed an emphasis on positive psychology. Paired samples t tests, Cohen's d, thematic analysis, and a researcher-designed Likert-scale assessed changes from the beginning of the course to the end among the quantitative and qualitative measures of overall well-being and goal attainment. Some of the notable findings included significantly positive changes in students' reports of authentic happiness, and 76% of students reporting that they had attained an academic, social, and personal goal over the course of the 9-week curriculum. Change in self-reported satisfaction with life approached, but it was not statistically significant. Thus, the implementation of a positive psychology curriculum in a nontraditional student population created positive social change in this particular sector of academia and was associated with increased overall well-being and attainment of goals.

As military dependent students relocate, they enroll in multiple schools throughout their K-12 experience. Frequent mobility can create gaps in achievement. The challenge in the local setting is meeting the needs of military dependent students scoring below grade level standards in math. The purpose of the formative evaluation was to determine the effectiveness of the Personalized Education Plan (PEP) program and propose refinements. The conceptual framework included goal setting, motivation, engagement, and self-regulation. The concurrent multi-methods study included a central research question on whether a PEP increased student math scores. Questions about student motivation, engagement, self-regulation, and goal setting followed. Eighteen out of 30 teachers from 2 schools completed an online questionnaire about the PEP program and impact on students. Measures of Academic Performance (MAP) math scores were collected on all students. Quantitative data analysis included a paired samples t test which showed a statistically significant (p <.001) increase between math scores before and after implementation of the PEP. An independent samples t test showed military dependent student scores were slightly higher than for nonmilitary students, but not statistically significant (p > .05). Qualitative analysis of teacher questionnaire data revealed themes in student motivation, engagement, and self-regulation. Evaluation results recommended the district change the PEP program to support continued implementation. The findings contribute to social change by providing critical information that may assist other districts in creating effective goal setting programs for military dependent students.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2007.

The purpose of this study was to investigate effective change communication in the workplace by utilizing goal setting theory. Due to potential validity issues with previous organizational communication audit research, a multi-methods study was devised to investigate and construct a new measure for effective change communication in the workplace. Preliminary interviews along with previous research were utilized to construct a survey questionnaire gauging effective change communication in the workplace. Over 1,000 employees at a large, health-services companies participated in the study. The results from the study yield a framework for evaluating effective change communication on individual (i.e. behavior, trait, and knowledge) and organizational (i.e. accuracy, clarity, and availability) levels. Also, the data was divided between males and females, communication sources, and the perceptions of effective supervisory communication. The study’s practical implications, addition to goal setting theory, limitations, and future research are noted.

Major organizational changes are often connected with a variety of negative outcomes for both employees and the organization alike. As a contrast to this, organizational deaths have instead been associated with increased productivity and motivation to perform, despite certainty of job loss. These results have been regarded as counter-intuitive, since employment and job security are regarded as a foundation for work motivation. Consequently, this thesis aims at investigating the motivational aspects of organizational deaths in terms of change in motivation as individuals adjust to changing realities. The thesis rests on three empirical studies.The first study's results showed (contrary to theoretical postulations) that goal setting was able to influence employees' in-role and extra-role performance, job-induced tension, commitment to the closure, and job satisfaction. The second study showed that organizational productivity, efficiency, performance, motivation and psychological climate increased for both blue-collar and white-collar employees'. The results of the third study lend support to the anecdotal reports that high-performers stop performing during organizational deaths. However, this study also found that low-performers perceiving low justice increased their effort which may show that they have a personal gain in performing (e.g., positive self-perception). The results of the empirical studies support the notion that organizational productivity increases along with employees' motivation to perform. Finally, a common pattern in the data was that most positive variables increased and the negative variables decreased. These results are explained by the adoption of new goals, which creates horizontal coherence (harmony) among goals, which gives rise to goal proximity (motivation increases due to moving closer to the goal). / At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: In press. Paper 2: Submitted. Paper 3: Submitted.

Denna forskning har två syften.Dels att undersöka grad på motivationsfaktorerien arbetsmiljö och eventuellakorrelationermellan motivationsfaktorerna.Enkäten baseradespå frågor från QPSNordic,Lockeoch Lathams (1990) frågeformuläroch occupational self-efficacy scale (OSES).Totalt hundra anställda (n = 100) deltog iundersökningen. Andra delen var att undersökachefers motivationsstrategier somanvänds för att motivera sinaanställda. I detta sammanhanghar anställdes uppfattning av destrategier somanvänds av cheferna också undersökts.Det skapades två struktureradefrågeformulär med öppnafrågor, en för cheferoch en för deanställda. Resultatenfrån enkätstudien visar attflesta motivations-faktorer låg på en medelgrad,utom motivationsfaktorn feedbackoch delfaktorn yttre belöningsom liggerpå en låg grad i denundersökta arbetsmiljön. Resultatet visarflera signifikantakorrelationer mellan motivationsfaktorerna.Frånde struktureradefrågeformulären visar resultatetatt alla chefer motiverar sina anställda ochchefer har både lika och olikamotivationsstrategier i sinarbetsplats. Resultatet visar att fåanställda som deltog i studien upplever chefens motivationsstrategier, för attunderlätta fler eventuella upplevda motivationsstrategierfrån chefer till arbetstagaren,görs antagandetatt detta kan åtgärdas genom att chefen ökar sin närvaro bland personal. / This research had two objectives. First, to investigate the level of the motivational factors in the workplace and the possible relationships between the motivational factors. The questionnaire was based on questions from QPSNordic, Locke and Latham's (1990) questionnaire and occupational self-efficacy scale (OSES). Total of one hundred workers (n=100) participated in the survey. Second, to examine the strategies managers used to motivate their employees. In this context, employee’s perception of the strategies used by the managers was also investigated. Two structured questionnaire with open ended questions were created, one for the managers and one for the employees. The results from the survey study shows that almost all motivating factors lay on a medium level, except the motivating factor feedback and the part factor external reward lies on a low level in the investigated workplace. The result shows several significant correlations between the motivational factors. From the structured questionnaire the result shows that all managers are motivating their employee´s and the managers have both equal and different motivating strategies in their workplace. The results showed that few employees experienced manager’s motivation strategies, in order to facilitate more any perceived motivational strategies from managers to employee´s; the assumption is this can be corrected by increasing the manager's presence.

The purpose of this paper was to gain knowledge about the conversation about developmental opportunities in the organization, and how a company uses it. The focus was on four different themes, purpose of the conversation about developmental opportunities in the organization, planning, execution and content, feedback. The sample consisted of six people, three employees and three managers of the company. The interviews were conducted by an interview guide, one for the employees and one for the managers. The results of the interviews showed that the conversation about developmental opportunities in the organization was used by managers to make all employees to strive in the same direction, an opportunity for employees to reconcile how their work performance is perceived by their managers, the use of a preparation model differs between managers and feedback was important. In the discussion, the authors analysed the four themes and compared them to previous research. / Syftet med uppsatsen var att få kunskap om vad utvecklingssamtal innehåller och hur ett företag använder det. Fokus låg på fyra teman, syfte med utvecklingssamtal, planering, genomförande och innehåll, återkoppling och uppföljning. Urvalet bestod av sex personer, tre medarbetare och tre chefer på ett företag. Intervjuerna genomfördes utifrån en intervjuguide för cheferna och en för medarbetarna. Intervjuerna var baserade på de fyra teman som författarna fokuserar på. Resultatet från intervjuerna visade att utvecklingssamtal används från chefernas sida för att alla skall sträva åt samma håll, en möjlighet för medarbetarna att stämma av hur deras arbetsinsats upplevs, utvecklingssamtalen upplevs ömsesidiga, användning av en förberedelsemall skiljer sig cheferna emellan och att uppföljning av utvecklingssamtal är viktigt. I diskussionen gjordes en djupgående analys av de fyra teman och jämfördes med tidigare forskning.