Habitual domain analysis and effective goal setting for better performance *

Abstract

Utilizing the concepts of behavior mechanisms and habitual domains, we offer a classification of decision problems and a general principle of effective goal setting as to select control variables (the set of measurable goals, their achievement levels and supportive systems) which can create favorable working conditions and relative high levels of charges and confidence on the performers so that they can allocate as much attention time as possible to perform the desired job-related operations in a most efficient and effective way. We give a detailed discussion on the applications of this principle over various classes of problems.