Cecil alec mace: The man who discovered goal-setting

Cecil Alec Mace was a pioneer in advancing British industrial psychology during the inter-war period. His many contributions include helping to move British psychology away from its domination by philosophy methodologies to the use of experimental procedures. He helped discredit the concept that the paycheck is the dominate work incentive, developed the notion of working because of “control from around,” and enunciated the position that people have a “will to work” that can be released under certain circumstances. However, another of Mace's contributions particularly stands out. It remains essentially unchanged after more than 50 years of development. In 1935, Mace conducted the first experimental studies of goal-setting and in the following years set out many of the basic principles that are taught today. Influences which persuaded Mace to conduct these studies are identified, and his experimental studies are reviewed and compared to the findings of contemporary goal-setting researchers. Several historic...

[1]  E. A. Locke,et al.  Work Motivation and Satisfaction: Light at the End of the Tunnel , 1990 .

[2]  John R. Hollenbeck,et al.  Investigation of the construct validity of a self-report measure of goal commitment , 1989 .

[3]  T. Ostrowska,et al.  A Short History of British Psychology 1840–1940 , 1986 .

[4]  M. E. Tubbs,et al.  Goal setting: A meta-analytic examination of the empirical evidence. , 1986 .

[5]  P. Christopher Earley,et al.  The influence of component participation and role models on goal acceptance, goal satisfaction and performance , 1985 .

[6]  James T. Austin,et al.  Goal‐setting theory: Unexplored areas and future research needs , 1985 .

[7]  Jay S. Kim.  Effect of Behavior Plus Outcome Goal Setting and Feedback on Employee Satisfaction and Performance , 1984 .

[8]  Miriam Erez,et al.  Effect of goal acceptance on the relationship of goal difficulty to performance , 1984 .

[9]  H. Garland,et al.  Influence of ability, assigned goals, and normative information on personal goals and performance: A challenge to the goal attainability assumption. , 1983 .

[10]  G. Latham,et al.  THE IMPORTANCE OF UNION ACCEPTANCE FOR PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENT THROUGH GOAL SETTING , 1982 .

[11]  E. A. Locke.  Relation of goal level to performance with a short work period and multiple goal levels. , 1982 .

[12]  D. Campbell.  Determinants of choice of goal difficulty level: A review of situational and personality influences , 1982 .

[13]  Biman Das,et al.  Effects of Production Feedback and Standards on Worker Productivity in a Repetitive Production Task , 1982 .

[14]  J. Bavelas,et al.  Effects of goal level on performance: a trade-off of quantity and quality. , 1978, Canadian journal of psychology.

[15]  Edwin A. Locke,et al.  THE INTERACTION OF ABILITY AND MOTIVATION IN PERFORMANCE: AN EXPLORATION OF THE MEANING OF MODERATORS , 1978 .

[16]  H. Miller,et al.  Motivation, behavior, and performance: A closer examination of goal setting and monetary incentives. , 1978 .

[17]  Miriam Erez,et al.  Feedback: A necessary condition for the goal setting-performance relationship. , 1976 .

[18]  W. Clay Hamner,et al.  Effect of Performance Feedback and Goal Setting on Productivity and Satisfaction in an Organizational Setting. , 1976 .

[19]  A. Flew,et al.  C. A. Mace: Selected Papers , 1973 .

[20]  C. A. Mace.  The Psychology of Study , 1968 .

[21]  E. A. Locke,et al.  The relationship of task success to task liking and satisfaction. , 1965, The Journal of applied psychology.

[22]  Mace Ca.  Satisfactions in work; a further comment. , 1948 .

[23]  W. B. Gallie,et al.  Does Psychology Study Mental Acts or Dispositions , 1947 .

[24]  C. Broad,et al.  The Mind and Its Place in Nature. , 1928 .

[25]  E. A. Locke,et al.  A theory of goal setting & task performance , 1990 .

[26]  C. A. Mace.  Incentives: some experimental studies. , 1935 .