Tower Building Exercise : A study on Goal Setting

Tower Building Exercise : A study on Goal Setting

The last lecture of POM Class was on Tower building exercise in which a tower of cubes was to be built by us placing one cube above another. The exercise was to teach us the principle of goal setting as mangers.

Four different scenario were encountered, here I will analyse and infer the teachings from each one of them.
                                                                                     Scenarios

Parameter	Factor	I	II	III	IV
Historical Tower height achieved by team LOW	1	5	5	5	5
Historical Tower height achieved by team HIGH	2	18	20	21	23
Achievable Performance -(Estimate / Guess )	3	18	20	22	25
Goal proposed by the Manager	4	18	22	22	18
Goal proposed by the worker	5	12	12	12	20
Goal Mutually agreed for building the tower between worker and manager with the support of the manager	6	15	22	18	15
No. of cubes Tower manager and worker team could build / achieve at the end of the exercise	7	18	18	18	18

Gaps	Factor difference	I	II	III	IV
Gap if any between Tower height Performance so far achieved and Achievable performance of tower	3-7	0	2	4	7
Gap if any between goal proposed by the manager and mutually agreed goal by team	4-6	3	0	4	3
Gap if any between goal proposed by the manager and the goal proposed  by the worker	4-5	6	10	10	-2
Gap if any between goal proposed by the worker and mutually agreed goal by team	5-6	-3	-10	-6	5
Gap if any between  performance achieved ( at the end of the exercise ) and  goal mutually agreed by manger and the worker	6-7	-3	4	0	-3
Gap if any between  performance achieved ( at the end of the exercise ) and  achievable goal	7-3	0	-2	-4	-7

The gap between the various factors speaks of the different kind of management styles.

Scenario 1:
Here the manager have faith in the abilities of his workers and sets up a high goal(18) but the workers have low aspiration and demands a lower goal (12). So, the manager considering the demands of his workers lowers the target goal (15). The workers are motivated and inspired by this gesture of the manager and works hard to achieve the set goal and in the act able to build a tower of 18 goals as set originally by their manager thus achieving their potential. Thus we see here is a manager who is not very rigid but listens to his team, sets realistic goals and then motivates his team to achieve them.

Scenario 2:
Here we have a manger who is unrelenting and sets up a high goal (22) and is adamant about achieving it. He does not discuss the issues with his workers as a result the workers are able to build a tower of only 18 cubes. Not only missing the managers target but also performing below their potential.

Scenario 3:
Here we have a manger who sets up a high target of 22 cubes which is achievable.But the workers demands a target of only 12 cubes, now the manager is not a hard taskmaster and after discussion he is able to bring the mutually agreed target by 6 sacrificing only 4 in this process. Motivated by this gesture the workers are able to achieve the set target of 18 cubes. Thus the manager has been able to achieve the desired target and also has not compromised on his relationship with workers by listening to their feedback.

Scenario 4:
Here the manager sets up a goal of  only 18 blocks while the workers believe they can build up to 20 cubes. After discussion they come down to 15 cubes this shows that the manager is not confident and aware of the potential of his team. Thus such managers limits the potential of his workers and thereby hindering the growth of organization.