{
  "title": "Numerical targets: what research allows us to expect",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/objectifs-chiffres-ce-que-la-recherche-autorise-a-en-attendre-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2026-09-18",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "Goal setting is one of the best-supported theories in management — and one of the most carelessly applied. A reading of its conditions and its documented side effects.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Decision-making",
  "place": {
    "name": "Geneva",
    "region": "Genève",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "What the theory establishes",
      "point": "Edwin Locke and Gary Latham (2002, American Psychologist) synthesised three decades of work: a specific, demanding goal is associated with higher performance than a vague 'do your best' instruction."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The published critique, often ignored",
      "point": "Maurice Schweitzer, Lisa Ordóñez, Adam Galinsky and Max Bazerman (2009, Academy of Management Perspectives) documented the side effects of poorly calibrated goals: narrowing onto what is measured, increased risk-taking, eroded cooperation and, in some experimental settings, dishonest behaviour."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The confusion to clear up",
      "point": "A goal is not an indicator."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What remains defensible",
      "point": "Current knowledge supports a narrow version: a numerical target is useful when it bears on an activity whose outcome the person genuinely controls, when it comes with an intermediate checkpoint, and when it coexists with at least one qualitative criterion that resists conversion into a figure."
    },
    {
      "heading": "One practical implication, testable internally",
      "point": "Before redesigning a target system, one measurement suffices: over the last quarter, how many individual goals gave rise to a genuine checkpoint distinct from the annual review."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Latham",
      "year": "2002",
      "source": "American Psychologist"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Bazerman",
      "year": "2009",
      "source": "Academy of Management Perspectives"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Campbell",
      "year": "1979"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 371,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-editorial-2026-09-18-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/objectifs-chiffres-ce-que-la-recherche-autorise-a-en-attendre",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/objectifs-chiffres-ce-que-la-recherche-autorise-a-en-attendre-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/objectifs-chiffres-ce-que-la-recherche-autorise-a-en-attendre-de",
    "it": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/objectifs-chiffres-ce-que-la-recherche-autorise-a-en-attendre-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation/prise-de-decision/geneve",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/geneve",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}