Editing Goal setting (section)

=== Unethical behavior ===
{{See also|Motivated reasoning}}
Additionally, there is evidence that suggests that goal-setting can foster [[ethics|unethical behavior]] when people do not achieve their desired goals.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Schweitzer|first1=Maurice&nbsp;E.|last2=Ordóñez|first2=Lisa|last3=Douma|first3=Bambi|date=2004-06-01|title=Goal setting as a motivator of unethical behavior|url=http://amj.aom.org/content/47/3/422.abstract|journal=[[Academy of Management Journal]]|volume=47|issue=3|pages=422–432|doi=10.2307/20159591 |issn=1948-0989|jstor=20159591|access-date=2013-01-23|quote=[...] people with unmet goals were more likely to engage in unethical behavior than people attempting to do their best. This relationship held for goals both with and without economic incentives. We also found that the relationship between goal setting and unethical behavior was particularly strong when people fell just short of reaching their goals.|archive-date=2015-10-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151009232015/http://amj.aom.org/content/47/3/422.abstract|url-status=dead|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Schweitzer et al. found empirical support for their hypotheses that specific goals, rather than "do your best" goals, would lead participants to overstate performance if their true performance fell short of the goal, with the overstatement frequency increasing as the performance-goal gap narrowed.  Niven and Healy found that a subset of the population having a relatively high tendency to morally justify behavior was more likely to engage in the kind of cheating identified by Schweitzer et al.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Niven|first1=Karen|last2=Healy|first2=Colm|date=2015-01-21|title=Susceptibility to the 'Dark Side' of Goal-Setting: Does Moral Justification Influence the Effect of Goals on Unethical Behavior?|journal=[[Journal of Business Ethics]]|volume=127|pages=115–127}}</ref>  Particular side effects associated with goal setting include a narrow focus that neglects non-goal areas, more unethical behavior, distorted risk preferences, damage to organizational culture, and reduced intrinsic motivation.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last1=Ordóñez|first1=Lisa D.|last2=Schweitzer|first2=Maurice E.|last3=Galinsky|first3=Adam D.|last4=Bazerman|first4=Max H.|date=2009-02-01|title=Goals Gone Wild: The Systematic Side Effects of Overprescribing Goal Setting|url=https://journals.aom.org/doi/10.5465/amp.2009.37007999|journal=Academy of Management Perspectives|volume=23|issue=1|pages=6–16|doi=10.5465/amp.2009.37007999|issn=1558-9080}}</ref> High performance goal seem particularly likely to induce unethical behaviour under certain circumstances by creating the desire to achieve the goal but also altering moral reasoning processes and in particular, moral disengagement and encourage moral motivated reasoning due to the focus on attaining the goal.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Welsh|first1=David T.|last2=Baer|first2=Michael D.|last3=Sessions|first3=Hudson|last4=Garud|first4=Niharika|date=2020|title=Motivated to disengage: The ethical consequences of goal commitment and moral disengagement in goal setting|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/job.2467|journal=Journal of Organizational Behavior|language=en|volume=41|issue=7|pages=663–677|doi=10.1002/job.2467|hdl=11343/241454|s2cid=225646227|issn=1099-1379|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

Goals may also result in overly singleminded competition within organizations if two or more people have goals that encourage competition rather than cooperation. This can include withholding information or ideas, obstructing the goal progress of others or becoming indifferent to their progress and so withdrawing completely from interaction with other organization members. A solution to some of these potential issues is to set a unifying organizational vision or superordinate goal.<ref name="Latham 2007">{{Cite book|last=Latham|first=Gary P.|title=Work motivation: history, theory, research, and practice|date=2007|publisher=Sage Publications|isbn=978-1-4416-5408-3|location=Thousand Oaks, Calif.|pages=149–150|oclc=639015669}}</ref>{{rp|180{{ndash}}181}}