Structuring the situation: Organizational goals trigger and direct decision-making

Organizational goals are assigned to individuals, and thus differ from goals that individuals voluntarily adopt. The Carnegie School has a significant research stream on how organizations are affected by goals, with a focus on how disappointing performance disrupts regular organizational behavior and triggers a search for alternative actions. We have a good understanding of the organization-level process of setting aspiration levels, triggering search for alternatives, and making decisions, but the individual-level mechanisms contributing to it are less well known. An assessment of the progress of Carnegie School research so far reveals a list of research questions that should be resolved in order to understand how individual updating of aspiration levels, triggering of search, directing of search, and decision-making help explain organizational responses to goals. The role of construal, or interpretation, in guiding these processes is a central theoretical mechanism that needs further investigation.

Automated summary

The passage discusses the difference between organizational goals and goals adopted by individuals voluntarily. It highlights the lack of understanding about individual-level mechanisms in response to goals and the need to resolve research questions to elucidate organizational responses. Further investigation on the role of construal in guiding these processes is crucial.