Effects of structurally competitive multilevel goals for an interdependent task

Forty preexistent corporate and student performance teams participated in two sessions to explore the effects of structurally competitive individual and group goals on an independent task. Results indicated that on a time-constrained task, the simultaneous administration of dual multilevel goals resulted in lower group performance than groups given either a group goal or no specific goals. Individual performance also was lower when dual multilevel goals were administered than when subjects were given only individual goals. Structurally competitive multilevel goals also stimulated more competitive individual strategy choices than no specific goals or group goals.