Now listen to part of a lecture on this topic in a sociology class.
Professor: Okay. So schools are a good example of a place where this could happen. We have schools of course as a place for children to be educated and teachers are hired to actually educate the students, right? Their job is to ensure that the citizens of our society will have an education.
But in order for teachers to give children a good education, there are various requirements they need to impose. Like, for instance, coming to class on time, which is important, right? for the learning process to go smoothly. It’s directly related to making sure kids get a good education. But sometimes these requirements, well, they can actually work against students getting a good education.
Like, say in one school, they have a policy that students must always show up to class on time. And the teacher in that school, to ensure that students show up on time, this teacher insists that if students arrive late, they aren’t allowed in the classroom. And no matter what the reason, any time a student shows up late, the teacher enforces this, won’t let them in the class.
Well, although the policy seems to be in the best interest of a child getting a good education, because it’s meant to ensure students get the most possible learning time, well, think about it, if students do end up showing up late to class for whatever reason, they’ll have to miss the entire class, which means they will miss out on the opportunity to learn. So in fact, too much emphasis on the policy can get in the way of the child’s education.
Explain how the example from the professor's lecture illustrates goal displacement.
Goal displacement means that employees sometimes focus so much on the rules or procedures that it interferes with the organization’s ability to achieve its goal. For example, schools are supposed to be the perfect places where students receive education and teachers are hired to educate them. To achieve this goal, requirements need to be imposed, like coming to class on time. Being punctual can ensure the smooth learning process and get a good education. But this policy can sometimes backfire. Let’s say, a school has this policy and teachers in this school insist that students who arrive late are not allowed to enter the classroom, regardless of the reason. In this case, the policy seems to be in the best interest of children, but it actually deprives children of the opportunity to study, because they will have to miss the entire class.
