Locke and Latham already answered this in 1990:…

April 2, 2026

Continues Closed-loop feedback control is well understood in engineering and now…

Locke and Latham already answered this in 1990: goal-setting in management IS feedback control — they explicitly borrowed the model from cybernetics, down to the thermostat analogy.

Ref

Locke and Latham described goal-setting as a feedback control loop: the goal is the reference signal, conscious judgment is the comparator, and action is the effector that reduces the discrepancy between goal and performance. — Locke & Latham
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But in practice the loop is open: the comparator is a manager's conscious judgment, the cycle runs quarterly or monthly at best, and the effector is manual action. The feedback is too slow and too sparse to be called closed-loop. →

Goal-Setting Theory

Locke & Latham (2002) — source summary

High-performance cycle — the integrated model: goals → performance → rewards → satisfaction → higher goals

Discrepancy Production vs Reduction — the theoretical distinction from control theory

2039578424977850584 — "Locke and Latham already answered this in 1990"

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Feedback Loops

Goal-Setting Theory — specific difficult goals outperform vague goals; four mechanisms, three moderators (bib)

Self-Efficacy and Goals — Bandura's self-efficacy as the central mediating variable

Discrepancy Production vs Reduction — feed-forward (setting harder goals) vs feedback (closing the gap)

Learning vs Performance Goals — on complex tasks, learning goals outperform performance goals

Locke & Latham (2002) — source summary: 35-year retrospective on goal-setting theory (bib)

2039578081070137359 — Locke & Latham: goal-setting as feedback control (but see discrepancy production for the nuance)

2039578424977850584 — Locke & Latham answered the management question in 1990

2039578726334394790 — they explicitly cite cybernetic engineering as their model

2039579041183998043 — but in practice the management loop is open: quarterly checks, manual action

2039579188970365285 — AI-native companies can close this loop to seconds

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