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Downward Spiral

I was talking to a friend recently about unrealistic goals on which people's performance is measured at work and how some people feel like perpetual failures because they can't meet them. We have both experienced that feeling at different points and known others who have too. After that conversation, I grew curious about organizational psychology and setting unattainable goals. What is true in personal life is true in professional as well - while for some such goals may promote the constant zeal for improvement and perfection, others may have a very different outcome. I would argue if failure to attain is correlated to power, prestige or money then chances are negative outcomes will dominate:

..unattainable goals often end in failures and how people react to failure varies greatly. For some, especially those who put a great deal of time and effort into a long-shot goal, failure can be a crushing blow. If not managed well, fixating on the fact that one failed may lead to negative self-fulfilling prophecies or self-critical thinking (“I’m just not cut out for this,” or “I’m worthless.”). Prolonged thoughts like these can lead to a psychological downward spiral.

It was never clear to me why having a large part of the workforce go on a downward spiral of mental health is a good thing for an organization - it leads to distress and churn in the ranks. Those that can withstand the regimen tend to be a very specific type of personality and that precludes any chance of having diversity of style and thought. 

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