According to Chad Brooks, if you're experiencing low employee morale, that may mean your goals might be too ambitious.

It is every manager and supervisor's goal to make sure their employees work hard to achieve service level and target results as much as possible. That's part of the job description. However, what most people don't understand is that setting these goals are sometimes the reason why there is low employee morale in the first place.

Setting goals that are too ambitious could hurt productivity, market performance and employee morale, according to a report from Business News Daily. Researchers from the University of Buffalo, New York have found that employees are motivated by small increments. Making small, challenging, incremental goals are better compared to huge ambitious goals that are impossible to achieve. According to the study's lead author, Jim Lemoine, employees do not entirely care for goals that are unrealistic. "Some managers attempt to rapidly improve their organization's competitive position by adopting goals for impressive achievements that will excite staff and stakeholders," Lemoine explains.

Lemoine stresses that unrealistic goals based on current resources turn off employees. These employees will then begin to lose confidence in their performance and the company they work for.

How can managers boost employee morale then? Lemoine recommended that managers consult with employees to gain better insight into how achievable their goals and objectives are. Getting them involved creates an atmosphere of focus. Discussing long term and short term goals with employees can pay off greater than expected. Although their study is focused on substance abuse, Lemoine said the results have implications for all types of organizations when it comes to human behavior. He explains that investing time and effort in making small steps towards reaching that big goal can not only boost employee morale, but performance as well.