The OB Division Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes senior scholars who have contributed to our discipline throughout their careers. The criteria for lifetime achievement include three major components. First, the person must have completed their PhD (or finished their training/education) at least twenty years ago. Second, the individual is a truly outstanding scholar. He or she has published in the very best journals, and work with colleagues and students with interest and passion for the field of organizational behavior. Third, lifetime achievement concerns more than just publications. People contribute to this field in many ways that complement their scholarship. For example, they may be on editorial boards, serve as elected representatives for the Academy or have numerous outstanding students in the field. The recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award contributes not only directly through his or her scholarship, but through these other activities as well.
Dr. Edwin A. Locke is Dean’s Professor (Emeritus) of Leadership and Motivation at the R.H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park. He received his BA from Harvard in 1960 and his Ph.D. in Industrial Psychology from Cornell University in 1964.
He has published more than 336 chapters, notes and articles in professional journals, on such subjects as work motivation, job satisfaction, incentives, and the philosophy of science. He is also the author, co author, editor or co editor of 13 books, including The Selfish Path to Romance: How to Love with Passion and Reason (Platform Press, 2011), Study Methods and Study Motivation (Ayn Rand Bookstore, 2008), Goal Setting: A Motivational Technique That Works (Prentice Hall, 1984, with G. Latham), A Theory of Goal Setting and Task Performance (Prentice Hall, 1990, with G. Latham), New Developments in Goal Setting and Task Performance, (Routledge, 2013, with G. Latham), Handbook of Principles of Organizational Behavior (Blackwell, 2000; 2nd edition, Wiley, 2009, 3rd edition with Craig Pearce, Wiley, 2023 ), The Prime Movers: Traits of the Great Wealth Creators (Second Edition, Ayn Rand Bookstore, 2008), Postmodernism and Management: Pros, Cons and the Alternative (JAI: Elsevier, 2003), and The Illusion of Determinism: Why Free Will is Real and Causal (2018) .
He is internationally known for his research on goal setting. A recent survey found that Locke’s goal setting theory (developed with G. Latham) was ranked #1 in importance among 73 management theories. His work has been supported by numerous research grants, and he has served as consultant to research firms and private businesses.
Dr, Locke has been consulting editor for numerous professional journals. He was a winner of the Outstanding Teacher-Scholar Award at the University of Maryland, the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the Career Contribution Award from the Academy of Management (Human Resource Division), the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Management (Organizational Behavior Division), and the James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award from the American Psychological Society. He is interested in the application of the philosophy of Objectivism to behavioral sciences.