An intervention study to assess the impact ofrnparticipative goal setting and feedback on the staff ofrnhealth service facilities was conducted in threerndistricts of East Shewa Zone over a period of threernmonths, from October to December, 1993. A pretestedrnquestionnaire was administered twice to measure thernmoti vational force score (MFS) for seven selected primaryrnhealth care (PHC) activities. The correlation of thesernscores with the performance of each activity wasrncalculated to determine their association.rnThe study included a total of 12 healthrninstitutions: six in the intervention group and six inrnthe control group with 48 and 46 health workersrnrespectively. Health institutions in the interventionrngroup participatively set goals and developed strategiesrnto attain them for the selected PHC activities for threernmonths (October to December, 1993). Feedback sessionsrnwere also conducted during this period. Healthrninsti tutions in the control group had assigned goalsrnwithout feedback but conducted clinical sessions in thernsame period.rnComparison of the pre- and post-intervention periodrnmean changes in coverage for the selected PHC variablesrntogether revealed a significant difference (t = 2.28, prn< 0.05) between the intervention and control groups, andrna positive association was found between theparticipatively set goal levels and mean change inrncoverage of the variables ( r = 0.762, 95% CI = 0.642 torn0.882) in the intervention group.rnComparison of both the first and second MFS for thernvariables between the intervention and control groupsrnshowed significantly higher MFS in the intervention grouprn(t = 2.49, p < 0 . 05 and t = 4.53, p < 0.001) than in therncontrol group.rnbetween MFSsrnBut no significant association was foundrnand mean changes in coverage of thernvariables in both study groups.rnThese findings are suggestive of the potentialrnusefulness of participative goal-setting and feedbackrnactivities to improve organizational performance.rnParticipatory goal-setting with feedback appears to havernboth cognitive and motivational impact on the staff ofrnhealth service facilities. On the other hand, higherrnexpectancy or valence for PHC activities by healthrnworkers alone was found not to lead to increasedrnperformance.