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Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam Psychology Performance At Work 2.8 Course Summary (Lectures NOT included)
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Problem 1 – The Best and The RestA Theory of Individual Differences in Task and Contextual Performance – Motowidlo &
Borman – Literature 1
Job performance: the degree to which an individual helps the organization reach its goals. Job
performance is behavioral, episodic, evaluative and multidimensional.
Basic Assumptions about Job Performance
1. Performance is a behavioral construct
Behavior is what people do while at work.
Performance is behavior with an evaluative component, behavior that can be evaluated as
positive or negative for individual or organizational effectiveness.
Results are states of people that are changed by performance and consequently either contribute to
or from organizational goal accomplishment.
Performance model should focus on the behavior rather than results because:
1. States of things or people that are changed by performance are also affected by other
extraneous factors that are not under the individual performer's control.
2. Performance is episodic
People do many things that neither help nor hinder the organization accomplish its goals (e.g.,
taking a lunch break)
People perceive behavior as a series of coherent action units separated by breakpoints that define
their beginnings and endings.
3. Performance behavior episodes are evaluative
Only behavioral episodes that make a difference to organizational goal accomplishment are part of
the performance domain.
Also embraces behaviors that have negative effects and that have positive effects for
organizational goal accomplishment.
Organizations frequently have multiple goals that are unrelated to each other.
4. Performance is multidimensional
When expressed in terms of total utility for organizational goal accomplishment, job performance
is unidimensional.
Some behaviors can be effective for the company, but some could be detrimental.
Task Performance and Contextual Performance
Two types of task performance
1. Activities that transform raw materials into the goods and services that are the
organization's products. (execution)
2. Activities that service and maintain the technical core by replenishing its supply of raw
materials. (maintaining)
Contextual performance does not contribute through the organization's core technical processes
but it does maintain the broader organizational, social, and psychological environment in which
the technical core must function.
Contextual performance is similar across domains & different jobs, task performance is different.
Contextual performance is related to more extra roles and less prescribed than task performance.
Contextual performance is more related to personality & motivation. Task performance more
related to cognitive abilities.
Individual Differences in Task and Contextual Performance
Ability directly affects job knowledge and skill and that it affects job performance only through its
effects on knowledge and skill.
, Campbell et al. (1996) theory of performance: there are three direct determinants of job
performance: declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge and skill, and motivation.
1. Declarative knowledge: knowledge of facts, principles, and procedures, knowledge that
might be measured.
2. Procedural knowledge: Includes skills such as cognitive skill, psychomotor skill,
physical skill, self-management skill, and interpersonal skills. Combination of knowing
what to do and actually being able to do it.
3. Motivation: Combination of choice to exert effort, choice of how much effort to exert,
and choice of how long to continue to exert effort.
McCrae and Costa’s model
o There is no direct link between the basic tendencies and objective biography. The only
causal connection between basic tendencies and objective biography is through
characteristic adaptations.
o Presumes that basic tendencies directly affect characteristic adaptations that, in turn,
directly affect objective biography.
1. Basic tendencies: fundamental capacities and dispositions that describe differences
between individuals. They can be inherited or shaped by early experience. Personality
traits such as the Big Five.
2. Characteristic adaptations: expressions of basic tendencies and take the form of
specific skills, habits, preferences, and patterns of behavior.
Combination of basic tendencies and learning processes.
(Declarative and procedural knowledge in Campbell’s
model)
3. Objective biography: set of overt behaviors that theories of
personality often try to predict (e.g., job performance).
Commonalities between the theories
The idea that of basic individual difference variables, such as ability
and personality, on job performance are mediated by other variables.
In Hunter's model, the mediating variables are knowledge and skill
(work sample performance).
In McCrae and Costa's model, they are characteristic adaptations that
include variables such as knowledge and skill.
Actual theory
Individual differences in personality, cognitive ability and learning abilities variables learning
experiences influence skills and work habits that mediates affective personality and cognitive
ability on job performance.
All the factors that are associated with task performance is different than the ones that are
associated with contextual performance.
Strongest effects of personality variables are on contextual performance, the theory predicts that
some personality variables also have some effect on task performance.
Performance Concept and Performance Theory – Sonnentag & Frese – Literature 2
Relevance of Individual Performance
Organization level: Organizations need highly performing individuals in order to meet their
goals, to deliver the products and services they specialized in, and to achieve advantage.
, Individual level: Accomplishing tasks and performing at a high level can be a source of
satisfaction, with feelings of mastery and pride. Performance is often rewarded.
Performance
Behavioral aspect: what an individual does in the work situation (e.g., selling things, changing
engines).
Performance is what the organization hires one to do.
Outcome aspect: consequence or result of the individual’s behavior (e.g., the better the students
learn a topic, the more mobile phones sold)
Behavioral aspect of performance is not the same as the outcome aspect. One can have a high
behavioral quality (e.g., teaches their students perfectly) but the outcome of it might not be
effective (e.g., there are two kids with LD and they can’t learn). Or the behavioral aspect might be
unsatisfactory (e.g., salesperson has no idea about the phone he/she is selling) but have a
satisfactory outcome (e.g., people are interested in the phone no matter what – high demand).
Multi-dimensional
o Task performance: an individual’s proficiency with which he or she performs activities
which contribute to the organization’s ‘technical core’.
o Contextual performance: activities which do not contribute to the technical core, but
which support the social, and psychological environment in which organizational goals are
pursued. (e.g., helping coworkers, being a reliable member of the organization)
o Activities relevant for task performance vary between jobs whereas contextual performance
activities are relatively similar across jobs.
Task Performance
Multi-dimensional.
5 contributing factors: job-specific task proficiency, non-job-specific task proficiency, written and
oral communication proficiency, supervision and management/administration.
Contextual Performance
Dynamic: prosocial behavior, stabilizing performance, taking charge/initiative.
Variability in an individual’s performance over time reflects (1) learning processes and other long-
term changes and (2) temporary changes in performance.
Performance initially increases with increasing time spent in a specific job and later reaches a
plateau.
Early phases of skill acquisition performance relies largely on the availability of declarative
knowledge and the optimal allocation of limited attentional resources.
Later in the skill acquisition process performance largely relies on automatic processing,
procedural knowledge, and psychomotor abilities.
Transition stage: when individuals are new in a job and when the tasks are novel. (Cognitive
abilities are important)
Maintenance stage: when the knowledge and skills needed to perform the job are learned and
when task accomplishment becomes automatic. (Motivation and values are important)
Relationship Between Task and Contextual Performance
Contextual performance is predicted by other individual variables than is task performance.
Abilities and skills tend to predict task performance while personality and related factors tend to
predict contextual performance.
, Individual Differences Perspective
Focuses on performance differences between
individuals and seeks to identify the underlying factors.
Campbell describes the performance components as a
function of three determinants (1) declarative
knowledge, (2) procedural knowledge and skills, and (3)
motivation.
Task performance is predominantly a function of
cognitive ability and contextual performance is
predominantly a function of personality.
Individuals with high cognitive abilities perform better
than individuals with low cognitive abilities across a
broad range of different jobs.
Individual differences in motivation may be caused by
differences in motivational traits and differences in motivational skills.
Motivational skills: self-regulatory strategies pursued during goal striving. More domain-specific
and influenced by situational factors as well as learning and training experiences.
Self-efficacy: the belief that one can execute an action well
Self-efficacy has been shown to be related both to task performance, and contextual performance.
Situational Perspective
Factors in the individuals’ environment which stimulate and support or hinder performance.
Workplace factors and their relationship to individual performance two major approaches can be
differentiated:
1. Those that focus on situational factors which enhance and facilitate performance
2. Those that attend to situational factors which impede performance.
Job characteristics model (Hackman & Oldham, 1976): job characteristics (e.g., skill variety,
task identity, task significance, autonomy) have an effect on psychological states (i.e., experienced
meaningfulness, responsibility for work outcomes, knowledge of the results of the work activities)
which in turn have an effect on personal and work outcomes, including job performance.
Sociotechnical systems theory: both the socio and the technical systems should be improved for
a better job performance.
o Socio contextual tasks
o Technical task performance
o More concerned with group performance than with individual performance.
Role stressors theory (Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, & Rosenthal, 1964): role ambiguity and
role conflict are conceptualized as stressors that impede performance.
Situational constraints include stressors such as lack of necessary information, problems with
machines and supplies as well as stressors within the work environment negatively effects JP.
Performance enhancers are more important than stressors.
Situational constraints, as other stressors, can have an indirect effect on performance by requiring
additional regulation capacity.
Performance Regulation Perspective
Focuses on the performance process itself and conceptualizes it as an action process.
Regulatory forces within an individual.
Action theory approach (Frese & Zapf, 1994) from both a process and a structural point of view.
o Goal development, information search, planning.
o Process: performance as a sequential process of an action goal development, planning.
o Structural: performance as a hierarchical list of actions.
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