Showing papers on "Contextual performance published in 1985"

Stability in the Midst of Change: A Dispositional Approach to Job Attitudes

Abstract: Most recent debates on the determinants of job attitudes have concentrated on situational theories, stressing external influences such as job design and social information processing. In contrast, this research examines the dispositional argument that job attitudes are rather consistent within individuals, showing stability both over time and across situations. To test this notion, longitudinal data on job satisfaction were analyzed from a national sample of over 5,000 middle-aged men. Results showed significant stability of attitudes over a 5-year time period and significant cross-situational consistency when individuals changed employers and/or occupations. Prior attitudes were also a stronger predictor of subsequent job satisfaction than either changes in pay or the social status of one's job. The implications of these results for developing dispositional theories of work behavior are discussed, along with possible implications for popular situational theories such as job design and social information processing.

Development and Field Evaluation of an Interdisciplinary Measure of Job Design

Abstract: Michael A. Campion International Business Machines Corporation Research Triangle Park, North Carolina Paul W. Thayer North Carolina State University The development of an interdisciplinary job design questionnaire and a study of its interrelationships with a variety of outcomes is described. A taxonomy of job design approaches was developed from literature of different disciplines: (a) a motivational approach from organizational psychology; (b) a mechanistic approach from classic industrial engineering; (c) a biological approach from work physiology and biomechanics; and (d) a perceptual/motor approach from experimental psychology. The Multimethod Job Design Questionnaire (MJDQ) was developed reflecting these approaches. A corresponding taxonomy of job outcomes was developed, and hypotheses were generated as to relationships between job design approaches and outcomes. A field study involved 121 jobs, 215 incumbents, and 23 supervisors from five plants. Results indicated the MJDQ was reliable, and most hypotheses were supported. Different job design approaches influence different outcomes and may have some costs as well as benefits; an interdisciplinary perspective is needed to integrate major theories of job design. Even a cursory examination of the job design literature reveals many different schools of thought: industrial engineering approaches of scientific management and time and mo- tion study, the psychological approaches of job enrichment and motivating job charac- teristics, the human factors or ergonomics approaches, and sociotechnical approaches to job design. Although there is some overlap in the recommendations made for proper job design, there is considerable divergence in focus and even some direct conflict in advice. Proponents, however, claim that their job designs positively influence most of the out- come spectrum for both the individual and the organization. This study won the 1983 S. Rains Wallace Dissertation Award sponsored by the Society of Industrial/Organiza- tional Psychology, Division 14 of the American Psycho- logical Association. It was conducted while the first author was a doctoral student at North Carolina State University. Special thanks to Kitty Klein, Richard Pearson, and Michael Joost for their comments and suggestions on this research. Thanks also to the many managers and employees of Weyerhaeuser Company who contributed time and data to this study. Requests for reprints should be sent to Michael A. Campion, IBM Corporation, D673/B205, P.O. Box 12195, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709. The present study addresses this confusion by pulling together the diverse literature on job design, delineating major approaches, and demonstrating that each approach is geared toward a particular subset of outcomes. More specifically, this study (a) develops a job design taxonomy, (b) develops a corre- sponding job outcome taxonomy, (c) develops measures that reflect the design taxonomy, (d) develops measures which reflect the out- come taxonomy, and (e) evaluates differential predictions of job design-outcome relation- ships in a field setting. Taxonomy of Job Design Approaches The first step was to consult the literature and extract specific job design rules. Nearly 700 job design rules resulted, suggesting ad- equate coverage of the content domain. Rules were then sorted into fairly homogeneous groups based on underlying theoretical per- spectives. Similar rules were combined into a principle that summarized their main con- tent. Principles were written to represent the consensus from the literature, each reflecting common content from a large number of specific rules. They were also broad enough to be applicable across diverse jobs, yet spe- cific enough to allow objective and quantifi- 29

Performance Antecedents of Voluntary and Involuntary Managerial Turnover

Abstract: This study examines the job performance of 420 credit managers from a large finance company who either quit their job, were fired, or were promoted to a higher position in the company. Six biographical variables and 12 performance appraisal scores were used in a cross-validated multiple discriminant analysis to predict membership in the three classification groups. The results revealed a systematic relation between the performance appraisal variables and the classification groups: The performance of promoted employees was significantly superior to those employees who quit, which in turn was significantly superior to the performance of the fired employees. The 18 discriminating variables accounted for a 46.7% hit rate in group membership. The findings are discussed in the context of research on performance antecedents of voluntary and involuntary turnover, as well as the feedback properties of performance appraisal information. Researchers have investigated the relation between turnover and many other variables such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job involvement, economic conditions, and a host of biographical factors (Muchinsky & Morrow, 1980). Conspicuously absent from this list are variables that would help to determine the role of performance in the turnover process, either in the form of objective or subjective performance criteria. This neglect of performance variables may be related to the fact that involuntary separations (firings), one possible outcome of negative appraisals, have been ignored as a topic of study (Bluedorn, 1978). Even in research on voluntary turnover (quitting), which predominates by far, there are few data about the performance differences between those who leave and those who stay with an organization (Price, 1977). This is surprising in light of the fact that organizational effectiveness hinges on which employees leave the organization: If those who quit are the best performers, the organization suffers (Mobley, 1982). Four recent empirical studies dealing with the role of performance in the turnover process are evident in the literature: Dalton, Requests for reprints should be sent to Paul M.

The effects of need for achievement and need for independence on the relationship between perceived job attributes and managerial satisfaction and performance.

Abstract: Work-manifest needs for achievement and independence were examined as moderators of relations between perceptions of five job attributes (skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feed-back) and job satisfaction and job performance among a sample of 346 middle-managers. Need for achievement and need for independence were unrelated to the perceived job attributor and to both job satisfaction and job performance. However, most of the relations between the perceived job attributes and both job satisfaction and job performance were significantly higher among the managers high in need for achievement and need for independence than among those low in these needs. These results point to the importance of differentiating between managers high and low in these needs when redesigning jobs.

An exploratory study of self‐regulating activities and their effects on job performance

Abstract: The present study attempted to assess the extent to which job incumbents engage in performance relevant self-regulatory activities Specifically, the degrees to which 62 insurance salespersons; (1) set performance goals, (2) monitored performance levels, and (3) exercised contingent self-reward or punishment with respect to goal achievement or goal failure were measured; and, the consequences that such activities had on performance were examined The results of this study indicate that, in general, subjects set goals, but typically of a distal/result-orientated, as opposed to a proximal/behaviourally orientated-nature Goal setting per se had no effects on sales performance, although an objective measure of goal difficulty was related to this criterion With respect to self-monitoring, it was discovered that the greatest amount of performance feedback came from oneself and one's supervisor, as opposed to one's co-workers In terms of performance, there was an interaction of feedback source and feedback preference such that the ability to generate internal feedback was related to performance only for individuals who had a preference for such internal feedback There appeared to be no substantial amount of contingent self-reward occurring within this organization, although contingent self-punishment (in the form of self-criticism) was in evidence; and, such self-admonishment seemed to have detrimental effects on performance While the three classes of variables independently explained 26 per cent of the variance in performance, the interactive effects suggested by theories of self-regulation (Bandura, 1977; Kanfer, 1971) were not in evidence

Leadership Orientation as a Moderator of the Relationship between Job Performance and Job Satisfaction of Mexican Managers

Abstract: A survey of 82 Mexican managers in nine Mexican organizations was conducted. Managers completed measures of leadership style (LPC) and reported job satisfaction on the Job Description Index. Managerial performance on the individual and group level was rated by each manager's supervisor. Consistent with predictions based on the contingency model of leadership, task-motivated leaders evidenced much stronger relationships between job performance and job satisfaction than did relationship-motivated leaders.

An Investigation of Organizational Communication and Its Relationship to Two Organizational Models Involving Job Performance and Job Satisfaction

Abstract: The correlates of organizational communication to other organizational constructs have been scarcely researched. Two constructs of interest to management researchers and practitioners are job performance and job satisfaction. This interest arises from the fact that the quality of organizational life and effectiveness may be determined by the quality of the two constructs. This study investigates the moderating influence of organizational communication on two models involving the variables of performance and satisfaction: (1) the relationship between performance and satisfaction and (2) the relationship between the congruence of the individual and the job with performance and satisfaction. Organizational communication is assessed in terms of ten dimensions: trust in superiors; influence of superiors; accuracy of information; desire for interaction; communication satisfaction; overload and underload information; and upward, downward, and lateral communication. Executives, research and middle management people, office workers, and manufacturing individuals from two firms provided the data for the study. An expected moderating influence was evaluated through differential validity or differential predictability, as appropriate, and moderated regression analysis. Organizational communication received very weak support as a moderator of both the relationship between the target variables of performance and satisfaction and the individual-job congruence association with the same target variables. Accuracy of information, desire for interaction, and directionality of communication—upward, downward, and lateral—received support as moderators of particular performance/satisfaction relationships. Trust in superiors, influence of superiors, accuracy of information, and desire for interaction acted as moderators of specific individual-job congruence relationships with performance and satisfaction. Organizational communication received moderate-to-strong support as a predictor of the two relationships researched. Thus, either as a moderator or as a predictor, communication constitutes an avenue for improving the quality of organizational life and effectiveness; the performance and satisfaction of individuals may he fostered through communication.