Week 7, Performance Management, Terms & Citations Flashcards
Performance Appraisal
- Observation, evaluation, and documentation of employee’s work related behaviors.
- Used for Administrative and Developmental purposes
** e.g.Used to determine compensation and training needs - Data can be used as criterion for validation
Goal Alignment
*PA is a tool to align individual performance goals with
organizational performance.
** A.K.A. Goal Alignment
- Part of a Performance Management System
** Inform employees on developmental areas
** Give them the tools to achieve goals (e.g. training, POS variables)
** Demonstrate that rewards follow performance
Meta–Goals of PA
- Denisi & Sonesh (2011)
- Original goal of PA was accuracy
- Relied heavily on the psychometric tradition
- May have slowed the growth of PA research and caused a disconnect between academics and practitioners
- Authors suggest the goal is really performance improvement
and perceived fairness.
PA process
- Job analysis - describes work and personal requirements of a particular job.
**Identifies components of job. - Performance standards - translate job requirements into levels of acceptable
/ unacceptable performance (management’s responsibility) - Development of PA system – choose format and supporting materials,
training, documentation, etc. - Performance appraisal - actual process of gathering information on individuals based on job requirements. Describes the job-relevant strengths
and weaknesses of each individual - Communicate Feedback to employees!
Performance appraisal
- One of the most delicate topics in personnel management
- Both supervisors and subordinates tend to be mistrustful
of the uses of PA information - Both are aware of the political and practical implications
of the ratings - Often uncomfortable during the appraisal interview
The Criterion Problem
- PA Historical issues
- Criteria - operational statements of goals or other desired
outcomes - Standards that can be used as “yardsticks” for measuring
employee success or failure - Continues to be a stumbling block for industrial / organizational
psychologists - Relatively little research on the topic (Kell, 2022)
- Often resort to the most readily available, or most expedient
criteria
Example Criterion
Output Measures
# units produced
# of items sold
Quality measures
# of errors
# of complaints
rate of scrap
Training measures
time to reach standard performance
level of proficiency
Criterion Development
- Depend upon prior value judgments about what forms of
behavior are desirable
** conceptual criteria
***Thorndike’s Ultimate Criteria - Forms the basis from which the operational criteria can
be derived - Criterion must be based on job analysis
Evaluating Criteria
- Discrimination – capable of discerning between effective and
ineffective employees
** # of goods produced in an assembly line setting is a poor
criterion
** little justification in using # of units since the most effective
workers do not differ significantly from the least effective
workers - Practicality
- Relevance – Based on JA
** Contamination
** Deficiency
Criterion Contamination
- Measuring extra dimensions unrelated to the job
- Occurs when the operational criterion includes variance that is
unrelated to the “ultimate criterion” (Thorndike , 1949) - “Ultimate criterion” include everything that defines success on
the job (perfect employee)
Contamination
- May be due to 3 things
** Error - random variation ( ex. Non-standardization in
measurement procedures). Error tends to “average out”
because of its random nature.
** Bias - systematic criterion contamination. Criterion bias is a
great concern to I/O professionals because it is so pervasive.
** Poor design of the PA instrument or outdated instrument
Criterion Deficiency
- Occurs when the entire performance domain is not measured during the PA process
- Dimensions deemed relevant and important in the JA are not
included in the operational criterion - Outdated JA often result in deficiencies
Criteria diagram
image
Composite vs. Multiple Criteria
2 opinions
- Should provide an overall measure of “success” or “value to the organization”
** Supporters of this position argue that we need a single index
(Brogden & Taylor, 1950; Nagle, 1953) - Measures of different variables should not be combined.
** Combining measures leads to a composite that not only is
ambiguous, but is psychologically nonsensical
- “Ten Men and two bottles of beer cannot be added to give the same total as two men
and ten bottles of beer “
** Cattell (1957)
Composite vs. Multiple Criteria?
- The resolution essentially depends on the objectives of
the investigator - If the goal is increased understanding of the predictor
criterion relationship, then the criterion elements are
best kept separate - Also better for developmental purposes (specific
feedback) - If decision making is the objective then the criterion
elements should be weighted into a composite
Composite & Multiple Criteria!
- You can have it both ways!
- Compute statement on SPSS to do both
- Generally accepted that job performance is multi-dimensional
- Dimension1 + Dimension2 + Dimension3 = Composite
What is Job Performance?
- Campbell et al. (1996) state that a variety of prediction and
intervention strategies can considerably increase job performance - BUT… “a full understanding of what these strategies can do is still being held back by a lack of substantive theory and measurement
development on the performance side” (p. 291). - Criticize that researchers often fail to fully define the job
performance construct - Often operationalized as “overall job performance” only
Campbell, McCloy, Oppler, and
Sager (1993)
- Job-specific task proficiency: substantive or technical tasks that distinguish the substantive content of one job or position from another“
- Non-job-specific proficiency: The performance behaviors are not specific to a particular job, but still are required to execute main tasks.
- Written and oral communication: This component refers to level of proficiency with which an individual can communicate (in written or spoken form) his or her ideas, independent of the correctness of the subject matter. It also captures how individuals perform written task assignments.
- Demonstrating effort: An individual demonstrates effort to the degree he or she keeps working under adverse conditions, is committed to job tasks, and works at a high level of intensity.
Campbell, McCloy, Oppler, and
Sager (1993)
- Maintaining personal discipline: This factor describes the extent to which counterproductive behaviors (such as alcohol and substance abuse at work, law or rule infractions, and excessive absenteeism) are avoided. On the other hand, it also refers to the degree of proficiently managing time and skill resources.
- Facilitation of peer and team performance: These behaviors include supporting and training peers, helping them with job problems, facilitating group functioning by being a good model, keeping the group goal directed, and reinforcing other peers’ participation.
*clustered
**Supervision/leadership: These behaviors capture the degree to which an individual influences “the performance of subordinates through face-to-face interpersonal
interactions and influence ” (Campbell, 199, p. 406). Specifically, supervisors participate in goal setting activities, teach and model effective behaviors, and reward and punish.
** Management/ administration: The final factor refers to management activities, including
“articulating goals for the unit or enterprise, organizing people and resources to work on them, monitoring progress, helping to solve problems or overcome crises that stand in the way of goals accomplishment, controlling expenditures
Borman and Motowidlo (1993)
- Task Performance
** Consists of activities that transform raw materials into the
goods and services that are the organization’s products. - Contextual Performance
** Does not contribute to the organization’s core technical
processes
** Maintains the broader organizational, social, and psychological
environment in which the technical core must function - Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB)
- Discretionary
Feedback Environment diagram
image
