4 Defining Performance and Choosing a Measurement Approach

Dr Bhavana Adhikari

Defining Performance Determinants of

Performance Performance Dimensions Approaches to Measuring

Performance

Performance is: Behavior What employees do

Performance is NOT: Results or Outcomes What employees produce

1. Evaluative Negative Neutral Positive

2. Multidimensional Many different kinds of

behaviors Advance or hinder

organizational goals

ObservableMeasurable

To infer behaviorAs proxy for behavioral measure

Performance =

Declarative Knowledge

X

Procedural Knowledge

X

Motivation

Information about Facts Labels Principles Goals

Understanding of task requirements

Knowing what to do and how to do• cognitive skills• physical skills• perceptual skills• motor skills• interpersonal skills

Willingness to performThree choices of behaviour

• Choice to expend effort /perform( I’ll go to work today)

• Choice of level of effort (I’ll work hard)

• Choice to persist in that level of effort ( I’ll continue to work hard)

•Performance = Declarative knowledge X Procedural knowledge X Motivation

(If one of the above is zero, performance becomes zer0)

•In addition • HR practices• Work environmentcan also affect performance

Individual characteristics Procedural knowledge Declarative knowledge Motivation

HR practices Work environment

Managers need information to accurately identify source(s) of performance problems

Performance management systems must Measure performance

AND Provide information on SOURCE(s) of

problems

Task Performance

Contextual performance

•Activities that transform raw materials into goods and services•Activities that help with the transformation process by replenishing the supply of raw material, distributing finished products etc.

•Behaviours that contribute to organisational effectiveness by providing a good environment in which task perf can occur•Includes

• Showing enthusiasm and exerting extra effort (ex being punctual)

• Volunteering to carry out task activities that are not formally a part of the job (ex making constructive suggestions)

• Helping and cooperating with others (ex assisting coworkers)

• Following organ rules and procedures (ex showing respect for authority)

• Endorsing supporting and defending orgn objectives (ex organisational loyalty)

Task Performance• Varies across

jobs• Likely to be role

prescribed• Influenced by

Abilities Skills

Contextual Performance• Fairly similar across

jobs• Not likely to be role

prescribed• Influenced by

Personality

• Both performances important• Need to be considered in PMS

1. Global competition (raising the level of effort required by employees)

2. Teamwork ( shift towards teams to perform specific tasks)

3. Customer service (Contextual dimensions have a profound effect on customers)

4. Supervisor views (difficult for supervisors to completely avoid considering contextual performance)

A performer(individual or team)

In a given situation

Engages in certain

behaviors

That produce various results

TRAIT BEHAVIOR RESULTS

Trait Approach Emphasizes individual traits of

employees Behavior Approach

Emphasizes how employees do the job Results Approach

Emphasizes what employees produce

• Emphasises on the person , ignores the situation, behaviour and results

• Raters evaluate stable traits• Cognitive abilities and personality• Based on relationship between traits &

performance• Not a very popular method

Appropriate if• Structural changes planned for

organization resulting in reallocation of employees

Disadvantages• Improvement not under individual’s

control-Traits are relatively stable and employees are unable to change them even if they put in effort. Thus employees feel it is unfair to have a system based on traits

• Trait may not lead to Desired behaviors or Desired results

• Emphasises what employees do on the job

• Ignores traits or outcomes resulting from behaviours

• Process oriented approach – How an employee does a job

Appropriate if• Employees take a long time to

achieve desired outcomes• Link between behaviors and

results is not obvious• Outcomes occur in the distant

future• Poor results are due to causes

beyond the performer’s controlNot appropriate if above conditions are not present

Emphasises the outcomes and results

Does not consider the traits or the behaviour

Basically a bottom line aproach

Advantages:• Less time • Lower cost • Data appear objective

Most appropriate when:• Workers skilled in necessary

behaviors• Behaviors and results obviously

related• Consistent improvement in

results over time• Many ways to do the job right

Prentice Hall, Inc. © 2006