Page 119 - Psychological Management of Individual Performance

integral design concepts 99
(2) Self-regulation concerning working conditions
This aspect relates to the extent to which a work group independently and collectively
decides, for example, about their working time, further qualification, internal leadership
and investments.

Criteria for the design of individual work task
(1) Completeness
This criterion assesses the extent to which individual tasks imply elements of planning,
performing, and controlling as well as the possibility of matching the results of one’s work
with the requirements.
(2) Variety
This criterion relates to the extent to which the performance of individual tasks makes
demands on different bodily functions and sense organs.
(3) Communication and cooperation requirements
This criterion refers to the extent to which coping with one’s work requires collaboration
and cooperation.
(4) Autonomy
This criterion assesses the extent to which individual tasks include clearly defined possi-
bilities of disposition and decision making.
(5) Opportunities for learning and development
This aspect concerns the difficulty and complexity of a task, and therefore requires the
use and further development of one’s qualifications or even the acquisition of new quali-
fications.

Figure 5.3 shows a summary of the factors influencing individual job performance. In
this context, we start from the premise that what the individual may do, can do, and wants
to do—as significant predictors of high job performance—depend largely on the design
of the organization and the task, the company’s measures for personnel development,
and individual career and development paths within the enterprise (see Hall, 1995). It is
important to emphasize that the development of the organization and the development
of individual prerequisites of performance have to be linked by distinct vertical and
horizontal career paths. This is an expression of the close—and in company practice
frequently lacking—relationship between organization design and development on one
hand and human resource management on the other.

Individual Job Performance

Development of Development of Development of
Organization Skills Job Prospective

Design of Organi- Design of Education Design of
zation and Tasks and Training Career Paths
Individual Job Performance
FIGURE 5.3 Significant factors influencing individual job performance