Page 25 - Psychological Management of Individual Performance

Chapter 1

Performance Concepts

and Performance Theory

Sabine Sonnentag
Technical University of Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany, and
Michael Frese
University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany

INTRODUCTION 4 PERFORMANCE REGULATION PERSPECTIVE 13
RELEVANCE OF INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE 4 RELATIONSHIPS AMONG THE VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES 15
DEFINITION OF PERFORMANCE 5 PERFORMANCE IN A CHANGING WORLD
PERFORMANCE AS A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL OF WORK 15
CONCEPT 6 CONTINUOUS LEARNING 15
TASK PERFORMANCE 6 PROACTIVITY 16
CONTEXTUAL PERFORMANCE 6 WORKING IN TEAMS 17
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TASK AND CONTEXTUAL GLOBALIZATION 17
PERFORMANCE 7 TECHNOLOGY 18
PERFORMANCE AS A DYNAMIC CONCEPT 7 CONCLUSION 18
PERSPECTIVES ON PERFORMANCE 8 NOTES 19
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES PERSPECTIVE 8 REFERENCES 19
SITUATIONAL PERSPECTIVE 11

SUMMARY
This chapter gives an overview of research on individual performance. Individual per-
formance is highly important for an organization as a whole and for the individuals
working in it. Performance comprises both a behavioral and an outcome aspect. It is a
multi-dimensional and dynamic concept. This chapter presents three perspectives on
performance: an individual differences perspective with a focus on individual charac-
teristics as sources for variation in performance; a situational perspective with a focus
on situational aspects as facilitators and impediments for performance; and a perfor-
mance regulation perspective with a focus on the performance process. The chapter
describes how current changes in the nature of work such as the focus on continuous
learning and proactivity, increase in team work, improved technology, and trends to-
ward globalization have an impact on the performance concept and future performance
research.

Psychological Management of Individual Performance. Edited by Sabine Sonnentag.
C 2002 John Wiley& Sons, Ltd. ISBN: 0-471-87726-3