Page 28 - Psychological Management of Individual Performance

6 performance concepts and performance theory
of these two aspects should be labelled ‘performance’. In the remainder of this chapter
we follow the suggestion of Campbell et al. (1993) and refer to the behavioral aspect
when we speak about performance.

PERFORMANCE AS A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL CONCEPT

Performance is a multi-dimensional concept. On the most basic level, Borman and
Motowidlo (1993) distinguish between task and contextual performance. Task perfor-
mance refers to an individual’s proficiency with which he or she performs activities
which contribute to the organization’s ‘technical core’. This contribution can be both
direct (e.g., in the case of production workers), or indirect (e.g., in the case of managers
or staff personnel). Contextual performance refers to activities which do not contribute to
the technical core but which support the organizational, social, and psychological envi-
ronment in which organizational goals are pursued. Contextual performance includes not
only behaviors such as helping coworkers or being a reliable member of the organization,
but also making suggestions about how to improve work procedures.
Three basic assumptions are associated with the differentiation between task and
contextual performance (Borman & Motowidlo, 1997; Motowidlo & Schmit, 1999):
(1) Activities relevant for task performance vary between jobs whereas contextual per-
formance activities are relatively similar across jobs; (2) task performance is related to
ability, whereas contextual performance is related to personality and motivation; (3) task
performance is more prescribed and constitutes in-role behavior, whereas contextual
performance is more discretionary and extra-role.

TASK PERFORMANCE

Task performance in itself is multi-dimensional. For example, among the eight perfor-
mance components proposed by Campbell (1990), there are five factors which refer
to task performance (cf. Campbell, Gasser, & Oswald, 1996; Motowidlo & Schmit,
1999): (1) job-specific task proficiency, (2) non-job-specific task proficiency, (3) written
and oral communication proficiency, (4) supervision—in the case of a supervisory or
leadership position—and partly (5) management/administration. Each of these factors
comprises a number of subfactors which may vary between different jobs. For example,
the management/administration factor comprises subdimensions such as (1) planning
and organizing, (2) guiding, directing, and motivating subordinates and providing feed-
back, (3) training, coaching, and developing subordinates, (4) communicating effectively
and keeping others informed (Borman & Brush, 1993).
In recent years, researchers paid attention to specific aspects of task performance. For
example, innovation and customer-oriented behavior become increasingly important
as organizations put greater emphasis on customer service (Anderson & King, 1993;
Bowen & Waldman, 1999).

CONTEXTUAL PERFORMANCE

Researchers have developed a number of contextual performance concepts. On a very
general level, one can differentiate between two types of contextual performance: