Page 30 - Psychological Management of Individual Performance

8 performance concepts and performance theory
when task accomplishment becomes automatic. For performing during the transition
phase, cognitive ability is highly relevant. During the maintenance stage, cognitive ability
becomes less important and other dispositional factors (motivation, interests, values)
increase in relevance.
Performance changes over time are not invariable across individuals. There is increas-
ing empirical evidence that individuals differ with respect to patterns of intra-individual
change (Hofmann, Jacobs, & Gerras, 1992; Ployhard & Hakel, 1998; Zickar & Slaughter,
1999). These findings indicate that there is no uniform pattern of performance develop-
ment over time.
Additionally, there is short-term variability in performance which is due to changes
in an individual’s psycho-physiological state, including processing capacity across time
(Kahneman, 1973). These changes may be caused by long working hours, disturbances
of the circadian rhythm, or exposure to stress and may result in fatigue or in a decrease
in activity. However, these states do not necessarily result in a performance decrease.
Individuals are, for example, able to compensate for fatigue, be it by switching to different
strategies or by increasing effort (Hockey, 1997; Van der Linden, Sonnentag, Frese, &
Van Dyck, 2001; Sperandio, 1971).

PERSPECTIVES ON PERFORMANCE

Researchers have adopted various perspectives for studying performance. On the most
general level one can differentiate between three different perspectives: (1) an individual
differences perspective which searches for individual characteristics (e.g., general mental
ability, personality) as sources for variation in performance, (2) a situational perspective
which focuses on situational aspects as facilitators and impediments for performance, and
(3) a performance regulation perspective which describes the performance process. These
perspectives are not mutually exclusive but approach the performance phenomenon from
different angles which complement one another.
In this section, we will present these three perspectives and the core questions to
be addressed by each perspective in detail. We will summarize the major theoretical
approaches and findings from empirical research and will describe the practical impli-
cations associated with these perspectives. Table 1.1 presents an overview of these three
perspectives.
There is a large body of research which showed that motivation is essential for perfor-
mance. Motivational constructs related to performance can be partly subsumed under the
individual differences perspectives (e.g., need for achievement), partly under the situa-
tional perspectives (e.g., extrinsic rewards), and partly under the performance regulation
perspective (e.g., goal setting). We will refer to some of the most relevant motivational
approaches within each perspective. However, a thorough review of the motivational
literature is beyond the scope of this chapter. Interested readers may refer to Ambrose
and Kulik (1999) and Kanfer (1992) for overviews.

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES PERSPECTIVE

The individual differences perspective focuses on performance differences between indi-
viduals and seeks to identify the underlying factors. The core question to be answered by
this perspective is: Which individuals perform best? The basic idea is that differences in