Page 31 - Psychological Management of Individual Performance

perspectives on performance 9
TABLE 1.1 Overview of perspectives on performance
Individual differences Situational perspective Performance regulation
perspective perspective

Core question Which individuals In which situations How does the performance
perform best? do individuals process look like? What
perform best? is happening when
someone is
‘performing’?
Core assumptions Cognitive ability Job characteristics Action process factors
and findings Motivation and Role stressors Adequate hierarchical level
Personality Situational
Professional constraints
experience
Practical Training Job design Goal setting
implications for Personnel selection Feedback interventions
performance Exposure to specific Behavior modification
improvement experiences Improvement of action
process
Training
Job design

performance between individuals can be explained by individual differences in abilities,
personality and/or motivation.
Campbell (1990) proposed a general model of individual differences in performance
which became very influencial (cf. also Campbell et al., 1993). In his model, Campbell
differentiates performance components (e.g., job-specific task proficiency), determinants
ofjobperformancecomponentsandpredictorsofthesedeterminants.Campbelldescribes
the performance components as a function of three determinants (1) declarative knowl-
edge, (2) procedural knowledge and skills, and (3) motivation. Declarative knowledge
includes knowledge about facts, principles, goals, and the self. It is assumed to be a
function of a person’s abilities, personality, interests, education, training, experience,
and aptitude-treatment interactions. Procedural knowledge and skills include cognitive
and psychomotor skills, physical skill, self-management skill, and interpersonal skill.
Predictors of procedural knowledge and skills are again abilities, personality, interests,
education, training, experience, and aptitude-treatment interactions—and additionally
practice. Motivation comprises choice to perform, level of effort, and persistence of ef-
fort. Campbell does not make specific assumptions about the predictors of motivation. He
assumes that there are interactions between the three types of performance determinants,
but does not specify them in detail (cf. Campbell et al., 1996). In his model, Campbell
(1990) largely neglects situational variables as predictors of performance (cf. Hesketh &
Neal, 1999, for a discussion of this issue). Campbell et al. (1996) summarized studies
that identified job knowledge and job skills—as measured by work sample tests—as
predictors of individual performance. Moreover, ability and experience were predictors
of job knowledge and job skills, but had no direct effect on job performance. Campbell
et al. interpret these findings as support for their model with declarative knowledge, pro-
cedural knowledge, and motivation acting as the only direct determinants of performance.
Motowidlo et al. (1997) built on the work of Campbell et al. They agree that cognitive
ability variables have an effect on task knowledge, task skills, and task habits. However,