CHAPTER 5

JOB PERFORMANCE
Job Performance has been defined as the overall expected value from employees’ behaviors carried out
over the course of a set period of time (Motowidlo,Borman,&Schmidt,1997).The definition, although fairly
technical, includes specific ideas that are worth breaking down;

 Performance is property of behavior ,or plainly stated , what people do at work

 An employee’s behavior adds expected value to the organization –that is, an employee’s behaviors
may be distinguished as helping or hindering ab organization ,but the outcomes of employee
behaviors are rarely measured so their value is merely expected
Performance can further be broken down into two distinct type;

 Task Performance- These are the actions that contribute to transforming raw materials to goods and
services, the things that are typically included in job descriptions. Example include selling clothes,
drilling holes, or teaching a class.
 Contextual Performance –These are the behaviors that contribute to overall effectiveness through
supporting the social and psychological climate of the workplace. Examples include cooperating
with teammates, diffusing conflicts, and cleaning up the conference room.

Measuring Job Performance

Decision to brain, promote, or fire people have to be made in every organization .What is the most
accurate way to make these decisions?
Classically, these decision were made through patronage and nepotism, where personal relationships
within the organization had a large impact on promotion and firing decisions. While personal relationships
are still important today, many industries try to systematically assess worker performance, in order to
increase productivity (and ultimately, profits).

Three Major Classes of Worker Productivity Measures:

1.Productive Counts –involves attempting to measure what a worker produces on the job .The worker with
the higher production counts is assume to be better worker.

Various possible production counts:

Lawyers: The number of billable hours in a month

Factory Worker: Number of parts assembled in a day.

Clerical Worker: The number of key strokes made in a day.

However, for many job titles, it is not clear how productivity should be measured in terms of production
counts .This is particularly true for management positions of other professional job.
2. Personal Data

Another way of attempting to objectivity measure job performance is to use information from the
employees personnel life .Training Session attendance and performance ,outside education
sought ,suggestions to improve productivity made, number of complaints made against , number of work
related accidents ,are all possible pieces of information that might be found within a personnel file.

3. Judgmental Methods

A manager or performance appraiser is asked to compare an employee with other employees and
rate the person on a number of traits or behavioral dimensions .The appraisal system are based on the
exercise of judgment by the superior .Four widely used judgmental approaches are graphic rating
scales ,ranking, paired comparison ,and force distribution.
A MULTIDIMENSIONAL MODEL OF JOB PERFORMANCE

Despite the emphasis on defining and predicating job performance ,it is not a single unified
construct .The are vastly many jobs each with different performance standard .Therefore, job performance
is conceptualized as a multidimensional construct consisting of more than one kind of behavior .Campbell
(1990)proposed an eight factor model of performance based on factor analytic research that attempts to
capture dimensions of job performance existent (to a greater or lesser extent) across all jobs.
1. Task Specific Behaviors
Include those behaviors that an individual undertakes as part of a job. They are the core
substantive tasks delineate one job from another.
2. Non-task Specific Behaviors
Are those behaviors which an individual is required to undertake which do not pertain only to a
particular job. Returning to the sales person, an example of a task specific nehavior would be
showing a product to a potential customer. A non-task specific behavior of sales person might be
training new staff members.
3. Written and Oral Communication Tasks
Refer to activities where the incumbent is evaluated, not on the content of the message
necessarily, but on the adeptness with which they deliver the communication. Employees need to make
formal and informal oral and written presentations to various audiences in many different jobs in the
work force.
4. Demonstrating Effort
An individual’s performance can also be assessed in terms of effort, either day to day, or when
there are extraordinary circumstances. This factor reflects the degree to which people commit
themselves to job tasks.
5. Personal Discipline
Individuals would be expected to be in good standing with the law.
6. Helps out the group and his or her colleagues
In job where people work closely or are highly interdependent , performance may include the
degree to which a person helps out the group and his or her colleagues. This might include acting
as good role model, coaching, giving advice or helping maintain group goals.
7. Supervisory or Leadership Component
The individual will be relied upon to undertake many of the things delineated under the previous
factor and in addition will be responsible for meting out rewards and punishments. These aspects of
performance happen in a face to face manner.
8. Managerial Task
A managerial task would be setting an organizational goal or responding to external stimuli to assist
a group in achieving its goals. In addition, a manager might be responsible for monitoring group and
individual progress towards goals and monitoring organizational resources.
CRITERIA FOR AN EMPLOYEE EVALUATION
Employee evaluations represent a fundamental tool used by businesses to conduct periodic
appraisals of employee performance. An effective employee evaluation forms the supporting evidence for
promotions and pay increases. These assessments also alert manages when an employee needs further
training or support in his position. Those evaluating employees must ensure that the necessary criteria
were included in the appraisal so they can accurately guide the employee toward future success.
The following are the evaluation criteria/factors:
1. Quality of Work: this is the measurement of the degree of excellence of the work performed over
the entire rating period. In rating this factor, attention should be given to the consequence of poor
quality of work.
2. Quantity of Work: refers to the quantity of satisfactory work turned out during a given period of
time. Does the employee consistently accomplish a full day’s work? Does the employee produce
enough work so the he/she is clearly an asset to the department?
3. Job Knowledge: this factor should bot be restricted to the technical knowledge an employee is
required to bring a specialized job. It is much broader and includes particularly the range of
pertinent policies, regulations and procedures relating to his/her assignment. It does not relate to
the mental and/or physical skills require in a given position. A craftsman’s basic skills are readily
identified, while many office occupations include job skills which are relatively obscure.
4. Supervision: the degree of supervision an employee requires in accomplishing assigned duties and
how successful his/her planning and organizing are in achieving desired results.
5. Attitude: refers to the degree of willingness an employee exhibits when given responsibility and the
manner in which he/she relates to other personnel in carrying out that responsibility.
6. Attendance and Punctuality: attendance, appearance and punctuality may be considered significant
in fulfilling the requirements of a particular position.
Intangible qualities such as integrity, patience, and courage usually refer to character and personality
traits, not to employee’s performance, and should be avoided as evaluation factors unless a direct
relationship between such traits and job performance can be demonstrated.
MANAGING EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE
Managing employee performance in the small nosiness is comparatively easy as you have fewer
employees to oversee. A key tool for monitoring the effectiveness of employee performance is through
the appraisal process. Performance appraisal is important as this provides you critical information for a
variety of purposes including promotion and salary decisions, and planning for training and developing
employees.
Performance appraisal involves the following:
1st, Set Performance standards. Prior to the appraisal, you need to ensure that you communicate to
your employees the performance expected to them and the corresponding rewards or consequences of
such performance.
2nd, Measure employee performance and compare them with standards. You use such tools as the
graphic rating scale, ranking method, forced distribution method, behaviorally anchored rating scale
(BARS) Management by Objectives (MBO) and the critical incident method.
3rd, Provide feedback of their performance to your employees. When performance is
unsatisfactory but may be corrected or remedied, you should come up with a joint plan for correcting the
deviation. For employees whose performance is satisfactory, your objective is to maintain satisfactory
performance. Finally if the performance is both satisfactory and become the basis for promotion, you
need to discuss with your employee an action plan to enable him to effectively perform his new job.
Performance appraisals should be managed to bring about meaningful change in your employees
performance. You must engage your employee during the appraisal process. This will enable you both
to clarify job – related problems, set improvement goals and a timetable for achieving them.