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Factors Affecting Performance

Technology
Performance
Motivation
Abilities
Environment
Job Analysis
A job analysis generates information about
the job and the individuals performing the
job.
Job description: tasks, responsibilities, working
conditions, etc.
Job specification: employee characteristics
(abilities, skills, knowledge, tools, etc.) needed
to perform the job
Performance standards
Job Analysis Methods
Job Analysis can focus on the job, on the
worker, or both
Job Oriented: focus on work activities
Worker-oriented: focus on traits and talents
necessary to perform the job
Mixed: looks at both
Uses of Job Analysis
Information from a job analysis is used to
assist with
Compensation
Performance appraisal- criteria
Selection- identifying predictors
Training
Enrichment and combination
Some Job Analysis Procedures
Worker Oriented
1. PAQ (Position Analysis Questionnaire)
Information input (what kind of information
does the worker use in the job)
Mental Processes (reasoning, decision making,
etc.)
Work Output (what machines, tools, or
devices are used)
Relationships
Job Context (environment)
Other Characteristics
Threshold Traits Analysis
2. TTA: Measures 33 Traits in six areas
Physical (stamina, agility, etc)
Mental (perception, memory, problem solving)
Learned (planning, decision making,
communication)
Motivational (dependability, initiative, etc)
Social (cooperation, tolerance, influence)
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Other Job Analysis Methods
CIT- (Critical incidents technique) collects and
categorizes critical incidents that are critical in
performing the job.
Task Oriented Procedures
1. Task Analysis- compiles and categorizes a list
of task that are performed in the job.
2. Functional Job Analysis (method) describes
the content of the job in terms of things, data,
and people.
Occupational Information Network (O*NET)
U.S. Dept. of Labor
O*NET
Worker Requirements (Basic skills,
Knowledge, education)
Worker Characteristics (abilities, values,
interests)
Occupational Characteristics (labor market
information)
Occupation-Specific Requirements (tasks,
duties, occupational knowledge)
Occupational Requirements (Work context,
organizational context)
O*NET Basic Skills
Reading
Active listening
Writing
Speaking
Critical thinking
Repairing
Visioning
Issues to Consider in Developing
Criteria for Performance
Long term or short term performance
Quality or quantity
Individual or team performance
Situational effects
Multidimensional nature of performance at
work
What do we want to foster? Cooperation or
competition, or both?
Conceptual versus Actual
Conceptual Criterion the theoretical
construct that we would like to measure.
Actual Criterion the operational definition
(of the theoretical construct) that we end up
measuring.
Criterion Deficiency
Conceptual
Criterion
Actual
Criterion
Relevance
Criterion Deficiency
Criterion Contamination
We want the conceptual criterion and actual criterion to
overlap as much as possible.
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Criterion Deficiency
Criterion Deficiency the degree to which
the actual criterion fails to overlap with the
conceptual criterion.
Criterion Relevance the degree of overlap
or similarity between the actual and
conceptual criterion.
Contamination the part of the actual
criterion that is unrelated to the conceptual
criterion.
Types of Performance
Task Performance generally affected by
cognitive abilities, skills, knowledge &
experience.
Contextual Performance generally affected by
personality traits and values includes helping
others, endorsing organizational objectives, &
contributing to the organizational climate.
Prosocial behavior that facilitates work in the
organization.
Adaptive Performance engage in new learning,
coping with change, & developing new processes.
Criteria
Criteria Should be
Relevant to the specific task
Free from contamination (does not include
other factors relevant to task performance)
Not deficient (must not leave out factors
relevant to the performance of the task)
Reliable
Criteria Used by Industry to
Validate Predictors
Supervisory performance ratings
Turnover
Productivity
Status Change (e.g. promotions)
Wages
Sales
Work samples (Assessment Centers)
Absenteeism
Accidents
Personnel Psy, by Schmitt, Gooding,Noe, & Kirsh (1984)
.28 337 Overall
.32 22
Physical Ability
.41 21
Assessment
Centers
.38 18
Work samples
.24 99
Biodata
.25 53
General mental
Ability
.15 62
Personality
.27 31
Special attitudes
Average
Validity
No. of
Studies
Predictor Reliability
Classical Model
An observation is viewed as the sum of two
latent components: the true value of the trait
plus an error,
X= t + e
The error and the true component are
independent of each other.
The true and error component cant be
observed.
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Types of Reliability
Test-retest reliability
Alternate-form reliability
Split-half reliability
Internal consistency (a.k.a., Kuder-Richardson reliability;
a.k.a., Coefficient Alpha)
Interrater reliability (a.k.a., interscorer reliability)
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Test-Retest Reliability
Test-retest reliability is estimated by comparing respondents scores
on two administrations of a test
Test-retest reliability is used to assess the temporal stability of a
measure; that is, how consistent respondents scores are across time
The higher the reliability, the less susceptible the scores are to the
random daily changes in the condition of the test takers or of the
testing environment
The longer the time interval between administrations, the lower the
test-retest reliability will be
The concept of test-retest reliability is generally restricted to short-range
random changes (the time interval is usually a few weeks) that characterize
the test performance itself rather than the entire behavior domain that is being
tested
Long-range (i.e., several years) time intervals are typically couched in terms
of predictability rather than reliability
Test-retest reliability is NOT appropriate for constructs that tend to fluctuate
on an hourly, daily, or even weekly basis (e.g., mood)
Reliability
How consistent is a measure over repeated
applications.
Consistency is a factor of the error in the
measure.
If we view an observation as X=T+E, we
can define reliability as the ratio of two
variances.
Signal to Noise
Under the assumption of independence, we
define reliability as
2 2
2
e t
t

+
=
Job Analysis of the Student
Development
Cognitive skills Analysis, innovation,
ability to learn
People skills Cooperation, conflict
resolution, & emotion intelligence
Communication Written and verbal
communication skills
Motivation and commitment
Sources of Unreliability
Item sampling
Guessing
Intending to choose one answer but marking
another one
Misreading a question
Fatigue factors
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Methods of Estimating
Reliability
Test-retest
Parallel (alternate) -forms
Split-half (must use adjustment Spearman-
Brown)
Kuder-Richardson (Alpha)
Inter-rater
Problems With Reliability
Homogenous groups have lower reliability
than heterogeneous groups
The longer the test the higher the reliability
Most reliability estimates require that the
test be one-dimensional
Validity
1. Whether a test is an adequate measure of
the characteristics it is suppose to measure.
2. Whether inferences and actions based on
the test scores are appropriate.
Similar to reliability, validity is not an
inherent property of a test.
Establishing Validity
Content validity The degree to which the items in a
test are representative sample of the domain of knowledge
the test purports to measure
Criterion Related Validities the degree to which
a test is statistically related to a performance criterion.
Concurrent Validation
Predictive Validation
Construct Validity the degree to which a test is an
accurate measure of the theoretical construct it purports to
measure.
Multi-trait Multi-method approach
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Poor Reliability, Poor Validity
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Good Reliability, Poor Validity
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Good Reliability, Good Validity Performance Appraisal Goals
Assessment of work performance
Identification areas that need improvement
Accomplishing organizational goals
Pay raises
Promotions
Potential Problems
Single criterion- most jobs require more than one
criterion
Leniency- inflated evaluations
Halo- one trait influences the entire evaluation
Similarity effects- we like people like us
Low differentiation- no variability
Forcing information- making our minds too soon.
Possible Solutions
Use of multiple criteria
Focusing on behaviors
Using multiple evaluators
Forcing a distribution
Important Issues:
Training the evaluators
Raters motivation
Methods of Performance
Appraisals
Basic Rating Forms
Graphic forms
BARS (Behaviorally anchored ratings scales)
BOS (Behavioral observation scales)
Check lists (based on ratings of CI)
Mixed scales
360 degree feedback
None have shown overall advantage
Assessments
Supervisors assessment
Self-assessment generally people
recognize their own strengths and
weakness, but they are generally a bit
inflated.
Peer assessment very accurate in
predicting career advancement.
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Performance Appraisals
PA systems that have failed in court
generally were
Developed without the benefit of a Job
Analysis
Conducted in the absence of specific
instructions to raters
Trait oriented rather than behavior oriented
Did not include a review of the appraisal with
the employee