Chapter 2
Job
Performance
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Learning Goals
 What is the definition of job performance? What are the
three dimensions of job performance?
 What is task performance? How do organizations
identify the behaviors that underlie task performance?
 What is citizenship behavior, and what are some specific
examples of it?
 What is counterproductive behavior, and what are some
specific examples of it?
 What workplace trends affect job performance in today’s
organizations?
 How can organizations use job performance information
to manage employee performance?
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What is Job Performance?
 Job performance - the value of the set of
employee behaviors that contribute, either
positively or negatively, to organizational
goal accomplishment.
Includes behaviors that are within the control
of the employees.
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2-3
A “Good Performer”




Task performance
Citizenship behavior
Counterproductive behavior
OB on Screen
Monsters, Inc.
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Task Performance
 Task performance includes employee behaviors
that are directly involved in the transformation of
organizational resources into the goods or
services that the organization produces.
 Routine task performance involves well-known
responses to demands that occur in a normal, routine,
or otherwise predictable way.
Starting a car
 Adaptive task performance, or more commonly
“adaptability,” involves employee responses to task
demands that are novel, unusual, or, at the very least,
unpredictable.
Avoiding a stalled vehicle
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2-5
Adapted from Figure 2-1
Behaviors Involved in Adaptability
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Job Analysis
 Many organizations identify task performance
behaviors by conducting a job analysis.
 A list of all the activities involved in a job is generated.
Observation, interview, questionnaire
 Each activity on this list is rated by “subject matter
experts” according to things like the importance and
frequency of the activity.
 The activities that are rated highly in terms of their
importance and frequency are retained and used to
define task performance.
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Performance Review Form
Table 2-1
Men’s Wearhouse (TMW)
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2-8
Occupational Information Network
 The Occupational Information Network (or
O*NET) is an online database that includes,
among other things, the characteristics of most
jobs in terms of tasks, behaviors, and the
required knowledge, skills, and abilities
(http://online.onetcenter.org).
 Task information from the database should be
supplemented with information regarding behaviors
that support the organization’s values and strategy.
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Figure 2-1
Flight Attendant O*NET
Slide
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Task Performance Behaviors
 Task performance behaviors are not
simply performed versus not performed.
 Although poor performers often fail to
complete required behaviors, it is just as
true that the best performers often exceed
all expectations for those behaviors.
Going the “extra mile”
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Discussion Questions
 How important is it to organizations that
employees go “above and beyond” their
actual job duties?
 Is this what separates truly exceptional
employees from those we might consider
“average”?
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Citizenship Behavior
 Voluntary employee activities that may or may
not be rewarded but that contribute to the
organization by improving the overall quality of
the setting in which work takes place.
Interpersonal
Helping, courtesy, sportsmanship
Organizational
Voice, civic virtue, boosterism
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Figure 2-2
Types of Citizenship Behaviors
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Interpersonal Citizenship Behavior
 Behaviors that benefit coworkers and colleagues
and involve assisting, supporting, and
developing other organizational members in a
way that goes beyond normal job expectations.
 Helping involves assisting coworkers who have
heavy workloads, etc.
 Courtesy refers to keeping coworkers informed about
matters that are relevant to them.
 Sportsmanship involves maintaining a good attitude
with coworkers, even when they’ve done something
annoying.
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Organizational Citizenship
Behaviors
 Behaviors that benefit the larger organization by
supporting and defending the company, working
to improve its operations, and being especially
loyal to it.
 Voice involves speaking up and offering constructive
suggestions for change.
 Civic virtue requires participating in the company’s
operations at a deeper-than-normal level
 Boosterism means representing the organization in a
positive way when out in public, away from the office,
and away from work.
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Citizenship Behaviors
 Relevant in virtually any job, regardless of
the particular nature of its tasks, and there
are clear benefits of these behaviors in
terms of the effectiveness of work units
and organizations.
 Become even more vital during
organizational crises, when beneficial
suggestions, deep employee involvement,
and a positive “public face” are critical.
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Counterproductive Behaviors
 Counterproductive behaviors are employee
behaviors that intentionally hinder organizational
goal accomplishment.
 Property deviance refers to behaviors that harm the
organization’s assets and possessions.
 Production deviance is also directed against the
organization but focuses specifically on reducing the
efficiency of work output.
 Political deviance refers to behaviors that intentionally
disadvantage other individuals rather than the larger
organization.
 Personal aggression refers to hostile verbal and
physical actions directed toward other employees.
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Figure 2-3
Types of Counterproductive
Behaviors
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Property Deviance
 Sabotage represents the purposeful destruction
of physical equipment, organizational processes,
or company products.
 Laser discs, restaurants
 Theft represents another form of property
deviance and can be just as expensive as
sabotage (if not more).
 Costs organizations approximately $14.6 billion per
year
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Production Deviance
 Wasting resources is the most common
form of production deviance, when
employees use too many materials or too
much time to do too little work.
Working too slowly, taking too many breaks
 Substance abuse is the abuse of drugs or
alcohol before coming to work or while on
the job.
Compromises efficiency
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Political Deviance
 Gossiping is having casual conversations
about other people in which the facts are
not confirmed as true.
Undermines morale
 Incivility represents communication that is
rude, impolite, discourteous,
and lacking in good manners.
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Personal Aggression
 Harassment occurs when employees are
subjected to unwanted physical contact or
verbal remarks from a colleague.
 Abuse occurs when an employee is
assaulted or endangered in such a way
that physical and psychological injuries
may occur.
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Counterproductive Behavior, Cont’d
 There is evidence that people who engage in
one form of counterproductive behavior also
engage in others.
 Represent a pattern of behavior rather than isolated
incidents
 Counterproductive behavior is relevant to any
job. It doesn’t matter what the job entails; there
are going to be things to steal, resources to
waste, and people to be uncivil toward.
 It is often surprising which employees engage in
counterproductive behavior.
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Discussion Question
 How much “counterproductive” behavior
should a company have to put up with?
Where should the line be drawn?
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What Does It Mean to Be a Good
Performer?
 Good at the job that falls within job
description.
 Engages in citizenship behaviors directed
at both coworkers and the larger
organization.
 Refrains from engaging in the
counterproductive behaviors that can so
badly damage the climate of an
organization.
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Figure 2-4
What Does it
Mean to be a
“Good
Performer?”
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Workplace Trends and Job
Performance
 Statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor confirm the
rise of knowledge work, in that jobs involving cognitive
activity are becoming more prevalent than jobs involving
physical activity.
 Service work involves the creation of a service rather
than a good or product and involves direct verbal or
physical interactions with customers.
 Projections suggest that almost 20 percent of the new jobs
created between now and 2012 will be service jobs.
 Costs of bad task performance are more immediate and more
obvious.
 Maintaining a positive work environment therefore becomes
even more vital.
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Performance Management
 Management by objectives (MBO) is a
management philosophy that bases an
employee’s evaluations on whether the
employee achieves specific performance goals.
 Best suited for managing the performance of
employees who work in contexts in which objective
measures of performance can be quantified.
 Behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS)
assess performance by directly assessing job
performance behaviors.
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Behaviorally Anchored Rating
Scales (BARS)
Job: Customer Service Representative
Dimension: Valuing People
5
Makes time for distraught coworkers. Confronts staff who belittle others.
4
Sends cards or visits seriously ill coworkers. Encourages others to raise
issues or concerns.
3
Treats all people politely, Listens attentively when others are talking.
2
Interrupts others before they finish speaking. Laughs when others are put
down or ridiculed.
1
Tells racially or ethnically derogatory jokes. Plays harmful pranks on coworkers.
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Performance Management, cont’d
 The 360 degree feedback approach
involves collecting performance
information not just from the supervisor but
from anyone else who might have
firsthand knowledge about the employee’s
performance behaviors.
Best suited to improving or
developing employee talent.
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Discussion Questions
 Has anyone here been through a 360degree appraisal process?
How did it make you feel?
 How do you like the idea of your peers
evaluating your performance?
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Takeaways
 Job performance is the set of employee
behaviors that contribute to organizational goal
accomplishment. Job performance has three
dimensions: task performance, citizenship
behavior, and counterproductive behavior.
 Task performance includes employee behaviors
that are directly involved in the transformation of
organizational resources into the goods or
services that the organization produces.
Organizations gather information about relevant
task behaviors using job analysis.
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Takeaways, Cont’d
 Citizenship behaviors are voluntary
employee activities that may or may not be
rewarded but that contribute to the
organization by improving the overall
quality of the setting in which work takes
place.
 Counterproductive behaviors are employee
behaviors that intentionally hinder
organizational goal accomplishment.
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Takeaways, Cont’d
 A number of trends have affected job
performance in today’s organizations,
including the rise of knowledge work and
the increase in service jobs.
 The MBO, BARS, and 360 degree
feedback practices are three ways that
organizations can use job performance
information to manage employee
performance.
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