Category Archives: Job Performance

Does Asking For Help Lead to High Performance? (IO Psychology)

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Topic: Learning, Personality, Job Performance
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (MAR 2012)
Article: The Impact of Help Seeking on Individual Task Performance: The Moderating Effect of Help Seekers’ Logics of Action
Authors: D. Geller, P.A. Bamberger
Reviewed By: Ben Sher

Help, I need somebody! When employees get stuck trying to complete a task, asking for help seems to be the surest way to solve the problem. But does asking for help lead to better job performance? According to Geller and Bamberger (2012), the answer is that it depends on who you are and why you are asking for help in the first place.

The researchers explain the difference between two reasons why a person may ask for help. The first is called dependent help-seeking logic. This is when a person is focused primarily on completing the task at hand as fast as possible, and is not necessarily concerned about developing long-term skills and abilities. Because people using this kind of logic pay little attention to the solution, they will likely ask for help the next time they are faced with a similar problem.

The other type is called autonomous help-seeking logic. This is when a person asks for help because of an inner desire to become competent at the task. When people use this logic, they are more likely to learn the solution to the problem, and will not need assistance next time they are confronted with the same problem.

So which kind of help-seeking logic leads to better job performance? After conducting a study of call-center employees, the researchers found that people who are usually autonomous help-seekers and people who are rarely dependent help-seekers are associated with better job performance. Practically, this means that people who seek help in order to learn how to do the task themselves are more likely to do better at their jobs.

What do we do with this information? From the perspective of people in helping positions, we might want to be on the lookout for help-seeking people who pay little attention to learning the solution for themselves. Helping these people does not seem to improve their performance in the long run. On the other hand, when we identify someone intent on mastering skills and gaining personal autonomy, helping them out might be a good idea. Investing time in these people may lead them to better job performance.

From the perspective of the help-seeking individual, we ought to ask ourselves what our motivation is when asking for help. If we are asking for help in order to learn and master the solution, we are on the right track. If we are asking for help as a mere shortcut, you might say we are not exactly helping ourselves.
Geller, D., & Bamberger, P.A., (2012). The impact of help seeking on individual task performance: The moderating effect of help seekers’ logics of action. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(2), 487-497.

human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

 

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The relationship between job performance and turnover – It’s not as simple as we thought! (IO Psychology)

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Topic: Job Performance, Turnover, Culture
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (JAN 2012)
Article: The effect of culture on the curvilinear relationship between performance and turnover
Authors: Michael C. Sturman, Lian Shao, & Jan H. Katz
Reviewed by: Alexandra Rechlin

The relationship between job performance and turnover has long been thought to be curvilinear (U-shaped). In other words, the highest and lowest performers are most likely to quit their jobs. Numerous studies have replicated these findings, but these studies were almost entirely conducted in the United States. In a recent article, Michael Sturman and his colleagues investigated the effect that culture may have on the relationship between performance and turnover.

The authors analyzed data from employees in 24 countries. They compared the countries in terms of in-group collectivism, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance. In a culture that is highly collectivistic, people have a strong desire to be part of a group, and group goals are more important than individual ones. Power distance refers to the extent that people in that culture are accepting of unequal power distribution, and uncertainty avoidance is the extent to which a culture’s members are comfortable with uncertainty and risk.

Sturman and his colleagues found that the curvilinear relationship between job performance and turnover didn’t really hold up in some cultures. The U-shaped relationship was weaker (in other words, it’s a much flatter U) for collectivist cultures and for cultures high in power distance and high in uncertainty avoidance. Voluntary turnover was less likely in those cultures than in cultures high in individualism and low in power distance and uncertainty avoidance. The relationship between performance and turnover was stronger (more U-shaped) in cultures that were high in performance orientation.

These findings are important because they indicate that the nature of the relationship between performance and turnover is not the same for all cultures. Therefore, the same HR practices used to reduce turnover may or may not be effective, depending on the country in which they’re used. HR practices (e.g., efforts to encourage turnover of low performers, retention of high performers) should be chosen based on the target culture.

Sturman, M. C., Shao, L., & Katz, J. H. (2012). The effect of culture on the curvilinear relationship between performance and turnover. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 97, 46-62. doi: 10.1037/a0024868

human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

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Tips for Getting Tips (IO Psychology)

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Topic: Job Performance, Personality, Training
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (NOV 2011)
Article: Want a Tip? Service Performance as a Function of Emotion Regulation
and Extraversion
Authors: N. Chi, A.A. Grandey, J.A. Diamond, K.R. Krimmel
Reviewed By: Ben Sher

Your restaurant server is quite the professional!  He manages a genuine, warm smile despite his impending apartment eviction, recurring car-transmission problems, and the fact that his favorite football team just lost in the playoffs.  But to pull that off, your server had to perform something called emotional labor, a crucial topic of interest to IO Psychologists.  New research by Chi, Grandey, Diamond, and Krimmel (2011) has found that certain emotional labor strategies are more useful than others, and that sometimes it depends on the type of person using these strategies.

The authors discuss two major strategies for performing emotional labor.  The first is called surface acting.  This is when employees fake the desired emotions even when those emotions don’t accurately reflect how they feel inside.  The other strategy is called deep acting.  This is when employees actually change their inner feelings to the desired state by focusing on past experiences.  For example, an employee who is in a bad mood might try thinking hard about a time when he was in a happy mood, causing him to project a display of authentic happiness to his customers.

But the two strategies do not always lead to similar results.  The researchers found that deep acting by restaurant servers will lead to them receiving more tips and exceeding customer expectations.  In a separate study involving simulated call-center employees, the researchers found that deep acting leads to an overall better emotional performance, meaning it is more convincing to the customers.  They also discovered that deep acting also leads employees to perform extra-role behaviors, meaning tasks that are not strictly part of someone’s job description but are nevertheless important.  The authors explain that deep acting puts employees in a good mood, which makes them more likely to do extra work.

But what about surface acting?  The researchers found that surface acting leads to receiving more tips, but only when used by extraverted, outgoing employees.  When introverted employees tried surface acting, their overall emotional performance became worse, and was not as convincing to the customers.  Specifically, this was true when the introverted employees performed extra-role behaviors.  The authors explain that “faking it” strategies like surface acting are particularly exhaustive to introverts, and while introverts may be able to “fake it” while performing their typical duties, their emotional resources may become depleted when asked to perform extra-role behaviors.

The implications of these findings are important for training in any industry that requires contact with customers.  Clearly, deep acting is a useful approach to dealing with the demands of emotional labor, and should be the preferred method endorsed during employee training.  Surface acting may be an alternative method that works when deep acting is not possible or inconvenient, but only for naturally extraverted employees.

Chi, N., Grandey, A.A., Diamond, J.A., & Krimmel K.R. (2011). Want a Tip? Service Performance as a Function of Emotion Regulation and Extraversion. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(6), 1237-1346.

human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

 

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Goals for Groups (IO Psychology)

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Topic: Goals, Teams, Job Performance
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (NOV 2011)
Article: The Effect of Goal Setting on Group Performance: A Meta-Analysis
Authors: A. Kleingeld, H. van Mierlo, L. Arends
Reviewed By: Ben Sher

He shoots, he scores! No, not those kind of goals. We’re talking about workplace goals—the kind that are used to help improve performance. And while past research has shown that goals do improve performance for individuals, a new meta-analysis by Kleingeld, van Mierlo, and Arends (2011) confirms that goals can help groups as well.

Once upon a time, Locke and Latham (1990) found that goals can help individual performance if the goals meet two criteria. They said that goals ideally need to be specific and difficult to reach. This became the basis of the popular Goal Setting Theory promoted by Locke and Latham over the past two decades.

But many studies also investigated the effects of goal-setting on groups. They wanted to know if goal setting improved group performance the same way it improves individual performance. According to the new meta-analysis, group goals are not only useful, but also subject to the same criteria as individual goals: they work best when they are specific and difficult to reach. Under these circumstances, group goals will best lead to higher group performance.

Additionally, the meta-analysis looked at two types of goals that people might set while working within groups: egocentric goals or “groupcentric” goals. Egocentric goals try to maximize performance of the individual, while “groupcentric” goals aim to improve the performance of the entire group. If group members depend on each other to get work done, setting egocentric goals leads to lower group performance, while setting “groupcentric” goals leads to higher group performance. This is because egocentric goals put too much emphasis on individual performance and discourage collaboration, while “groupcentric” goals encourage team members to cooperate.

This study provides a clear path for team success: Set goals that are specific and difficult to attain. Additionally, team members should set goals which specifically relate to overall group performance, and not goals which focus on individual performance. Following this recipe will allow teams to maximize their performance potential.


Kleingeld, A., van Mierlo, H., & Arends, L. (2011). The Effect of Goal Setting on Group Performance: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(6), 1289-1304.

human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

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Thinking about Building the Box: Practical Intelligence & Entrepreneurs

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Topic: Job Performance, Potential, Talent Management
Publication: Personnel Psychology (SUMMER 2011)
Article: The Practical Intelligence of Entrepreneurs: Antecedents and a Link With New Venture Growth
Authors: Baum, J. R., Bird, B. J., & Singh, S.
Reviewed By: Thaddeus Rada

Although general intelligence has been found to be a good predictor of potential success in a job, recent research suggests that other, more specific forms of intelligence may also be useful in predicting job success. One aspect of these other intelligence constructs that is particularly encouraging is that they can be developed. As such, if a particular type of intelligence were demonstrated to have an especially positive impact on individuals’ success in a given field, then education and training in this field could emphasize cultivating this form of intelligence in the people studying it. The current study, by J. Robert Baum and colleagues, examined one of these specific forms of intelligence, practical intelligence (PI), and its impact on the success of entrepreneurs. The authors focused on entrepreneurial success primarily because of the impact that entrepreneurs can have on business growth and job creation, qualities that are particularly important in light of current economic conditions.

PI emphasizes the application of knowledge to novel problems or situations. In this sense, PI, although it is a distinct construct, can be roughly equated to common sense. The authors proposed a model in which the positive relationship between PI and industry experience, and PI and venture experience, are enhanced by two modes of learning: concrete experience and active experimentation.

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Do We Have Organizational Support? Let’s Not Agree to Disagree

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Topic: Teams, Job Performance
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (MAY 2011)
Article: When Managers and Their Teams Disagree: A Longitudinal Look at the
Consequences of Differences in Perceptions of Organizational Support
Author: M.R. Bashshur, A. Hernandez, V. Gonzalez-Roma
Reviewed By: Ben Sher

Your manager likes Chinese food, classical music, Ohio State football, and is a lifelong Democrat.  You, on the other hand, love Mexican food, heavy metal, went to Michigan, and have a ten inch GOP tattoo across your back.  Will workplace productivity suffer?  Hopefully not.  But what if you believe your organization fails to adequately support your work team, while your manager thinks they’re doing a fine job?  According to research by Banshur, Hernandez, and Gonzalez-Roma (2011), this scenario could lead to poor productivity and poor attitudes.

Researchers extensively surveyed bank employees at well over a hundred bank branches and made several important findings about perceived organizational support, which is whether employees or managers believe that the organization is doing everything they can to ensure the success of the team.  This may include providing needed resources, additional training, or simply showing they care about the efforts and success of the team.  When teams perceive organizational support, they feel the need to reciprocate by increasing productivity, and will also experience “positive affect”, which basically means they will be in a good mood.  

But the authors found a problem.  When there is a discrepancy between the manager’s perception and the rest of the team’s shared perception of organizational support, negative consequences could occur.  Specifically, when managers think that organizational support is high, but team members feel it is low, this leads to lower productivity and generally bad moods.  This is because the manager may appear out of touch with reality, leading to frustration and tension for the employees.  When the scenario is reversed, and the manger thinks support is low while team members feel it is high, negative outcomes are also possible.  For example, the manager might proscribe unneeded additional training, which could also be a source of frustration.  Still, the effects are not as severe as in the first scenario. 

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One Plank at a Time: Building the Bridge from OCBs to Performance

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Topic: Job Performance, Citizenship Behavior
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology
Article: A Moderated Mediation Model of the Relationship Between Organizational Citizenship Behaviors and Job Performance
Authors: Ozer, M.
Reviewed by: Neil Morelli

What do employers ultimately care about when considering employee behavior? Performance. Understanding organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) have been an important part of understanding job performance. OCBs are defined as actions employees take to go “above and beyond” their regular job to help meet the needs of coworkers and company.

In an effort to continue building the theoretical bridge between OCBs and performance, Ozer (2011) discovered that the quality of coworker relationships (called team member exchange; TMX) mediates the OCB to performance relationship, but only for OCBs directed toward individuals like providing encouragement, extra help, or advice. Because this relationship depends on the amount of leeway an employee has to engage in these relationships, Ozer also discovered that task autonomy moderated the OCB to TMX to performance relationships.

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Using performance management practices to drive employee engagement

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Topic: Engagement, Job Performance, Job Attitudes
Publication: Journal of Business and Psychology (JUN 2011)
Article: Performance management at the wheel: Driving employee engagement in organizations
Authors: Mone, E., Eisinger, C., Guggenheim, K., Price, B., Stine, C.
Reviewed by: Alexandra Rechlin

You’ve probably heard quite a bit about employee engagement lately, and you know that you want engaged employees. However, what can you do to increase levels of employee engagement? This article discusses ways in which performance management practices can be used to drive employee engagement and provides suggestions for future research.

Many different definitions of engagement exist. In this article, engaged employees are defined as those who feel committed, involved, passionate, and empowered, and they must demonstrate those feelings in their behavior. The authors use prior research and theory to support their argument for why each of five different performance management practices can lead to increased engagement. The performance management practices described are: (1) setting performance and development goals, (2) providing ongoing feedback and recognition, (3) managing employee development, (4) conducting mid-year and end-year appraisals, and (5) building a climate of trust and empowerment.

Following any of the above performance management practices should lead to increased levels of employee engagement, but the authors note that the relevant impact of the different practices remains to be studied.

Mone, E., Eisinger, C., Guggenheim, K., Price, B., & Stine, C. (2011). Performance management at the wheel: Driving employee engagement in organizations. Journal of Business and Psychology, 26, 205-212. doi: 10.1007/s10869-011-9222-9

human resource management,organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

Employee engagement: Wild goose chase or golden egg?

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Topic: Job Performance, Job Attitudes
Publication: Personnel Psychology (SPRING 2011)
Article: Work engagement: A quantitative review and test of its relations with task and contextual performance
Authors: Christian, M.S. Garza, A.S., Slaughter, J.E.
Reviewer: Neil Morelli

Try this: pick your favorite search engine and type in the phrase “employee engagement.” A quick glance at the results would tell you that you’ve searched a phrase that has been on many of the minds in the business and HR worlds. Despite employee “engagement” becoming a popular buzz word with organizations, some important questions still remain: What is it? Is it substantively different from other work attitudes? Does it help us predict employee performance above and beyond other, more well-established constructs?

Christian, Garza, and Slaughter recently took on the task of answering these questions
using meta-analytic methods. They began by first defining engagement as having three
unique aspects: (a) a focus on the work tasks rather than on the aspects of the job, (b) a comprehensive rather than an isolated investment of an individual’s personal resources into the work, and (c) an investment of resources that represents “a relatively enduring state of mind.” Overall, Christian et al. argued that engagement, opposed to other job attitudes, represents how connected an individual feels to the tasks necessary for successful completion of his or her job on a day-to-day basis.

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Poker Face in Workplace: The Good, The Bad, and The…

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Topic: Job Performance, Training
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (MAR 2011)
Article: Service Without a Smile: Comparing the Consequences of Neutral and Positive Display Rules
Authors: J.P. Trougakos, C.L. Jackson, D.J. Beal
Reviewed By: Ben Sher

Sometimes jobs require employees to convey specific emotions.  For example, a funeral director needs to appear somber, a police officer must appear neutral, and a restaurant server needs to look cheerful.  The guidelines that determine which facial expressions an employee needs to maintain are called display rules. In order to maintain a specific demeanor on a continual basis, employees must engage in emotional labor, unless you are a clown and you have a smile painted on your face.

Trougakos, Jackson, and Beal (2011) performed an experiment that trained poll workers to conduct surveys displaying either happy or neutral emotions, and they found that neutral display rules cause employees to suppress more emotions (both positive and negative) which requires more emotional labor – which may lead to decreased job performance.  Specifically, the researchers found that poll workers instructed to remain neutral were less persistent in their recruitment of survey-takers and more likely to avoid potential survey-takers even as they passed right in front of them.

Poll workers trained to display positive emotions were successful in influencing the mood of the people taking the surveys.  These survey respondents were more likely to have favorable attitudes regarding the poll workers and the organizations represented by the poll workers.

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