Define task performance and explain its dimensions. Give examples.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Student examples will vary but should demonstrate an understanding of the various types of task performance. A sample answer follows.

Task performance includes employee behaviors that are directly involved in the transformation of organizational resources into the goods or services that the organization produces. Put differently, task performance is the set of explicit obligations that an employee must fulfill to receive compensation and continued employment. It includes:

Routine task performance involves well-known responses to demands that occur in a normal, routine, and predictable way. For example, an accountant's job involves routine task performance.

Adaptive task performance involves employee responses to task demands that are novel, adaptive, unusual, and unpredictable. Examples of adaptive task performance include handling emergencies and crises.

Creative task performance refers to the degree to which individuals develop ideas or physical outcomes that are both novel and useful. An example of creative task performance is developing breakthrough products.