Elaine D. Pulakos

Adaptability in the Workplace: Development of a Taxonomy of Adaptive Performance

The purpose of this research was to develop a taxonomy of adaptive job performance and examine the implications of this taxonomy for understanding, predicting, and training adaptive behavior in work settings. Two studies were conducted to address this issue. In Study 1, over 1,000 critical incidents from 21 different jobs were content analyzed to identify an 8-dimension taxonomy of adaptive performance. Study 2 reports the development and administration of an instrument, the Job Adaptability Inventory, that was used to empirically examine the proposed taxonomy in 24 different jobs. Exploratory factor analyses using data from 1,619 respondents supported the proposed 8-dimension taxonomy from Study 1. Subsequent confirmatory factor analyses on the remainder of the sample (n = 1,715) indicated a good fit for the 8-factor model. Results and implications are discussed.

Predicting Adaptive Performance: Further Tests of a Model of Adaptability

This research further investigates an 8-dimension taxonomy of adaptive performance developed by Pulakos, Arad, Donovan, and Plamondon (2000) and the usefulness of past experience, interest, and self-efficacy predictors developed to measure these same 8 dimensions for predicting adaptive job performance. Participants in the concurrent, criterion-related validation study included 739 military personnel. They completed the 3 adaptability measures as well as more traditional cognitive and noncognitive predictors. Supervisors of the study participants rated their adaptive job performance. Results showed support for the 8-dimension model of adaptability. In addition, cognitive ability, personality, and the new adaptability predictors were shown to predict adaptive performance, with some past experience items adding incremental validity beyond the more traditional cognitive ability and personality measures. Results are discussed.

The Relationship Among Perceptual Similarity, Sex, and Performance Ratings in Manager-Subordinate Dyads

The relationship of perceptual similarity and sex in both manager and subordinate performance appraisals within manager-subordinate dyads was investigated. Perceptual similarity accounted for a sizable percentage of performance rating variance. Significantly lower performance appraisals were found in dyads in which there was mutual perceptual dissimilarity between managers and subordinates.

Three Approaches to the Investigation of Subgroup Bias in Performance Measurement: Review, Results, and Conclusions

Three methods of assessing subgroup bias in performance measurement commonly found in the literature are identified. After a review of these approaches, findings are reported from analyses of data collected in the United States Armys Project A (J. P. Campbell, 1987). Correlations between nonrating performance measures and supervisor ratings were generally not mederated by race, but correlations between nonrating indicators of negative performance and ratings assigned by peers were. In addition, significant interactions between rater and ratee race on performance ratings were not eliminated when variance in the nonrating measures was removed from the ratings provided by Black and White raters. Conclusions about the magnitude and nature of bias in supervisor and peer ratings are discussed

Adaptability in the Workplace: Selecting an Adaptive Workforce

Although models have been published in the literature covering various aspects of the job performance domain (e.g., technical performance, contextual performance), researchers have recently recognized a void in these models and have called for their expansion to include adaptive performance components (Campbell, 1999; Hesketh & Neal, 1999; London & Mone, 1999; Murphy & Jackson, 1999). Toward this end, Pulakos, Arad, Donovan, and Plamondon (2000) developed a taxonomy of adaptive job performance similar to the model of job performance developed by Campbell, McCloy, Oppler, and Sager (1993). This model contained eight dimensions of adaptive job performance. Pulakos et al. began their research with a review of various literatures on adaptability and identified six different aspects of adaptive performance. These are shown in Table 1, along with the research references from which they were derived. The diversity of substantive areas that are represented in the research articles cited in Table 1 is a testament to the perceived importance of adaptability across a number of behavioral disciplines. Although the idea that adaptive performance is multi-dimensional was reasonable based on the wide range of behaviors “adaptability” has encompassed in the literature (for example, adapting to organizational change, different cultures, different people, new technology), no published research prior to Pulakos et al. had systematically defined or empirically examined specific dimensions of adaptive job performance. Pulakos et al. conducted two studies to refine the six-dimension model of individual adaptive job performance derived from the literature. In Study 1, over 1,000 critical incidents from 21 different jobs were content analyzed, yielding an eight-dimension taxonomy of adaptive performance. That is, the critical incident analysis produced two additional adaptive performance dimensions that are shown at the bottom of Table 1.

Comparison of Three Techniques to Assess Group-Level Beta and Gamma Change

Alpha, beta, and gamma change concerning student attitudes toward a college course were assessed before and after the first examination in that course for an ex perimental and control group. Three methodologies were used to assess change. Those proposed by Ter borg, Howard, and Maxwell (1980) and Schmitt (1982) produced reasonably similar conclusions con cerning change, while the methodology suggested by Zmud and Armenakis (1978) produced relatively dif ferent conclusions. The relative advantages and limita tions of the procedures are discussed. The major con clusion is that much additional use and comparison of these methodologies for assessing change is necessary before researchers or practitioners can interpret the practical significance of beta and gamma change or the relative utility of various approaches to the measure ment of beta and gamma change.

Predicting Job Satisfaction from Life Satisfaction: Is There a General Satisfaction Factor?

Job satisfaction has been shown to be related to a number of individual and organizational effectiveness variables. Consequently, it is suggested that attempts to select individuals with inclinations towards satisfaction would be of theoretical and practical importance. For five samples of individuals representing a wide variety of occupations, regression analyses were used to assess the usefulness of life satisfaction in the prediction of subsequent job satisfaction, while statistically controlling various demographic variables, pay, tenure, and perceptions of task characteristics. In a sixth sample of workers eligible for retirement, the hypothesis that life satisfaction can be predicted from job satisfaction was also examined. The results showed that in three of the first five samples, life satisfaction was a significant predictor of job satisfaction. In the sample of retirees, significant results were also obtained using job satisfaction to predict subsequent life satisfaction. It is suggested that satisfaction may be a relatively stable and general aspect of certain individuals which is a function of particular personality characteristics and/or an inclination towards interpreting various situations in a favorable manner.

The Impact of Method Effects on Structural Parameters in Validation Research

Use of a structural equations analysis to estimate the degree of predictor-related criterion bias in selection research is illustrated. For the hypothetical data considered in this paper, a likability methods factor produced significant changes in estimates of the structural parameters relating the predictors to the criterion. Regression analyses using two methods factors as covariates yielded similar results. The advantages of employing the more complicated LISREL analysis versus more familiar regression analysis are discussed and some suggestions for future research using the structural equations approach are presented.