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This study was designed to determine the effect that goals have on performance and the effect that performance has on reported levels of satisfaction in a competitively structured task. The results of this study give strong evidence to Locke's theory (Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 1969, 4, 566-574) that the most immediate, direct motivational determinant of task performance is the subject's goal, and to Ilgen and Hamstra's theory (Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 1972, 7, 359-370) that satisfaction with one's performance is a function of the difference between actual performance and performance goals, and also a function of the difference between actual performance and performance of a reference person. Satisfaction and performance were found to be strongly related only up to the point where a person exceeds his goal or his reference person's outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology has been depicted, in recent years, as an important causal variable in some theoretical formulations of organizational structure and behavior. Studies conducted to investigate the relationships between technology and other organizational variables have not provided, thus far, a conclusive picture of the role of technology in a parsimonious model of organizational behavior. Much of the difficulty in studying technology can be traced to the problem of obtaining a satisfactory operational definition of technology. A related problem is that of establishing the appropriate unit of analysis within which to study technology variance. An operational definition of technology is developed and applied in this study, building from a typology of technologies proposed by J. D. Thompson. Analysis was conducted on 297 organization units (departments, devisions) from within a diverse sample of 17 business and industrial firms. The organization units were classified among three varieties of technology, specified as long-linked, mediating and intensive technology respectively (following the J. D. Thompson typology). The organization units were also described in terms of several dimensions of organizational behavior developed in earlier research. Direct and indirect relationships involving technology, 14 dimensions of organizational behavior, and organization unit effectiveness, were investigated in several analyses. The findings from these analyses support the hypothesis that the criteria of effectiveness of an organization unit vary with the nature of the technology of the unit. The nature of the intra-technology models of organizational effectiveness are generally supportive of the variation expected from the Thompson theoretical analysis. No direct technology-organizational effectiveness relationship was observed, a finding which is in keeping with the expectations of the researchers. The models of organizational effectiveness observed within each of the three technology categories are described and the implications of their differences and similarities are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing a lack of individual differences parameters in equity theory as presented by J. S. Adams, this thesis states that different individuals perceive the same ambiguous job elements differently (as inputs or outcomes); this, in turn, either facilitates or attenuates the predicted main effects of under- and over-reward in terms of job performance and attitudes. A 120-item moderator was empirically developed to test the thesis. It served to subgroup 91 male college students who had previously participated in 7-day equity study. Their data were reanalyzed, separately. The results generally supported the thesis and its differential predictions. The differential results, using subgrouping, were discussed and related to earlier main effect results, using the total undifferentiated group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance decrements and dissatisfactions at the work place have long been observed but have not been adequately explained. Activation research and selected studies of work behavior are reviewed to show that decrements in performance may be better understood in the light of recent neuro-psychological findings. This review indicates that activation theory and the research upon which it is based anticipates behavior related to variations in task design and suggests new avenues of investigation for those interested in the determinants of work behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]