STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF TASK GOAL AND SCHEDULE CHOICE ON WORK PERFORMANCE

Extent of worker choice of task goal level and work schedule, which together determine work pace, was manipulated on a scale of free choice, assignment to a preferred work pace, and assignment to a nonpreferred work pace in a 3 × 2 × 2 factorial design to determine their effect on work performance. Free choice, high task goal, and compressed work schedule were expected to result in higher performance as measured by rate of output and error rate on a standard clerical task performed by Temporary Employees engaged for this task. Results on the rate of work output measure were as hypothesized for task goal and work schedule variations, and significant but exactly reversed for the choice manipulation. The error rate measure was found to be unrelated to experimental manipulations. Implications of the findings for worker participation, work goal setting, feedback of performance results, and employee selection for positions involving responsibility are discussed. © 1979.