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A NEW MODEL OF WORK ROLE PERFORMANCE: POSITIVE BEHAVIOR IN UNCERTAIN AND INTERDEPENDENT CONTEXTS MARK A. GRIFFIN The University of Sheffield ANDREW NEAL The University of Queensland SHARON K. PARKER The University of Sheffield We propose that interdependence in a work context determines to what extent work roles are embedded within a broader social system and, further, that uncertainty determines whether work roles can be formalized or whether they emerge through adaptive and proactive behavior. Cross-classification of task, team member, and or- ganization member behaviors with proficiency, adaptivity, and proactivity produced nine subdimensions of work role performance. Ratings from 491 supervisors from 32 organizations and self-ratings from employees in two organizations (n’s
1,228 and 927) supported the proposed distinctions. Self-reports of proactivity were positively correlated with two external measures of proactivity. The meaning of work performance in the field of organizational behavior has changed over the last 40 years. Research has shifted from a focus on jobs and their fixed tasks to a broader understanding of work roles in dynamic organizational contexts (Il- gen Hollenbeck, 1991). Traditionally, work per- formance was evaluated in terms of the proficiency with which an individual carried out the tasks that were specified in his or her job description. From this perspective, a “well-specified job” was one in which all of the behaviors that contributed to or- ganizational goal attainment were captured in an individual’s job description (Murphy Jackson, 1999). Effectiveness could then be evaluated as out- comes achieved by carrying out the specified be- haviors of the job (Campbell, McCloy, Oppler, Sager, 1993). The changing nature of work and organizations has challenged traditional views of individual work performance (Ilgen Pulakos, 1999). Two of the major changes are the increasing interdepen- dence and uncertainty of work systems (Howard, 1995