Typical Versus Maximum Performance - Characteristics

Characteristics

Psychological tests are broadly divided by the British psychological society into following two types. 1:Test of typical performance. in this case individual,s performance is assessed on given situation. answers are not right or wrong, but identify choices, preferences and strengths of feeling 2:Test of maximum performance: These assess the individual,s ability to perform effeciviely under standard conditions .Performance on these tests, which includes ability and aptitude tests, can be judged as right or wrong.Ability tests come in many different forms and may test a general intellectual functioning or a specific ability reference:Laurie.J Mullins, management and organistaion behaviour, 8th ed, Prentice hall p140.

Both typical and maximum performances are characterized by different conditions. Managers and organizations should be aware of these so that they are able to identify whether an employee is performing at a typical or maximum level.

Sackett, Zedeck, and Fogli, the researchers who first studied the typical/maximum distinction in 1988, proposed that several conditions must be present for maximum performance to occur:
a. the individual must be aware that they are being observed;
b. the individual must be instructed to maximize their effort; and
c. the measure of performance must occur over a short period of time so that the individual can remain focused on the appropriate goal.

Alternatively, typical performance would occur in situations where the individual is not aware of evaluation, is not consciously attempting their best performance, and is monitored over a long period of time.

More recently, Sackett elaborated on the definition of maximum performance, saying that one can view it as the level of performance an employee can “produce on demand” if exerting maximum effort for a short period of time. This means that maximum performance cannot be due purely to luck or chance. As an example, he says that when concentrating, he could make 7 of 10 free throws. But, if he has a hot streak and makes 10 baskets in a row, this wouldn’t be maximum performance because it was probably just due to luck.

Original findings
The original research on typical and maximum performance studied supermarket employees scanning items at a cash register. Typical performance was determined by the average number of items scanned and the number of voids per shift. Maximum performance was calculated according to the speed and accuracy of several timed observation periods. The researchers found that those two measures were not statistically related, suggesting that typical and maximum performance are actually distinct categorizations.