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The Paradox of
Performance
From Comfort Zone to
Performance Management
Understanding development and
performance
by Alasdair White
Alasdair White,
has been on the faculty of United
Business Institutes, Brussels, Belgium since 2001. He is also on
the faculty of
the European Management Development
Institute and holds a visiting faculty position at Hoa Sen University in Ho Chi Minh
City, Vietnam. He is a Fellow of the International Napoleonic
Society
Overview:
This paper seeks to
take the established behavioural models relating to comfort zones,
group and individual development, and managing change and use them to
create a methodology for understanding and managing performance. It
seeks to provide a reliable approach to getting the best out of people
that is firmly based on sound behavioural and psychological principles
backed up by observational data and practical field research. It is
not, however, a ‘scientific’ paper full of detailed research data,
complex theories, and high-flown rhetoric, but rather it is a practical
guide based on twenty years of consultancy in the field and eight years
of teaching university students in a business school.
In
section 1, the author reviews the main
working models staring with the concept of the Comfort Zone before
moving on to the work of Yerkes and Dodson and McCelland et al. Having
established the basis of the argument, the author then covers the the
group development work of Bruce Tuckman and the change management work
of Colin Carnall - especially his coping strategy theory. This then
leads the author to the conclusion that all the main theories are
simply differing approaches to the same basic issue and that there is
strong correlation between them.
In
Section II, the author develops the TPR Life-cycle Model
which is based on his work with John Fairhurst. This model and its
associated behaviour descriptions provide the basis for identifying
where in the development sequence a person or group is and the expected
performance. In turn, this leads to the identification of the correct
management style to be used for maximum performance.
Version:
November 2009
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