Perceived Work Effort as Time Devoted to an Activity
Abstract
Work effort is one of the quantitative measures in organizational effectiveness programs, but little has been done to measure effort itself or its external indicators. This research explores the extent to which self-estimates of effort expended on specific activities are related to actual time spent. Self-estimates of the effort and amount of time spent on specific activities were collected from 31 soldiers in an information-processing facility. At the same time, a computer recorded the amount of time actually spent on each activity. Analysis of the data indicated that the perceptual measures of effort correlated significantly with actual durations across different activities and different measures of time. On the average, 25% of the variance in effort was accounted for by time. External indicators of work effort can measure either intensity or duration of expended effort. When external indicators of intensity are also developed, it should be possible to determine how adequately self- estimates of effort can be anchored in external reality by incorporating measures of both intensity and duration across a range of Army jobs and organizational settings.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1978
- Accession Number
- ADA062411
Entities
People
- John R. Turney
- Stanley L. Cohen
Organizations
- U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences