An Assessment of Extrinsic Feedback on Participation, Role Perceptions, Motivation, and Job Satisfaction in a Self-Managed System for Monitoring Group Achievement

Abstract

A longitudinal field experiment was conducted to examine a participative scheme for measuring productivity and some of the system outcomes. In addition to evaluating the robustness of the participative monitoring system, the impact of extrinsic feedback on participation, role indices, motivation, productivity, and job satisfaction was assessed. It was reported by subjects of 76 geographically-dispersed maintenance groups of a State railway that extraneous feedback had a significant influence on role ambiguity, motivation, job satisfaction, and productivity, and a number of the variable causal paths. However, contrary to predictions, which were based mainly on correlational research, substantially lower role stress levels were not encountered after the participative scheme was installed. The results are discussed.