Performance implications of peer monitoring
Article Type: Abstracts From: Development and Learning in Organizations, Volume 23, Issue 4
Loughry M.L., Tosi H.L. Organization Science, November-December 2008, Vol. 19 No. 6, Start page: 876, No. of pages: 15
Purpose – To explore the effects of employee peer monitoring on organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach – Describes peer monitoring as an informal, lateral control using peers as agents of the organization, links peer monitoring to agency theory, and debates the strengths and limitations of agency theory in its application to peer monitoring, pointing out that agency theory does not describe psychological and social factors associated with peer monitoring. Hypothesizes that peer monitoring will be positively related to work-unit performance, and that supervisory monitoring,task interdependence and work-unit cohesiveness moderate the peer monitoring/work-unit performance relationship. Tests the hypotheses by surveying employees of a US theme park, details selection of items for inclusion in the questionnaire, and asks respondents for their understanding of peer monitoring,and if and how they noticed and responded to colleagues’ behaviors and performance results, employing confirmatory factor analysis to analyze responses. Findings – Identifies two types of peer monitoring, i.e. direct and indirect, classes noticing, praising, correcting, reporting and discussing as direct monitoring behaviors, and gossiping and avoiding as indirect behaviors, confirms that peer monitoring did positively influence unit performance, records that gossip and avoidance were associated with employee behavior problems, and reports that supervisory monitoring, task interdependence and cohesiveness had differing effects on direct and indirect monitoring, and hence on unit performance, e.g. when supervisory monitoring was low, direct peer monitoring was associated with better performance. Originality/value –Unusual subject. ISSN: 1047-7039 Reference: 38AF304
Keywords: Control, Organizational performance, Peer mentoring, Performance appraisal, Social control
