MECHANISMS GOVERNING ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE IN COMPLEX DECISION-MAKING ENVIRONMENTS

The present experiment tested level of organizational performance as a function of perceived self-efficacy, task complexity, assigned and self-set goals, and analytic strategies in managerial decision-making in a stimulated organization. Organizational performance and analytic strategies were assessed across 16 trials and self-reactive influences operating through perceived selfefficacy, self-set goals, and acceptance of assigned goals were assessed at several points in the simulation. Assigned challenging goals had a positive effect on level of performance in the low complexity condition but not in the condition of high organizational complexity. The latter finding was explained in terms of the temporal and social complexity of the linkages between managerial effort and collective accomplishment and the multifaceted nature of goal-setting in complex social environments. The self-reactive influences had comparable effects on managerial performance across the differing levels of goal assignment and organizational complexity. In path analyses, perceived self-efficacy was positively related to effective use of analytic strategies for discovering optimal managerial rules and level of personal goals. Both perceived self-efficacy and analytic strategies contributed to managerial success in raising organizational performance. Self-set goals also contributed to performance in the earlier trials of the simulation but not in the later trials, following a change in task demands which reduced the generalizability of prior standards. © 1990.