Perceptions of and Reactions to Work Situations: Some Implications of an Action Control Approach

The main issue of this contribution is the utility of the situation approach for applied work, especially for human-centered job design. A main interest in this frame of reference is to test the possibility of an integration of an action control approach into the personality × situation conceptualization. The reason is that working activities are conscious goal-directed actions altering both the physical and social environment in a more or less intended mode and include some special traits of personality. The work environment may be conceptualized in terms of job characteristics, leader behavior, role ambiguity and conflict, work group characteristics, and organizational characteristics (James and Sells, chapter 18, this volume).