ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on measurement of individual work performance is one of the cornerstones of organizational research and practice. Performance measurement and prediction play a vital role in nearly all personnel decisions as well as many other organizational decisions. The importance of individual performance measurement is certainly reflected in the literature. The criterion problem, the inherent difficulty associated with criterion development, measurement, and performance evaluation, continues to be a mainstay of both the popular and academic literature. Evident in this literature is the fact that the criterion problem continues to be one of the most vexing issues facing organizational researchers and practitioners today. The book examines the concept of distributed knowledge technology, and in particular the wide use of the computer networks, which potentially provide altogether new opportunities for the use of job performance data.
