ACTION THEORY

Action theory represents a general model of work related cognition and behavior with implications for a wide range of topics in industrial/organizational psychology. Inspired by Lewin’s field theory, American cybernetic models, and Russian and Polish

approaches, German work psychologists initiated the development of action theory in the late 1960s. As the core concept of the theory, action is conceived of as goal-directed behavior. Actions are behavioral units oriented toward their own distinct goals, whereas

operations (e.g., movement patterns) are subordinate action components. As anticipatory cognitive structures, goals guide the action process, because they function as relatively invariant set points for the interpretation of feedback. Action theory explains both the

sequential ordering and the hierarchical structuring of action.

THE ACTION SEQUENCE

Action theory differentiates five phases of the action sequence: 

(a) goal development and choosing between competing goals

(b) orientation (i.e., collecting relevant information about the task and the conditions in one’s work environment) and prognosis of future

events 

(c) plan development and selection

(d) execution of the plan and monitoring and 

(e) the processing of feedback, which in turn influences the development of subsequent goals. 

These action steps are not always taken in the same order (e.g., initial plans may be refined during action execution). The action sequence allows for an analysis of the interface between the objective work environment and subjective task representations, because employees’ specific redefinitions of tasks presented by the organization

(e.g., to operate a machine) determine their individual goals and plans (e.g., whether and how to take action when the machine breaks down).

FOUR LEVELS OF ACTION REGULATION

From a structural point of view, actions are organized hierarchically, because higher-order goals are broken down into subgoals, and higher levels of conscious

intellectual regulation are superordinate to lower levels of automatic operations. Recent versions of action theory distinguish four levels of action regulation, ordered from lowest to highest:

1. Sensorimotor level. Stereotyped and automatic

movement sequences are organized without con scious attention.

2. Level of flexible action patterns. Ready-made action schemata that do not require conscious representation are tailored to situationally defined parameters.

3. Intellectual level. New actions in a complex environment are consciously regulated.

4. Heuristic level. Metacognitive strategies such as general problem-solving approaches are pursued either consciously or automatically.

THE OPERATIVE IMAGE SYSTEM

One’s accumulated knowledge of the relationships between specific conditions, actions, and results is stored in the so-called operative image system. This system reflects the cognitive base for action regulation and entails long-term representations of schemata or

strategies applicable to action regulation at all four levels (e.g., movement-oriented schemata to be regulated at the sensorimotor level, and strategies to be implemented at the intellectual level). Originally, cyclical test–operate–test–exit (TOTE) units, which

imply that action is taken until there is congruity between the current state and a criterion, were considered the basic units of action regulation. To reconcile this classic discrepancy reduction approach with the notion of discrepancy creation, action theorists have

emphasized the role of goals as desired end states and the impact of active approaches on the environment.

(Rogelberg, 2007)