Measuring Operations Tempo and Relating It to Military Performance

Abstract

Previous research has found that the way in which work overload correlates with performance differs depending on how it is measured. Workload correlates positively with performance, whereas role overload does not. For the military, the concept of work overload is particularly relevant because of the heightened levels of operations tempo across three military environments: garrison, training, and deployment. This study surveyed 695 military personnel in all 3 environments and compared work overload reports with archived and self-report measures of performance. In general, results revealed that workload correlated positively with performance, whereas role overload was not correlated with performance. There was also some evidence of a moderating effect of military environment on the work overload–performance relation. The implication for treating the 2 components of workload and role overload as distinct and assessing the role of the work context are discussed.