Challenges to Professional Performance in Organizational and Work Psychology

The term professional performance can be defined as a set of practices and responsibilities associated with the practice of a particular profession or specialty, in various contexts or work territories, formal and informal, based on a paid contract or the provision of voluntary services (Nixon & Murr, 2006). It involves the application of specific technical knowledge and resources, consistent with the standards and expectations of performance and results evaluated by users or beneficiaries of professional services, whether individuals or organizations. Professional performance is influenced by a variety of factors, such as individual skills and quality of learning, experiences or personal lifepaths, opportunities for professional insertion, characteristics of the demands and service provision modality, scope of performance and responsibilities of professionals, work culture, quality of interactions, and decision-making processes. In turn, a professional field of action consists, at the same time, of a specific set of knowledge and tools to meet the demands of people/institutions and of a base of values, rules, and behaviors shared between people who work in a given área/work segment (Bastos et al., 2013), and which are supposed to be adequate to the work ethos.