described the reaction of a manager to poor performance as a
two-stage process. In the first stage, the manager tries to determine the cause of the poor performance;
in the second stage, the manager tries to select an appropriate response to correct the
problem. Several studies confirm the major propositions of the model (see review by Martinko,
Harvey, & Douglas, 2007).
Managers attribute the major cause of poor performance either to something internal to
the subordinate (e.g., lack of effort or ability) or to external problems beyond the subordinate’s
control (e.g., the task had inherent obstacles, resources were inadequate, information was insufficient,
other people failed to provide necessary support, or it was just plain bad luck).