What do measures of what is expected in a workplace refer to?

Measures of what is expected in a workplace refer to standards. Standards are established criteria or principles meant to guide expectations regarding performance, behavior, and quality in the workplace. By setting clear standards, organizations ensure that all employees understand the levels of performance that are anticipated from them. These standards can serve as a reference for evaluating employee performance, assessing quality control, and ensuring consistency across various tasks and responsibilities.

While goals, targets, and benchmarks also relate to performance expectations, they each have distinct meanings. Goals may denote broader, long-term visions an organization aims to achieve, and targets often represent specific, quantifiable outcomes set to reach those goals. Benchmarks typically serve as points of reference against which performance can be measured but do not inherently define the expected behaviors or practices in the same way that standards do. Thus, the role of standards is fundamental in establishing clear, actionable expectations within a workplace setting.