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To explore the relationship between managers' cognitive maps and their performance as managers at the same level in the same organisation.Design/methodology/approach – Field study involving 30 branch managers in a financial services organisation operating in New Zealand. A nomthetic approach was used to develop their cognitive maps. Features of these maps were then related to business‐unit performance.Findings – The managers who were higher performing have maps that were considerably simpler, using fewer concepts and fewer linkages.Research limitations/implications/future research – While limited to one organisation and to one level of management, there is evidence that cognition is related to managers' performance. Future research should explore how cognitive structures differ between managerial levels, and how these are related to appropriate measures of performance.Originality/value – One of few studies that have sought to map managers' cognition and organisation performance.

The purpose of this paper is to study the consistency in the management of poor performance by a group of experienced managers working at the same level in a service organisation which had a formal performance management process.

A case study is developed using cognitive scripts to reveal how front‐line managers in a large service organisation dealt with the issue of poor performance. The nature of their scripts was also related to measures of the managers' experience.

The management of poor performance is still fraught with inconsistency even among an experienced group of managers. Those who had been managers longest were the most likely to act consistently in this area.

The research is based on the perceptions of the managers all‐operating at the same level and in one organisation and it is not possible to generalise across other levels or organisations.

The inconsistency of approach does suggest that organisations should at least review their procedures and facilitate the development of managers in this area.

The paper presents the managers' voice on this area of their work, a perspective that is essential for management development in this area.

Adulteration is the wilful addition to an article of any substance or substances the presence of which is not acknowledged in the description under which the article is sold, or the abstraction from an article of an essential constituent without disclosing that it is impoverished. Some common synonyms are: corruption, defilement, debasement, vitiation and sophistication, all of which indicate the sinister nature of the act. Articles are adulterated to increase their weight or bulk, and to improve or change their appearance or flavour in imitation of an article of higher grade or different kind. In the limiting case it can be regarded as covering the complete substitution of one article for another. Wilful addition implies addition which could have been avoided and hence covers contamination brought about by lack of care. The term is used mainly in connexion with foods and drugs, but in practice extends to almost all manufactured products and is an almost inseparable accompaniment of trade competition. It will be observed that there are two requirements for adulteration, viz. an action and an intention. The mere act of mixing one thing with another does not, in itself, warrant the term adulteration. It must be coupled with an intention to deceive by passing off the mixed article as if it were unmixed. The intention is usually not apparent until some circumstance warrants the inference, such as the sale or exposure for sale of the article. The inclusion of such concepts as wilfulness and intention, which are much more difficult to prove than facts, introduces difficulties and prevents in practice the employment of a simple definition without provisions being made to protect the honest man from injustice. Accidental contamination or impurities unavoidably present, if not due to neglect or lack of reasonable care, are not normally regarded as adulteration unless the impurity is dangerous to health. In this country the only law which deals directly with adulteration is the Food and Drugs Act. The present Act, that of 1938, prohibits :—