Alasdair A. K. White

He is also the author of Continuous Quality Improvement and The Essential Guide to Developing Your Staff.

In a paper entitled From Comfort Zone to Performance Management, White examines the hypothesis from a theoretical perspective starting with the Comfort Zone Theory and the work of Robert Yerkes and John Dodson, David McClelland et al., the Tuckman Model and Colin Carnall.

This theoretical examination leads White to conclude that the White-Fairhurst Hypothesis broadly holds true and the performance curve is as demonstrated in the White-Fairhurst TPR Life-cycle Model (TPR stands for Transforming, Performing, Reforming).

There has been some criticism of White’s approach, suggesting that more recent sources and work would have been more appropriate, but none have been able to offer a counter-argument or to adequately refute or dispute the hypothesis.

Among those writings include the a political and action novel Shadows, written under the pen-name of Alex Hunter.