Classification of Interventions

There are several classifications of interventions. A performance improvement specialist's diagnostic skills and creative energies can help determine broad classifications and listings. It can be said, however, that all interventions are classified into instructional and nonin-structional intervention systems. The Conifer Consulting Group identified 20 strategies and tactics for performance improvement systems: instructional, communication, career, career development, feedback, information, human development, quality improvement, resource, reward/recognition, etc. For example, organizational design and development is represented by the concepts of change management, conflict management, management structure design, team-building , and values clarification , among others. ^[6]

Another classification system focuses on 12 interventions that are the fruit of the Hierarchy model. ^[7] Here we see interventions aligned with need. The families of interventions include: define and clarify, standardize and systematize, create structure, redesign, document, motivate, etc. Other examples of motivating interventions are recognizing employees in a public forum for a job well done or paying them for effective team performance. Examples of an informing intervention are to communicate goals and expectations and to keep people informed through announcements and releases, progress reports, interim and preliminary reports , concluding reports, and internal reports. Sitting down with an employee to determine performance goals and giving constructive and frequent feedback are other examples. ^[8]

Another classification system ranks interventions by level of invasiveness . ^[9] Six interventions are listed here from least to most invasive:

1. Interventions designed to increase competence

2. Interventions designed to develop or clarify goals and standards or to establish feedback systems

3. Interventions that try to improve performance by changing work processes

4. Interventions that broaden the scope of a job by changing the things that employees are allowed or expected to do

5. Interventions that change the incentive system

6. Interventions that attack the total performance system

Examples of interventions designed to increase competence are job aids, reference manuals, methods designed to store information for easy and efficient retrieval, varieties of training experiences, and a host of developmental programs. Carr said that interventions that attack the total performance system are deeply ingrained, most invasive, and show the greatest need. ^[10] They require considerable time to implement ”months, even years ”and they require attention, support, and follow-up by a champion in a top management position.

K.S. Whiteside distributed a Performance Technology Interventions Checklist that included 14 categories of interventions. ^[11] The classification of ergonomics interventions, for example, includes such subcategories as handicapped access/EEO, facilities design, person/machine interfaces, interior design and decoration, safety planning, and access systems.

Marc J. Rosenberg, a human performance guru, categorized four major areas of interventions: human resource development (performance of individuals); organizational development (performance of groups and teams ); human resource management (managing, coaching, recruiting, staffing); and environmental engineering (tools, resources, and facilities that support workplace performance). ^[12]

Another author looks at performance by considering interventions external to the performer and internal to the performer. External interventions are divided into environmental interventions (intangibles), such as organizational systems and incentives, and resources interventions (tangibles), such as cognitive support, tools, and physical environment. Internal interventions are skills/knowledge and inherent ability. ^[13]

Another useful intervention classification system is the organizational scan. It is a systems-approach matrix (input, conditions, process, output, consequences, feedback) looking at four organizational levels: individuals, processes, workgroups, and business unit. Six categories of interventions are listed for each organizational level. For example, at the individual level, work methods interventions (process system) focus on work tools, job aids, work flow, skill update and enhancements, documentation, and skill maintenance and development. At the business unit level, business results interventions (consequences system) focus on measures of success, satisfaction of stockholders , satisfaction of customers, and market share. ^[14]

Revisiting their earlier contribution to interventions, Hutchison and Stein reordered and reconceptualized their 20 systems and categories. ^[15] Cultural anthropology becomes organizational anthropology, and each of the intervention systems is updated and streamlined to reflect current human resource development practice and examples.

Still another classification set identifies six major categories: instruction, work design, performance support, incentive systems, organizational communication, and organizational design and development. Examples of the latter include team-building, reporting and management structure, strategic planning, and vision development. ^[16]

Spitzer views performance improvement interventions with a systems approach that follows the steps of analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. He suggests a six-step outline for the intervention design process:

Step 1: Organizing the effort

Step 2: Clarifying expectations

Step 3: Identifying intervention requirements

Step 4: Identifying intervention components

Step 5: Determining intervention specifications

Step 6: Documenting and approving the design ^[17]

He also suggests a five-step intervention development process involving team effort, prototype testing, revision, and production. ^[18]

A useful glossary of 48 interventions and their corresponding definitions is offered by the DLS Group from Denver. Some entries have examples and advantages listed. ^[19] Performance International defined over 121 performance technology interventions. ^[20] This list is unique in that intervention classification codes appear after each definition.

Another helpful listing of 50 performance improvement tools was edited by Langdon, Whiteside, and McKenna. ^[21] Each intervention follows a standard design format with the following components: performance change/level grid classification of interventions, alternative names , definition, description, when and when not to use, case study, resources and references, intervention and case study author(s). It is by far the most detailed listing of interventions published to date. The introductory sections, which include place and use of interventions in performance technology, selecting interventions, and implementing interventions, are particularly helpful.

A final intervention listing is the one suggested with the HPT Model in this book. It consists of eight categories of interventions: performance support, job analysis, personal development, human resource development, organizational communication, organizational design and development, work design, and financial systems. Those interventions selected for this section have been refined or restructured to reflect more current human resource development practices.

All of the intervention listings have their origins in the works of such "pathfinders" as Thomas Gilbert, Robert Mager, Joe Harless, Clay Carr, Geary Rummler, Donald Tosti, Warren Bennis, Peter Drucker, George Odiorne, and others. A more comprehensive and detailed discussion of interventions may be found in Performance Improvement Interventions, the companion book to this publication.

^[6] Hutchison, Carleton, and Stein, 1991

^[7] Hale Associates, 1993

^[8] Hale Associates, 1993

^[9] Carr, 1994

^[10] Carr, 1994

^[11] Whiteside, 1991

^[12] Rosenberg, 1996a

^[13] Wile, 1996

^[14] Whiteside and Langdon, 1997

^[15] Hutchison and Stein, 1997

^[16] Gayeski, 1998

^[17] Spitzer, 1992

^[18] Spitzer, 1992

^[19] DLS Group, 1996

^[20] Performance International, 1995

^[21] Langdon, Whiteside, and McKenna, 1999