Foreword

What are the fundamentals? The concepts and tools necessary for understanding how to improve workplace performance. Why do some people perform well and others poorly in the workplace? This book provides an answer: People do what they do because that is what they have learned in the workplace!

• If people loaf on the job, they have been taught to do so. How? Perhaps by supervisors or managers making confusing or contradictory demands, discouraging people who are diligently trying to do a good job. Perhaps by learning that doing a good job is ignored whereas loafing is fun until the boss comes by and screams (and then goes away again). Or perhaps by learning that it is more fun to loaf with peers than to be punished by peers for working hard.

• If people "don't think" on the job, they have been taught not to. How? Perhaps by having their ideas and suggestions ignored. Perhaps by being punished for showing initiative, or asking tough but important questions, or for doing things better (but differently) than the boss wanted.

• If people engage in highly productive teamwork, they have been taught to do so. How? Perhaps by learning how to do work that has been designed for a team. Perhaps by taking part in on-the-job problem-solving teams . Perhaps by being trained in teamwork behaviors that are then supported on the job.

What is performance technology (PT)? This book provides an answer: It is "the systematic process of linking business goals and strategies with the workforce responsible for achieving the goals." (The workforce includes everyone: a salesperson, a third-shift setup mechanic , the CEO, the CFO, the receptionist in the human resources department, and everyone else.) PT is a technology for linking people to organizations in mutually beneficial ways. PT is about supporting people's efforts to:

• Learn how to perform competently.

• Perform competently.

• Learn how to perform even more competently in the future.

PT is about making sure that the people side of the business works. What makes the financial side of the business work? People. What makes the technical side of the business work? People. PT is about making organizations work by helping people work. PT is about helping people work by creating organizations that support high levels of performance. PT is about installing instructional systems and performance support systems. PT is about establishing win-win relationships between organizations and people.

That's a lot. What is performance technology not about? It is not about a specific type of intervention (such as training, incentive systems, quality improvement, reengineering, cost reduction, or right sizing, etc....). PT is about improving human performance in the workplace; it is not about specific techniques for improving performance. PT is about making systems work; it is not about making parts of systems work better (whether or not doing so actually helps the organization work better). PT is about wholes, not parts .

The mission of the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) states it clearly ”"Improving human performance in systematic and reproducible ways." PT is not about changing light bulbs and hoping performance improves ; it is about improving performance in systematic and reproducible ways. It is not luck. It is not charisma. It is not the fad of the month. It is a systematic and reproducible approach.

What is the PT approach? This book provides an answer: PT practitioners select the right tools for the job and evaluate progress to assure that the tools are doing the job. This book is organized around the flow of PT in action. The PT flow chart, as shown in many ISPI publications , was generated a few years ago by Bill Deterline and Marc Rosenberg. It shows that one begins with a performance analysis to find gaps between what is happening now and what should be happening now or in the future. Cause analysis identifies the causes of deficient performance and, at the same time, identifies what is necessary to achieve high levels of performance. After specifying desired performance and identifying the variables that support performance, the next step is to select and design an intervention that will enable people (and organizations) to perform at the levels specified. The next step is the one that takes the most time, resources, and ingenuity: implementing the intervention. The final step, evaluation, is a final step only in a flow chart ”it is integrated throughout the entire PT process. PT is a data-driven process: Unless evaluation (data-based decisionmaking) is integrated throughout the process, it is not performance technology.

This book describes each part of the process and provides case studies and job aids to help people perform each part of PT competently. In other words, it shows people how to do performance improvement projects in systematic and reproducible ways! I wish a book like this had been written years ago.

Does the book enable readers to learn everything they must learn to be highly competent PT professionals? No. Readers who use this book well will be the ones who already know a lot about human behavior in the workplace. Perhaps they are managers who have heard about and want to understand and use PT. Perhaps they are total quality management (TQM) professionals looking for ways to make TQM initiatives succeed a little more often. Perhaps they are human resources development (HRD) professionals who want to get out of the training box. Perhaps they are graduate students in instructional design who want to make sure their designs add value. The book will be most valuable to people who know a lot about related matters, e.g., some of the many interventions used in PT.

Does the book provide something that those new to PT would benefit by knowing? Yes. It is a handbook for doing PT. Stolovitch and Keeps' Handbook of Human Performance Technology , 2nd Edition (1999), is a handbook about PT that is rich in material for doing PT. Darlene Van Tiem, James Moseley, and Joan Conway Dessinger have produced a handbook for doing PT. I think of them as companion volumes , each valuable but in different ways.

Does this book provide anything for experienced PT professionals? Yes. It is the only book available that takes the reader through the whole PT process. It is a journey that experienced professionals take often and, with the help of this book, one they might travel more competently the next time out. It, like Langdon, Whiteside, and McKenna's Intervention Resource Guide: 50 Performance Improvement Tools (1999), shows many different interventions PT professionals can use. Even experienced professionals tend to be competent in using only a few of the interventions and would benefit from learning more about the interventions that can be used.

Is the book flawed in any way? Of course. It is flawed in the same way that Deterline and Rosenberg's marvelously useful flow chart is flawed. It shows a systematic process, but it doesn't show the PT practitioner how to think systematically. Does that flaw diminish the book's value? Not really. If a PT practitioner has learned to think systematically, the flow chart is an added tool. If a PT practitioner hasn't learned to think systematically, the flow chart, used often, will enable her or him to add value while learning why systemic thinking is so very important.

Dale Brethower

Table A-1: CASE STUDIES BY SECTION

Section	Source	Workplace	Type of Industry
What Is the HPT Model?	Don Blum, Michelle Goad, Jonathan Campbell	Visteon Automotive Systems	Manufacturing
Is HPT Just a Passing Bandwagon?	Don Davis	Health Alliance Plan (HAP)	Health Maintenance Organization
Performance Analysis: Organizational Analysis	Joan Dessinger	Unidentified	Professional Association
Performance Analysis: Environmental Analysis	Joan Dessinger	HPT Legend	Glass Manufacturing
Gap Analysis	Deborah Armstrong	University Development Center	Higher Education
Cause Analysis: Lack of Environmental Support	Douglas Swiatkowski	Injection Molding Firm	Automotive Supplier
Cause Analysis: Lack of Repertory of Behavior	Douglas Swiatkowski	Plastic Exterior Trim Manufacturing	Automotive Supplier
Performance Support Interventions	ISPI	J.C. Penney Company	Retail
Job Analysis Interventions	David Grant	Aerospace and Defense Corporations	Aerospace and Defense
Work Design Interventions	James Moseley	Michael James Clinic	Medical Group Practice
Personal Development Interventions	Elizabeth McQuiston	Simioni Company	Sales
Human Resource Development Interventions	ISPI	Aetna Life and Casualty Company	Insurance and Financial Services
Organizational Design and Development Interventions	ISPI	Morrison-Knudsen Corporation	Construction and Engineering
Organizational Communication Interventions	James Moseley	Bugaj, Incorporated	Retail Conglomerate
Financial Systems Interventions	Leonard Constantine, Jr.	Muller-Roberts	Clothing Industry
Change Management	Arlene Gorelick	Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan	Nonprofit Human Services
Process Consulting	Joyce Beasley	Roegan Enterprises, Inc.	K-12 School Improvement Planning
Employee Development	Debra Demeester, John Wisniewski	Henry Ford Health System	Managed Health Care
Communication, Networking, and Alliance Building	Rodolpho Morales, Jr.	Michigan Virtual Automotive College	Public/Private Education Cooperation
Formative Evaluation	James Naughton	Detroit Medical Center	Health Care - Hospital
Summative Evaluation	Joan Dessinger	Specialty Vehicle	Retail - Automotive
Confirmative Evaluation	Joan Dessinger	SWRL/Ginn Beginning Reading Program	K-12 Education
Meta Evaluation	Mary Jane Heaney	Detroit Medical Center Specialty Vehicle SWRL/Ginn Beginning Reading Program	Health Care - Hospital Retail - Automotive K-12 Education
Performance Technology in the Workplace	Cathy Tishhouse	Marriott International - Detroit	Hospitality