| HPT - Human Performance Technology | ||
|
Institutes ISPI's three-day institutes provide extensive information on Human Performance Technology presented by a team of veteran HPT professionals in a hands-on learning environment. Please see Upcoming Institutes for a schedule of Institutes currently available. Please also visit Upcoming Workshops for educational opportunities focused on specific topics. |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Principles & Practices offers the fundamentals of HPT from experts in the field. These first-of-their kind Institutes provide participants a forum in which to work with a faculty of human performance improvement experts and colleagues to learn more about the theory, process, and practice of HPT.
Making the Transition to Performance Improvement is committed to providing the knowledge, skills, and resources necessary for training, human resources, and performance professionals to make a successful transition to a human performance improvement organization. Built around case studies.
|
||
What is Human Performance Technology?
Human Performance Technology (HPT) uses a wide range of interventions that are drawn from many other disciplines including, behavioral psychology, instructional systems design, organizational development, and human resources management. As such, it stresses a rigorous analysis of present and desired levels of performance, identifies the causes for the performance gap, offers a wide range of interventions with which to improve performance, guides the change management process, and evaluates the results. Taken one word at a time, a description of this performance improvement strategy emerges.
Human:
the individuals and groups that make up our organizations
Performance:
activities and measurable outcomes
Technology:
a systematic and systemic approach to solve practical problems
Principles
of Human Performance Technology
- HPT focuses on outcomes. Focusing on outcomes,
that is results, allows for questioning, confirming, and reconfirming
that people share the same vision and goals, the job procedures support
productivity, efficiency, and quality, and that people have the
knowledge, skills, and motivation they require.
Where is there an opportunity or a performance gap, a difference between the present and the desired levels of performance? Outcomes or results of an intervention will be measured to determine whether or not performance has improved. Sometimes it is necessary to challenge the assumed answer to a problem or the expected event or activity of an intervention and instead focus on the accomplishment or business need that is the client's true priority.
To learn more how others have applied this principle, visit "GOT RESULTS?".
- HPT takes a systems view. Taking a systems view
is vital, because organizations are very complex systems that affect the
performance of the individuals that work within them.
It is important to distinguish a systems approach from a process model. A process contains inputs and outputs with feedback loops. A system implies an interconnected complex of functionally related components. The effectiveness of each unit depends on how it fits into the whole and the effectiveness of the whole depends on the way each unit functions. A systems approach considers the larger environment that impacts processes and other work. The environment includes inputs, but, more importantly, it includes pressures, expectations, constraints, and consequences.
- HPT adds value. This is an assessment that
clients will be asked to make. Clients should be offered a process that
will help them fully understand the implications of their choices, set
appropriate measures, identify barriers and tradeoffs, and take control.
While HPT requires a focus on intermediate goals (such as improving quality, customer retention, and cost reduction), its success is measured in improvements in desired business outcomes (such as sales, profitability, and market share). Alignment of individual performance to intermediate and business outcomes is critical to the HPT methodology. Measurement of results at both of these levels serves two important purposes, that of communicating the importance of what is being done while also assessing the amount of performance improvement.
- HPT establishes partnerships. Performance
improvement professionals work in partnership with clients and other
specialists. A collaborative effort involves relevant stakeholders in
the decision-making process and involves working with specialists in
their areas of expertise.
Working collaboratively includes sharing decisions about goals, next steps to take in the process, and implementation strategies as shared responsibilities. Partnerships are created from listening closely to clients and colleagues, trusting and respecting each other's knowledge and expertise.
- Be systematic in the assessment of the need or
opportunity. Analysis occurs in the beginning of the project. Needs or
opportunity analysis is about examining the current situation at any
level or levels (society, organizational, process, or work group) to
identify the external and internal pressures affecting it. This process
will determine the deficiencies or performance gaps that are to be
remedied. The output is a statement describing the current state, the
projected future state, and the rationale or business case for action or
non-action.
- Be systematic in the analysis of the work and
workplace to identify the cause or factors that limit performance. Cause
analysis is about determining why a gap in performance or expectations
exists. Some causes are obvious such as new hires lack the required
skills to do the expected task. This step in the systematic process will
determine what should be addressed to improve performance. The output is
a statement of why performance is not happening or will not happen
without some intervention. Job task analysis includes the identification
of the important tasks that employees must perform and the knowledge,
skills, and abilities to perform them. The output is performance
objectives that describe the desired performance, delineate the
conditions under which the performance is done, and identify the
criteria for successful performance.
- Be systematic in the design of the solution or
specification of the requirements of the solution. Design is about
identifying the key attributes of a solution. The output is a
communication that describes the features, attributes, and elements of a
solution and the resources required to actualize it.
- Be systematic in the development of all or some
of the solution and its elements. Development is about the creation of
some or all of the elements of the solution. It can be done by an
individual or a team. The output is a product, process, system, or
technology. Examples include training, performance support tools, a new
or re-engineered process, the redesign of a workspace, or a change in
compensation or benefits.
- Be systematic in the implementation of the
solution. Implementation is about deploying the solution and managing
the change required to sustain it. The outputs are changes in or
adoption of the behaviors that are believed to produce the anticipated
results or benefits. This standard is about helping clients adopt new
behaviors or use new or different tools.
- Be systematic in the evaluation of the process and the results. Evaluation is about measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of what was done, how it was done, and the degree to which the solution produced the desired results so that the cost incurred and the benefits gained can be compared. This standard is about identifying and acting on opportunities throughout the systematic process to identify measures and capture data that will help identify needs, adoption, and results.
View the Complete Standards (124 kb PDF)
The HPT process begins with a comparison of the present and the desired levels of individual and organizational performance to identify the performance gap. A cause analysis is then done to determine what impact the work environment (information, resources, and incentives) and the people (motives, individual capacity, and skills) are having on performance.
Once the performance gap and the causes have been determined, the appropriate interventions are designed and developed. These may include measurement and feedback systems, new tools and equipment, compensation and reward systems, selection and placement of employees, and training and development. The interventions are then implemented and the change process managed.
Evaluation is done after each phase of the process. Initially, formative evaluation assesses the performance analysis, cause analysis, intervention selection and design, and intervention and change phases. Then evaluation focuses on the immediate response of employees and their ability and willingness to do the desired behaviors. The final evaluations are centered on improvement of business outcomes (such as quality, productivity, sales, customer retention, profitability, and market share) as well as determining return on investment for the intervention.
Code of Ethics
The Code of Ethics is intended to promote ethical practice in the profession. For both grand-parenting and regular certification, you must sign a statement that you agree to conduct yourself in ways that are in keeping with the principles on which the Code is based. The Code of Ethics that is based on six principles:
- Add Value Principle. Strive to conduct
yourself, and manage your projects and their results, in ways that add
value for your clients, their customers and the global environment.
- Validated Practice Principle. Make use of and promote validated
practices in performance technology strategies and standards.
- Collaboration Principle. Work collaboratively with clients and users,
functioning as a trustworthy strategic partner.
- Continuous
Improvement Principle. Continually improve your proficiency in the field
of performance technology.
- Integrity Principle. Be honest and
truthful in your representations to clients, colleagues and others with
whom you may come in contact while practicing performance technology.
- Uphold Confidentiality Principle. Maintain client confidentiality, not allowing for any conflict of interest that would benefit yourself or others.
Certification
Consumers and customers are entitled to information that better enables them to discriminate effective from ineffective performance improvement products, services, and practices. Practitioners are entitled to a set of standards that better enables them to judge their own work and manage their professional development. ISPI believes that certification:
- Encourages practitioners to pursue further professional education and development.
- Improves practitioners' career opportunities through professional contacts.
- Results in greater recognition by colleagues and employers because certified practitioners have demonstrated their expertise in performance improvement.
Click here to learn more about Certified Performance Technologist.
ISPI's Role
Today the competitiveness challenge and the human capital crisis are at the top of the business agenda. With its commitment to improving human performance, the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) is fast becoming the professional organization whose members have the most effective approaches for improving workplace productivity and quality. ISPI's mission is to develop and recognize the proficiency of our members and advocate the use of Human Performance Technology. Assembling an Annual Conference and other educational events, publishing several periodicals, producing quality books, and providing other services for our 10,000 individual and chapter members all work together to achieve this mission.
Additional Resources
A complete list of Institutes, Conferences, Workshops and Chapter Events can be found at Conferences Plus.
Additional information on HPT can be found at:
Suggested Reading - Important articles on Performance Improvement to download for your reference.
99 Seconds Online - Features job aids from ISPI member practitioners.
“GOT RESULTS?” - An ongoing accumulation of performance improvement case examples from ISPI professionals. A large variety of improvement approaches and work environments are sampled. You can judge the effectiveness of each approach because each case includes measured results.
Glossaries - Features glossaries from performance improvement resources.
For more information, please contact ISPI at:
ISPI
1400 Spring Street, Suite 260
Silver Spring, MD 20910
phone: (301) 587-8570; fax: (301) 587-8573
e-mail: info@ispi.org.
www.ispi.org | Contact ISPI | Policies