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Volume 18 / Number 2 Editorial--Review Articles
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Abstracts |
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Self-Efficacy: The Foundation of Human Performance by Tim O. Peterson and Royalyn B. Arnn People may be an organization’s most important resource but their performance is absolutely critical to the organization’s survival and ultimate growth. What produces human performance? What are the critical components? This manuscript develops the basic thinking about what causes a human to perform and then presents evidence for the addition of one new component--self-efficacy. Next, the manuscript develops a fundamental understanding of self-efficacy and how it fits into human performance. The CCM Model: A Management Approach to Performance Optimization by Gary D. Geroy, Amber Bray, and Donald L. Venneberg Three leadership styles are frequently discussed in the literature today: transactional, transformational, and most recently--transcendental. Managers may be able to put transactional, transformational, and transcendental leadership style theories into practice without inventing a new set of processes and procedures to achieve individual follower optimal performance and effect positive change and optimal individual performance within an organization. The management activities of coaching, counseling, and mentoring are articulating activities for transactional, transformational, and/or transcendental leadership styles. Human Performance Technology and Knowledge Management: A Case Study by Anne P. Massey, Mitzi M. Montoya-Weiss, and Tony M. O’Driscoll As organizations respond to competitive environments and strive to enhance performance, knowledge management (KM) has increasingly become a strategic activity. A KM strategy entails consciously helping people share and put knowledge into action. A key challenge is how to develop and implement KM solutions that provide performance support to knowledge workers and seamlessly integrate KM into business processes. We propose that human performance technology (HPT) provides a systematic framework to help guide KM initiatives. Specifically, HPT provides a holistic view of a knowledge worker’s performance environment by considering the complex interdependencies between the organizational context, business processes, and individual performers. Via a case study, we describe and illustrate how HPT guided one organization in its journey to identify the content and structure to best support performance and manage knowledge in a core business process. Based on the case study, we offer lessons for other firms on how HPT can be used to guide KM initiatives. Towards Artistry: A Critique of the HRD Performance Paradigm and a Suggested New Model by Theodore Lewis This article critiques the performance approach to HRD and proposes a new model that takes into account the deep complexities inherent in the human transaction of work. In critically examining the dominant performance paradigm, meanings of work are examined, illustrating that the desire to work extends beyond extrinsic considerations. That work and working need to be problematized and made the basis of inquiry within HRD is explored. Social exchange theory is drawn upon to explain how employees can become impelled to exercise the discretion to engage in creative behaviors that can redound to the benefit of their organizations. The proposed model is premised upon two variables, namely impetus for training and purpose of training. Impetus for training is on a continuum from individual to organization. Purpose of training is on a continuum from intrinsic to instrumental. Of the four approaches to HRD suggested by the model, the type that is bounded by intrinsically driven purpose and focused upon the developmental needs of the individual is suggested as being most likely to prompt worker artistry. Human Behavior Based Exploratory Model for Successful Implementation of Lean Enterprise in Industry by Rupy Sawhney and Stewart Chason Currently available Lean tools such as Lean Assessments, Value Stream Mapping, and Process Flow Charting focus on system requirements and overlook human behavior. A need is felt for a tool that allows one to baseline personnel, determine personnel requirements and align system requirements with personnel requirements. Our exploratory model - The Personnel Behavior Based Lean Model (PBBL), attempts to ingrain the human perspective into Lean design. The model is both a result of our research into the workings of the human element in Lean production, as well as a tool for research. The model can baseline the current state of personnel and develop a strategy for behavioral change to aid Lean implementation efforts. Accumulation of historic data using the model can help to develop a human capability index in the lines of process capability index. The paper describes the development of the model and subsequent validation of the model through a case study. The case study also serves as a stepping-stone for future work and research suggested at the end of the paper. An Investigation of the Profiles of Satisfying and Dissatisfying Factors in E-Learning by Seung Youn (Yonnie) Chyung and Mark Vachon Various factors influence e-learners’ feelings of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with their e-learning experience, but from an extensive search with six major academic research data-bases we did not find any research that demonstrated comprehensive profiles of satisfying and dissatisfying factors in e-learning. We conducted a qualitative study to initiate the effort. We used Thorndike’s law of effect and Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory as the conceptual frameworks for our study. Thorndike’s law of effect applied to human psychology suggests that people would try to avoid annoying stimuli whereas they would try to preserve satisfying stimuli. Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory suggests that different factors influence extreme satisfaction and extreme dissatisfaction on the job. Using the two theories as the conceptual frameworks, we revealed profiles of satisfaction-dissatisfaction factors in e-learning by analyzing extant data of course evaluation obtained from 17 e-learning courses. In this article, we provide recommendations on how other e-learning institutions might utilize the research findings to optimize their e-learning programs and we discuss the potential impact of such interventions on overall institutional outcomes such as learner retention. |