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Volume 19 / Number 2
2006
Special Issue: New Frameworks for HPT Scholarship
Guest Editor, Thomas M. Schwen
Editorial
Thomas M. Schwen
A Framework for New Scholarship in Human Performance Technology
Thomas M. Schwen, Howard K. Kalman, and Michael A. Evans
This article introduces a strategic argument and examples, in subsequent articles in this special issue, about sociocultural research opportunities for HPT practitioners and scholars. The authors take the view that recent criticisms of Instructional Systems Design have merit when considered from an organizational performance point of view. We see the problem as historic overuse of one theoretical perspective at a micro level of theory and application. We argue that adding recent sociocultural perspectives and expanding the levels of theory to include groups and complex organizational structures will offer an opportunity for more rigorous and diverse research agenda and create new insights for problem solving in practice.
An Application of Activity Theory: A Case of Global Training
James A. Marken
Activity Theory has often been used in workplace settings to gain new theoretical understandings about work and the humans who engage in work, but rarely has there been sufficient detail in the literature to allow HPT practitioners to do their own activity analysis. The detail presented in this case is sufficient for HPT practitioners to begin to use Activity Theory as an analytical framework. The case described here tells in detail of an activity analysis done with the global sales and marketing training department of a U.S.-based Fortune 500 multinational corporation. With a facilitator coaching them in its use, the team was able to use Activity Theory both as a debriefing tool and proactively to plan a training intervention in Japan. As a result of the team's work, potential cultural conflicts were avoided, improvements for later training interventions were identified, and knowledge and experience were mutually shared.
How to Build a Better Online Community: Cultural Perspectives
Eun-Ok Baek and Thomas M. Schwen
There have been many attempts to design online communities of practices (CoPs) as social contexts in which teachers can work together for their professional development. In practice, however, the realization of such a community is far from what is promised in theory. One of the most significant reasons for online community failures is our general lack of understanding of The potential influences of teachers' offline cultures. Thus, this study explores the interaction of online and offline teachers' cultures to better understand which offline cultural influences might affect teachers' participation in the Inquiry Learning Forum (ILF ), an online community of practice hosted by the Center for Research on Learning and Technology (CRLT ) at a mid-western university. Using a qualitative case study approach, data were collected by conducting document analyses, holding online and face-to-face meetings, and conducting interviews with designers, researchers, and teachers. We identified seven cultural influences that gatively affected the teachers' rate of participation in the ILF : (1) lack of time, (2) their isolated working culture, (3) lack of reflection on their practices, (4) lack of technological support, (5) pressure from state-mandated standards, (6) pre-existing mistrust directed at the university, and (7) preferences for face-to-face interaction. These findings will inform future designers, so that they may continue to improve the utility of online CoPs for teachers' professional development.
Sociocultural Factors Affecting the Success of an Online MBA Course:
A Case Study Viewed from Activity Theory Perspective
Xiaojing Liu and Thomas M. Schwen
The complexities of the digital age pose challenges to existing instruction technology theory as it applies to a distance learning environment. Research in distance education especially lacks rich qualitative information or holistic analysis that would lead to improve the effectiveness of distance learning environment (McIsaac & Gunawardena, 1996). Through the lens of activity theory, this study took a broad view of an online course and examines the socio-cultural mediators affecting the success of a distance course as well as the systematic tensions that characterize the culture of an online course. Recommendations were provided at the group and organizational levels to balance local tensions that emerged in the implementation of a distance course.
Communities of Practice in Workplaces: Learning as a Naturally Occurring Event
Noriko Hara and Thomas M. Schwen
Since the 1990s we have seen an increase in consideration of social and cultural aspects of learning as a way to foster organizational learning and human performance. Despite strong interest among practitioners and scholars, the study of organizational learning is lacking in empirical research. The study described here calls attention to the importance of informal learning in designing effective learning environments for the training of professionals. The study examines how people share and construct their knowledge in a Public Defender's Office and conclude that there are six attributes of communities of practice (CoPs) that serve as scaffolding for organizational learning. The attributes are (1) a group of professionals, (2) development of a shared meaning, (3) informal network, (4) supportive culture-trust, (5) engagement in knowledge building, and (6) individuals' negotiation and development of professional identities. Implications for education and training in relation to the concept of CoPs are discussed.
Culturally and Geographically Relevant Performance Interventions:
A Case Study from Arctic Alaska
Deepak Prem Subramony
This article attempts to showcase how one particularly financially endowed organization is seeking to modify its instructional and organizational practice to better serve its Iņupiat (Eskimo) target/client population. This is an extreme and instructive situation of socio-cultural tension that provides interesting contrasts with the issues of performance in culturally diverse corporations, governmental and non-governmental organizations. Considering the thematic argument made in this issue that multiple levels of analysis are sometimes required in developing human performance interventions in complex socio-cultural contexts, this author observed that running a school system conceived almost entirely along Western lines while serving a predominantly non-Western population leads to some problems at the macro, meso, and micro levels. This strongly suggests that, in today's cross- and multi-cultural organizational contexts, human performance technology (HPT) analyses and interventions must unearth the rich complexity of issues embedded in our increasingly complex world or suffer the consequences of doing more harm than good.
Evaluation in the Design of Complex Systems
Li-An Ho and Thomas M. Schwen
We identify literature that argues the process of creating knowledge-based system is often imbalanced. In most knowledge-based systems, development is often technology driven instead of requirement-driven. Therefore, we argue designers must recognize that evaluation is a critical link in the application of requirement driven development models because it provides the information that keeps the iterative developmental process on track.
In this study we took a closer look at the decision-making in the design of a complex performance system in a non-profit organization. The purpose was to gain insights into the roles and functions of evaluation during the process of building a performance support system. This study adopted an exploratory case study as its inquiry method. Findings suggested that effective communication is as important a function to evaluation as is decision-making, and that the implementation of evaluation seldom follows the textbook guidelines. That is, evaluation practice is a patchwork history of the designers' knowledge and experience. Further, neither complexity nor the informality of the evaluation protocols seems to influence the quality of decision-making.
Developing and Sharing Team Mental Models in a Profession-driven
and Value-laden Organization: A Case Study
Jeng-Yi Tzeng
While team mental models have been shown to be effective in facilitating team operations in ordinary transactive organizations, their impact on loosely coupled yet value-laden organizations is relatively under studied. Using qualitative inquiry methodology, this study investigates the three referential frameworks (i.e., theoretical knowledge, practical experiences, and team consciousness) of the team mental models employed in a nonprofit organization which provides therapy for hearing-impaired children in Taiwan. The results indicate that fostering a strong team mental model may be an effective way to ensure that the performance of value-laden practice meets a certain expectation. Moreover, I present arguments that because various cognitive properties of team mental models are formed, shared, and represented in different ways, they should be investigated and understood from a holistic perspective; and that it should also be cultivated by an integrative approach that utilizes theoretical, practical, and organizational knowledge.
Applying Case-based Reasoning in Knowledge Management
to Support Organizational Performance
Feng-Kwei Wang
Research and practice in human performance technology (HPT) has recently accelerated the search for innovative approaches to supplement or replace traditional training interventions for improving organizational performance. This article examines a knowledge management framework built upon the theories and techniques of case-based reasoning (CBR) and Nonaka's (1991, 1994) knowledge conversion model to shed light on how organizational performance can be enhanced by leveraging organizational knowledge represented as cases to support learning, working, and innovation of knowledge workers. This framework offers HPT practitioners new ways of thinking and methods for the design of performance support interventions by which organizational knowledge is stored, codified, delivered, and acted upon in context, on demand, and at the point of need. This paper describes a project, Knowledge Innovation for Technology in Education (KITE), which was designed to support professional development of teachers using CBR and knowledge conversion theories.
Designing Performance Interventions for the Information Age:
DOPSS Functions and the USE Method
Steven Schatz and Thomas M. Schwen
Dynamic Online Performance Support Systems (DOPSS) are a new class of intervention that can meet the needs of a quickly changing work force in an information age environment. These systems are customized for the target population, with unique meta tags, unique function sets, and dynamic growth for and by users in use. These unique tag sets allow users to quickly and easily add resources to the system, so it is an intervention that grows and evolves based on continued use and input by users. This paper reports on a case study examining the design of a unique function set for military aircraft maintenance technicians. A new method to guide data collection and analysis is used. The USE method (User-centric + Sensemaking + Evolving) is applied, with Schwen's (2001) knowledge model supporting the user-centric collection and analysis of data. The result of this new perspective allows the input and analysis of needs on micro, meso, and macro levels, identifying needs that may cross boundaries of traditional interventions.
Chasing a Fault across Ship and Shore: Explaining the Context
of Troubleshooting in the U.S. Navy
Michael A. Evans and Thomas M. Schwen
Knowledge management (KM) in the U.S. Navy is championed as a strategic initiative to improve shipboard maintenance and troubleshooting at a distance. The approach requires capturing, coordinating, and distributing domain expertise in electronics and computer engineering via advanced information and communication technologies. Coordination must be achieved to ensure ship readiness. A potential challenge for human performance technologists is to develop robust theoretical frameworks to analyze and explain existing practice within this context. To illustrate, we present the case of U.S. naval sailors and civilian subject-matter experts (SMEs) collaboratively troubleshooting complex shipboard radar systems across ship and shore. Adapting perspectives from organizational theory, information science, and educational psychology, we conduct a multi-level analysis of the context of distributed knowledge and work. Findings suggest that regulative and normative restrictions, boundary spanners and objects, and disruption of coordination across system components influence practice substantively. Implications for research and practice, including a readdressing of the existing cannon of analytical frameworks are offered.
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