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Back to the Performance Improvement Journal Home PageMarch, 2005 Editor’s Note: The Path to Performance
Executive Summaries
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Executive Summaries
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| HPT: Focused on Individuals or Focused on the Enterprise by J. Robert (Bob) Carleton Human performance technology (HPT) applied at the enterprise level rather than the individual level has greater payoff for organizations and society. Enterprise level HPT requires intelligent application of system theory, focusing on “living systems” rather than mechanical systems. Synthesis precedes analysis when viewing issues from a system perspective. Enterprise level work requires different methods/techniques for analysis and intervention from what is used at the individual level. Organizational performance problems fall into four broad categories‹and most resolutions will involve all four: intent, process, practice, and infrastructure. Heuristics form the center points of solutions rather than algorithmic approaches as variability and adaptability are critical components of most solutions. It’s the Culture, Smarty: Overcoming Resistance to Managerial Performance Improvement by William R. Daniels Cultural resistance blocks the application of skills taught in management development. Role sets are one of the informal social systems that stabilize cultures. A role set is a small group of people who see themselves as dependent on the performer. The role set’s requirements are rarely aligned with the organization’s formal performance requirements and constantly compete for the performers’ attention. By making the organization’s goal-setting and work-review processes transparent to performers’ role sets, we can, indirectly, facilitate alignment of the formal and informal requirements. For instance, it is recommended that at least three levels of management be present in a room together frequently to actually do their goal-setting and work reviews. As an intervention, this accomplishes the alignment of formal and informal requirements and results in high levels of ongoing application. Are We Motivated by Money? Some Results From the Laboratory by Alyce M. Dickinson, PhD Although individual monetary incentive systems are quite prevalent in business and industry, few empirical studies (as opposed to survey studies) have examined how specific design features affect performance. This research suggests that small percentages of incentives, as low as 3% of base pay or total pay, can substantially increase performance and that higher percentages do not necessarily increase performance further. These results also suggest that the absolute money earned in incentives is not as important as the fact that there is a contingent relationship between pay and performance. These results imply that organizations may have greater flexibility when designing incentive systems than is recognized. This research also suggests that frequent performance feedback may enhance the effectiveness of individual monetary incentives and therefore should be provided along with incentives. Avoiding Performance Technology Myopia: Using All the Available Levers to Help an Organization Change by Joseph J. Durzo, CPT, PhD Successful implementation of human performance technology (HPT) projects requires us to be good at analysis, design, development of solutions, and measurement of results. However, project success often hinges on organizational culture, interpersonal dynamics, and the skill of project team members in interacting with individuals and organizations. HPT consultants who focus primarily on the tasks of the work and not enough on the process by which the work gets done may become victims of a sort of myopia: blurred vision of process-related issues and their impact on success. To make implementation more likely we should focus on both the task and the process sides of HPT consulting with equal determination, vigor, and professionalism. This article discusses four levers for change from the process side of project management: (1) maximizing personal effectiveness; (2) ensuring team effectiveness; (3) managing expectations and communication; and (4) ensuring client ownership of procedures and results. Organizational Change Management and Alignment: A Health Care Case Study by Paul D. Lange, CPT and Barry Coltham, CPT From 2002 through 2004, Achievement Awards Group, a South African-based incentive marketing and human performance improvement specialist, designed and implemented an enterprise-wide performance improvement initiative for Network Healthcare Holdings Ltd (Netcare), Africa’s largest private hospital and physician network. Based on Netcare’s customer- and product-orientated leadership strategies, the ongoing initiative comprises two separate but complementary programs: the NETpartner Excellence Program--which targets Netcare’s specialist doctors, their practices, and their practice staff‹is focused exclusively on driving Netcare¹s strategy; and the Goldcare Winners Program, which is designed to reward the organization’s nursing staff for applying best practice principles and to improve staff retention, is concerned with effecting both strategic and cultural change. This case study details the methods involved, the role of the programs in the organization’s change management and alignment strategies, and results.
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