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Back to the Performance Improvement Journal Home PageSeptember, 2004 Editor’s Notes: Professional Dialogues on HPT
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Executive Summaries
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| Getting to the Bottom Line: Competence Is What Matters by Tina M. Teodorescu, CPT, and Carl Binder, PhD, CPT This article defines competence as achievement of results that contribute to business goals and presents an argument for focusing on competence, rather than competencies, as a foundation for improving performance, achieving organizational goals, and improving the bottom line. The authors discuss problems and pitfalls with traditional competency models and present a different approach focused on competence. They present a six-step process for building and implementing competence models and discuss the value, implications, and applications of this approach. Global Leadership Capability: An Asia-Pacific Perspective by Clare Elizabeth Carey, EdD, CPT, Peter M. Newman, and Louise M. McDonough In this article, the authors focus on unique leadership challenges in the Asia-Pacific region. As the fastest growing region of international trade, this region is a vital partner to the United States and other Western countries in securing economic growth and stability. Having considered the distinct characteristics of this part of the world, the authors discuss a formula entitled global leadership capability (GLC) for the leadership skills required in the Asia-Pacific region. They examine the global trends and challenges that underpin the need for GLC, highlight myths about cultural leadership styles, identify core GLC behaviors required for effective global leadership, and propose a GLC mindset checklist for practical application. Appreciative Inquiry: A View of a Glass Half Full by Julie Lewis, BBA, MA, and Darlene Van Tiem, PhD, CPT Historically the human performance analyst has sought to focus on a gap or situation within an organization that is hindering performance. Appreciative Inquiry (AI), developed in the late 1980s by Srivastva, Cooperrider and Associates, is a problem-focused model that uses the four-D cycle: discovery, dream, design and destiny. Through AI, the performance improvement specialist seeks to develop positive outcomes, not only influencing the bottom line, but having influence within the company’s structure itself. AI is a forum of organizational study that selectively seeks to highlight the life-giving forces on an organization’s existence. AI provides a positive approach to workplace improvement by assisting to alleviate resistance. The Weakest Link: Strategic Human Capital Management by Lenora Peters Gant This article addresses the weakest link in managing an organization’s most important asset--people. The author highlights issues that have direct impact on an organization’s competitiveness, capacity, and business results. In the global marketplace, human capital issues are continuing to evolve. When organizations fail to pay adequate attention to people issues, productivity and profits suffer. Rejoinder to “Saving the World with HPT”: A Critical, Scientific, and Consultative Reflection by Donald J. Winiecki, EdD This paper presents a critical deconstruction (but not destruction) of what we are doing and approaching when thinking about “saving the world with HPT.” Human performance technology (HPT) is a field full of promise for our personal and organizational improvement and perhaps even for larger structures. However, envisioning HPT as a solution for global problems opens dangerous possibilities that the young and immature field of HPT and its models and methods as yet are not well equipped to address. After identifying the hidden hazards and innate ironies that threaten the authority of ourselves and our field, this article suggests an approach to addressing gaps within HPT that calls to action all the present constituents of the field such that HPT can grow and mature and so that we, our clients, and--perhaps as a side effect--our society can all be improved. Blended Learning in Education, Training, and Development by Devon C. Duhaney, PhD Over the years those who engage in education, training, and development activities within the corporate sector and in higher education have sought different means to conduct their pedagogical activities. There has been the regular face-to-face teaching strategies/techniques, distance learning, independent learning, and the use of other synchronous and asynchronous practices. Although distance learning has continued its process of evolution since the era of correspondence courses and interactive electronic technology, there is now a blending of different modes of distance education and the traditional face-to-face instruction. In light of this change, the focus of this article is on blended learning as a tool to foster education, training, and development. |
