January, 2002
Volume 41 / Number 1
This article presents practices from post-training performance evaluation for continuous quality improvement in developing countries. Techniques include performance specification and analysis of performance factors, similar to those used in front-end analysis prior to the design and implementation of a performance improvement intervention. Practical guidelines for planning follow up performance evaluations are discussed. Wile's synthesis of five prominent human performance models serves as the basis for a discussion of the organization and interpretation of results from a followup conducted in Togo, West Africa. With the exception of cultural analysis, current human performance models are found to have cross-cultural portability in guiding performance evaluation for quality improvement.
Making the Most of Instructional Technology Internships
by Abbas Johari, PhD, Amy C. Bradshaw, PhD, and Don Aguilar, MEd
Many internship programs suffer from a lack of planning. Both academic institutions and companies are responsible for arousing in interns the awareness that they must discover and understand an organization's culture. To be viewed as valued employees, they must also cultivate and emulate non-task-specific characteristics, such as cooperation, punctuality, and integrity. Without involved mentors from both academia and the corporations, the chance of failed projects and resulting negative repercussions for all parties is very high. Careful internship planning includes the input and cooperation of all parties. Six steps are recommended: Establish clear task and performance goals; know the personnel management process; identify expressed and implied needs; encourage interns to work with the systems (training, personal, and company systems); encourage interns to become thinkers (organizational analysts and active participants); and keep all parties positively involved.
Success Rates for Different Types of Organizational
Change
by Martin E. Smith, PhD
This article summarizes 49 published reports of success for organizational change, representing the experience of more than 40,000 organizations. The median success rate was 33%. Success rates were separately computed for 10 types of organizational change, such as restructuring, re-engineering, and mergers. The author offers comments about the criteria used to measure the success of each type of change and asks readers to consider six factors in judging the applicability of these estimates to their situation: uniqueness requirements of the readers' situations, vested interests of the persons reporting the research, age of the data versus current practice, rigor of the research methodology, relevance of the measure or standard used to judge success, and characteristics of the organizations included in the research.
Using Document Analysis in Analyzing and Evaluating
Performance
by Jana L. Pershing, PhD
Organizations of all types have a plethora of work-related documents and artifacts that can be useful in the work of performance analysts and evaluators. Most organizations collect and maintain many types of data and information on processes, products, personnel, and clients. In performance technology, these documents and artifacts can be systematically analyzed. The process is called document analysis. This article provides an overview of three types of document analysis useful to performance technologists: tracking, content analysis, and case study aggregation analysis. It also describes the advantages and limitations of document analysis and explains how it is done. It should help the performance technologist understand when an organization may benefit from the analysis of existing documents and other archived sources of information.
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