October, 2000
Volume 39 / Number 9
Page 5
Internal
Branding: Using Performance Technology to Create an Organization
Focused on Customer Value
by Donald T. Tosti and Rodger Stotz
Many applications of performance technology in business settings are designed to improve organizational productivity by increasing the skills and competency of individuals. Cost reduction is often a primary driver behind such change efforts.
Another approach to organizational improvement uses revenue enhancement as a primary driver of change. This paper presents a performance technology approach to revenue enhancement, with the goal of improving customer retention through building customer value. A key component of such an effort is the company’s brand, which can both serve as a driver for change and provide the framework for performance change. The broad purpose of such efforts is to ensure that an organization "lives the promise" of value made by its brand, both externally and internally; that is, both in the value it provides to customers and in the way its people behave.
Page 16
Building
the Endowment: Assessing and Developing Organizational Capacity
by Sheila E. Murphy, PhD
Organizational capacity is the level of an organization’s capability to deliver goods and services that not only satisfy customers’ present expectations, but continually anticipate future opportunities in a changing marketplace. Capacity includes the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the individuals in an organization. Additionally, a capacity analysis encompasses the core processes, knowledge base, change capability, and organizational culture that comprise an organization’s signature capabilities. These include the historical record, product capabilities, and process capabilities. Although capacity analysis provides a snapshot of an organization at a given point, the concept itself is dynamic and reveals what an organization is capable of providing. The analysis itself involves a thorough examination of the ways in which expectations, capabilities, and future visioning connect. Its value is in embracing the reality of what self-study can reveal, then assuming a proactive stance toward maximizing opportunities that the analysis clarifies.
Page 20
So
Much for Fairy Tale Endings: When Performance Improvement Efforts Fizzle,
Stumble, or Stall
by Adele A. Sommers
Today’s practitioner of human performance technology (HPT) will find many valuable techniques to help identify, measure, and resolve performance problems. But what about situations in which an intervention seems unclear, unsavory, or otherwise doomed to failure? A hypothetical case study explores the challenges of matching a tool set with an approach to a particularly difficult situation, and of weighing the reasons for intervening under uncomfortable or distressing conditions. A series of related questions ponders whether it may be better to participate in or disengage from a no-win predicament. An attempt is made to define varying degrees of success and failure and to examine the bittersweet sense of accomplishment that often accompanies unsatisfying efforts. By documenting abundant examples of failures as well as successes in the HPT literature, we offer a needed opportunity to probe well-intentioned but potentially misguided assumptions and objectives.
Page 27
The
Inquiry Process: Another Way of Facilitating Problemsolving Through Training
by Jim Wilterding, PhD, C. Christopher Baughn, PhD, and James E.
Wanek, PhD
Decisionmakers dealing with complex problems often need to seek out information, understand the perspectives of the various parties involved, and ascertain relationships among key features of the situation itself. Furthermore, they need to be skilled in verifying factual findings and ensuring that sufficient information is available to address the problem. This article presents a training technique that requires participants to actively solicit information by questioning a facilitator. Through this questioning process, participants gain sufficient information about an incident to provide analysis and judgment regarding appropriate action. Face-to-face interaction, requirements for active inquiry, and the opportunity to see a problem develop through effective inquiry can create an engaging learning climate and better prepare decisionmakers for real-life dilemmas.
Page 32
Designing
Role-Plays for Interpersonal Skills Training
by Geralien A. Holsbrink-Engels
Role-play is the most widely practiced method for developing interpersonal skills. Designing effective role-plays is a challenge for performance technologists. This article describes a process to develop role-plays. A 10-step model of designing role-plays is outlined and illustrated with concrete examples. The steps relate to what to train and how to train interpersonal skills. Steps 1 and 3 relate to the selection of the content for the role-plays. Step 2 relates to assessment. Steps 4 and 5 relate to the development of instructional materials. For the presentation of content, Steps 6 through 10 relate to the development of lessons. The development of lessons includes the steps that guide and mediate the introduction to role-plays, the presentation of the generality and modeling, presentation of the problems, practice, and feedback.
Page 40
Unexpected Benefits of Testing
by Edmond T. Parker
Despite initial resistance from various stakeholders, one training organization developed an initiative to introduce testing to courses, beginning with certain high-impact courses, but rather quickly expanding to other courses and curricula. The obvious, expected benefit of this initiative was feedback to students, instructors, developers, and the organization about how much students had learned. More interesting was the way feedback generated numerous unpredicted and highly beneficial effects for all stakeholders and the training efforts in general. This article describes the wide range of those unexpected and significant benefits.
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