The Dynamic Principles of Human Performance Technology

Editor's Notes

• #3: The continually growing body of knowledge on which the discipline of human performance technology (HPT) is built provides a dynamic foundation for establishing principles that guide researchers and practitioners in the study and application of human performance improvement (HPI) theories and methodologies. Being derived from such a dynamic foundation of information, HPT principles are effectively themselves dynamic, thereby accommodating many different approaches to adhering to individual principles as they relate to particular circumstances in which those principles are applied. For example, being consistent with the general consensus among HPT professionals, while discussing the landscape of HPT, Addison and Haig (2006) asserted that there were four principles to which performance professionals adhered. They stated that performance professionals should Focus on results, using [their] knowledge of the business [they] are supporting to link performance improvement initiatives to business needs and goals and add value for the stakeholders Take a systems viewpoint that encourages consideration of all aspects of the organization ’s total performance system Add value to the organization or business by producing results that make a difference Establish partnerships with clients and other performance improvement professional to share skills, knowledge, creativity, and successes. (p. 39) Similar to the four principles of HPT as explained by Addison and Haig, Rosenberg et al (1999) described five principles of HPT. These included the concept of operating within a systemic framework and dependence upon a comprehensive analytical process. Additionally, they stated that nonlinear perspectives were essential to the application of interventions, and HPT expertise would be the result of diverse teams. Lastly, they concluded that organizational settings and individual requirements would determine the application of HPT (p. 43). These five principles, although from a different viewpoint, were remarkably similar to Addison and Haig ’s principles, and this similarity points to a recurring theme of dynamics throughout the HPT community regarding the principles of HPT.
• #8: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/j0439534.jpg Being dynamic, the principles of HPT allow researchers and practitioners to focus on results and customize interventions, as opposed to being constrained by rules that do not necessarily fit every situation.
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• #12: Similar to the four principles of HPT as explained by Addison and Haig, Rosenberg et al (1999) described five principles of HPT. These included the concept of operating within a systemic framework and dependence upon a comprehensive analytical process. Additionally, they stated that nonlinear perspectives were essential to the application of interventions, and HPT expertise would be the result of diverse teams. Lastly, they concluded that organizational settings and individual requirements would determine the application of HPT (p. 43). These five principles, although from a different viewpoint, were remarkably similar to Addison and Haig ’s principles, and this similarity points to a recurring theme of dynamics throughout the HPT community regarding the principles of HPT.
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• #23: Essentially, to the credit of the HPT community, the inclusion philosophy displayed by the availability of so many publications by so many researchers and practitioners expressing one viewpoint or another enables the field of HPT to not only mature but to ensure that its researchers and practitioners stay more than just current on the issues that surround the study and practice of HPI. In fact, this all-inclusiveness is forward-looking and brings with it recognition that there is always more than one way to do things with each situation requiring an individual application of principles. In today ’s business world where many consultants market pre-packaged business solutions as custom packages in a mix-and-match fashion, the HPT professional provides each organization with a truly customized assessment of human performance factors that affect the organization’s productivity.
• #45: The all-inclusive HPT body of knowledge is not an off-the-shelf business productivity product to be sold to an organization to solve its human performance issues. Rather, that dynamic body of knowledge is more of a resource bank to be accessed as needed in the study and application of HPT. However, searching unsystematically through the labyrinth of information in that resource bank would be a tedious and time-consuming task. Therefore, although all-inclusive, the body of knowledge is necessarily tiered in a hierarchal structure. For example, there is an abundance of peer-reviewed journals, a vast number of books, and an enormous quantity of Internet sites all proclaiming to be authorities on HPT. Researchers and practitioners muddling through all those publications looking for HPT theory and solutions would have to concede that in order to gather information in an efficient manner, a best practice would be to lean toward the publications that have gained recognition as the most aligned with the general consensus of the HPT community. In other words, the major organizations, such as the International Society for Performance Improvement and the American Society for Training and Development have what seems like a stronghold on the research literature for a reason, and that reason is that those organizations provide a venue in which HPT researchers and practitioners can collaborate in a manner that ensures they stay current on best practices in the field of HPT.
• #58: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/j0438517.jpg Furthermore, the systematic theme that threads through the literature comes to the forefront as a process by which HPT professionals approach performance issues. Without a system, there would be nothing but chaos in the application of HPT to an organization. For the same reason, after retrieving grounded theory from that labyrinth of information, applying that theory in a systematic manner becomes an efficient method of producing measurable outcomes of human performance interventions through the implementation of best practices and standards of measurement established by the prominent theorists of the community.
• #59: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/j0438517.jpg To provide a comprehensive analysis of human performance in relation to productivity, it seems logical that HPT researchers and practitioners would evaluate an organization ’s entire structure. To do otherwise by focusing analysis and application of HPT solutions only on selective aspects of an organization would be a spot-treatment approach to performance improvement issues. As affirmed by Addison and Haig (2006, p. 39), Rosenberg et al (1999, p. 43) , and the many other HPT professionals who abide by the systems approach to HPT, there seems to be a consensus in the HPT community that a systemic approach to analysis is also a best practice. Hence, taking a systems approach to analysis emerges as another vital aspect of HPT.
• #60: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/j0438517.jpg Combining a systematic process with a systemic approach induces a mindset that enables a HPT professional to analyze an HPT issue at both the micro and macro levels simultaneously. This dynamic between micro and macro analysis and application is the underlying principle beneath all other HPT principles.
• #61: A case in point is when Rummler & Brache (1995) observed that linking levels of performance to performance needs resulted in their nine performance variables useful as improvement levers at all levels in an organization (pp. 18-19). Not only did they develop their Nine Performance Variables Model, but they also implemented that model as their human performance improvement methodology at Rummler-Brache Group, their business consulting group, and assigned it the title of the Nine Boxes Model. Although the phrasing in the second model was different than the first model, the concept was exactly the same. The difference in phraseology most probably stems from either refinement of the Nine Performance Variables Model and growth into the Nine Boxes Model or a decisive measure to speak in the language of the business world, the target audience for their consulting services. Regardless of the reason for rephrasing the original wording, the concept remained the same whether it was presented to academia or the business world, and because the concept has gained a high degree of validity in both venues, it is reasonable to assume the core concepts underlying Rummler and Brache ’s models are universally accepted elements of HPT.
• #67: Proof that their models have gained the status of being universally accepted in the HPT community lies in what appears to be emulation of this theme of variables in other research and applications in HPT. For example, to explain a need to include business performance in human performance improvement, Yang (2008, p. 29) structured his Four Levels of Performance Framework in somewhat the same manner as Rummler and Brache structured their Nine Performance Variables Model. Although Yang ’s model was not identical to Rummler and Brache’s model, it was similar enough to indicate that their model was a foundation for his model. Like Rummler and Brache, Yang identified the levels of worker, process, and workplace. However, he divided workplace into two separate levels that included workplace and environment as individual components of an organization. In effect, Yang built upon grounded theory in HPT to develop his Four Levels of Performance Framework, and he did so by implementing the dynamic nature of the principles of HPT.
• #71: Tosti and Jackon (1997) provided another example of similarity among HPT models. Their Organizational Scan Model was quite similar to Rummler and Brache ’s Nine Variables Model in that they also identified the three levels of organization, work, and people. However, they ordered the three levels differently than Rummler and Brach ordered them. Nonetheless, the concept of analyzing variables was present in their theory with the purpose of providing a comprehensive analysis in order to develop strategies to improve performance (p.24).
• #74: According to Willmore (2008), “One sign of a vibrant and healthy discipline is the ability to tap into new developments, innovate, and also capture insights from other fields. . .The last decade has seen a tremendous expansion in the number of performance consultants as well as new ways in which the performance field has evolved” (p. 44). This ability to tap into new developments, innovate, and capture insights is made possible by the dynamic nature of the continually growing body of HPT knowledge and is driven by the dynamic principles that guide HPT researchers and practitioners in the application of those principles to the individualized needs of organizations. With the same insightfulness, Rosenberg et al (1999) recognized that the “field of HPT will develop a more solid base on which researchers and practitioners will be able to build while developing a more diverse set of applications. From these developments will emerge others” (p. 43). In the final analysis, the field of HPT is, indeed, developing a more solid base, and this base is, indeed, generating a more diverse set of applications. That is, after all, what dynamic structures do.
• #86: iStockphoto