Rothwell W.J. - Beyond Training and Development[c] The Groundbreaking Classic on Human Performance Enhancement (2004)(2-e)(en)

Exhibit 1-4. U.S. Department of Labor—high-performance workplace practices criteria.

1.Skills and information

2.Participation, organization, and partnership

3.Compensation, security, and work environment

4.Putting it all together

The criteria are further subdivided into thirteen second-level and thirty-one third-level categories.

By focusing on creating workplaces that are conducive to optimum employee performance, employers can maximize organizational productivity while minimizing finger pointing for lower-than-expected production levels or quality measures.12

As interest in HPW continues, training and development professionals may find that they need competencies beyond those they have traditionally needed to carry out their jobs effectively. Establishing and maintaining HPWs requires training and development professionals to acquire competencies associated with facilitating group-oriented rather than individually oriented change efforts. Generally speaking, the competencies needed to work effectively with group change efforts have historically been associated with Organization Development (OD).13 After all, OD focuses on changing groups or organizations.

Trend 3: Organizing Work Activities in Innovative Ways

Organizations are revolutionizing the way they structure work, shifting from narrowly defined jobs to teams responsible for entire work processes. One aim in doing that is to give workers more control over the work process from start to finish in order to build their pride in excellence.

Another aim is to streamline processing time so that fewer steps are needed during production or service delivery. Innovative work design approaches include developing teams in which all members are cross-trained so that they function interdependently and interchangeably, outsourcing work so that the organization can focus on only those core processes that it can do most costeffectively, and employing flexible staffing that relies on temporary workers and external consultants who are brought into organizations on a short-term basis.

Against the backdrop of these trends, traditional training approaches focused on changing individuals are becoming less appropriate. Planned learning now works best when it is organized around team-related issues and cross-training for team work activities. Training for outsourced work is minimal, though it may be necessary to train some suppliers. Training for temporary workers poses

a special challenge, since it must be performed just in time to maximize the productivity of people whose stay in the work setting is typically brief. Since companies wish to reduce their investment in developing people not employed by them on a permanent basis, some place most or all of the burden for training temporary workers on the vendors that supply those workers.

Trend 4: Upgrading Employee Competencies in Real Time

Given the continuing trend toward downsizing organizations to increase productivity and profits and to improve communication by reducing the numbers of layers through which information must pass, individuals are finding that they must assume a proactive role in their own development. No longer can they safely assume a passive role, depending on their employers to supply infrequent training experiences or direct their career goals. Instead, they must shoulder responsibility for their own self-directed learning. Otherwise, they will be ill equipped for the marketplace should they find themselves suddenly thrust into it by an unexpected forced layoff.

Traditional training approaches have tended to minimize or marginalize the learner’s role in every step of designing, delivering, and evaluating instruction.14 Rarely are learners involved in analyzing human performance problems or improvement opportunities; clarifying who should receive training; crafting the training so that it will dovetail with the working conditions in which performers must apply what they have learned on their jobs; clarifying the work expectations that will be the foundation for judging learner job performance; assessing training needs; formulating instructional objectives; establishing measurement criteria by which to assess success in training; sequencing instructional objectives for presentation to learners; making, buying, or modifying instructional materials to achieve instructional objectives; testing training materials to ensure that they work; revising training materials to make them more effective; delivering training; or evaluating results. However, learners must be involved in training design and empowered to learn on their own in the future.

Against this backdrop, the traditional role of training and development professionals and managers must change. They must facilitate, rather than direct, planned learning. Building learner competence in learning how to learn is thus becoming more important.15 So is the use of approaches such as action learning, in which learners are involved in designing and delivering instruction.16

What Have Training and Development Professionals

Historically Done?

Before turning to a possible new role for training and development professionals, let us consider what training professionals have traditionally been expected to do in organizational settings. One way to do that is to review past studies of the roles, work outputs, and competencies of training and human resources development professionals. A brief summary of some key studies follows.

Models for HRD Practice

In 1989, the American Society for Training and Development published Models for HRD Practice.17 The study was led by Patricia McLagan and focused attention on human resources development (HRD) in addition to training. According to McLagan’s landmark research, HRD was defined by the study as ‘‘the integrated use of training and development, organization development, and career development to improve individual, group, and organizational effectiveness.’’18

The 1989 study identified eleven roles carried out by HRD professionals. They were:19

Researcher

Marketer

Organization change agent

Needs analyst

Program designer

HRD materials developer

Instructor/facilitator

Individual career development adviser

Administrator

Evaluator

HRD manager

The study identified thirty-five core competencies necessary for HRD work:

(1) adult learning understanding, (2) career development theories and techniques understanding, (3) competency identification skill, (4) computer competence,

(5) electronic systems skill, (6) facilities skill, (7) objectives preparation skill, (8)

performance observation skill, (9) subject matter understanding, (10) training and development theories and techniques understanding, (11) research skill, (12) business understanding, (13) cost-benefit analysis skill, (14) delegation skill, (15) industry understanding, (16) organization behavior understanding, (17) organization development theories and techniques understanding, (18) organization understanding, (19) project management skill, (20) records management skill, (21) coaching skill, (22) feedback skill, (23) group process skill, (24) negotiation skill, (25) presentation skill, (26) questioning skill, (27) relationship building skill, (28) writing skill, (29) data reduction skill, (30) information search skill, (31) intellectual versatility, (32) model building skill, (33) observing skill, (34) selfknowledge, and (35) visioning skill.20

ASTD Models for Human Performance Improvement

ASTD Models for Human Performance Improvement was a research-based study like its predecessors. One important feature of this 1995 study, which was published in 1996 and again in updated format in 2000, is that the human performance improvement (HPI) process can be carried out by many people—HRD professionals, operating managers, and others who care about improving human performance. It was thus not a competency study limited to HRD professionals alone. Its implications are broader: Anyone can play the role of a performance improvement practitioner.

The study defined human performance improvement as ‘‘the systematic process of discovering and analyzing important human performance gaps, planning for future improvements in human performance, designing and developing costeffective and ethically justifiable interventions to close performance gaps, implementing the interventions, and evaluating the financial and nonfinancial results.’’21 The HPI process model, introduced in this study, was defined as ‘‘a six-step model that describes key steps in conducting human performance improvement work.’’22 The steps in the HPI process model included:23

Step 1. Performance analysis: The first step involves ‘‘identifying and describing past, present, and future human performance gaps.’’

Step 2. Cause analysis: ‘‘The root causes of a past, present, or future performance gap are identified.’’

Step 3. Selection of appropriate interventions: ‘‘Here people who do human performance work consider possible ways to close past, present, or possible future performance gaps by addressing their root cause(s).’’

it as ‘‘the integrated use of learning and other interventions for the purpose of improving individual and organizational performance. It uses a systematic process of analyzing performance and responding to individual, group, and organizational needs. WLP creates positives, progressive change within organizations by balancing human, ethical, technological, and operational considerations.’’28 It lists seven roles of WLP professionals:29

A manager plans, organizes, schedules, monitors, and leads the work of individuals and groups to attain desired results; facilitates the strategic plan; ensures that WLP is aligned with organizational needs and plans; and ensures accomplishment of the administrative requirements of the function.

An analyst troubleshoots to isolate the causes of human performance gaps or identifies areas for improving human performance.

An intervention selector chooses appropriate interventions to address root causes of human performance gaps.

An intervention designer and developer creates learning and other interventions that help to address the specific root causes of human performance gaps. Some examples of the work of the intervention designer and developer include serving as instructional designer, media specialist, materials developer, process engineer, ergonomics engineer, instructional writer, and compensation analyst.

An intervention implementor ensures the appropriate and effective implementation of desired interventions that address the specific root causes of human performance gaps. Some examples of the work of the intervention implementor include serving as administrator, instructor, organization development practitioner, career development specialist, process redesign consultant, workspace designer, compensation specialist, and facilitator.

A change leader inspires the workforce to embrace the change, creates a direction for the change effort, helps the organization’s workforce to adapt to the change, and ensures that interventions are continuously monitored and guided in ways consistent with stakeholders’ desired results.

An evaluator assesses the impact of interventions and provides participants and stakeholders with information about the effectiveness of the intervention implementation.

The study also identified fifty-two competencies of WLP practitioners. Of course, the competencies essential to succeed are continually being reviewed and updated.30

Other Studies

While the focus of Models for HRD Practice was on HRD, later studies by ASTD have tended to take a more expansive role of what practitioners in the field should do. The movement has been away from viewing training, organization development, and career development—the classic components of HRD as defined in ASTD’s 1989 study—as sufficient. Instead, the focus has been on identifying the root causes of human performance problems and then discovering what solutions may be used individually or collectively to address the root causes. While training, organization development, and career development remain components of the more expansive view of the field represented by workplace learning and performance, they are not by themselves sufficient to address all human performance problems. The later ASTD studies have thus moved toward a focus on results and away from activities.

There have been other studies that are relevant to human performance enhancement (HPE), the subject of this book. Learning HPE can be situated in the job context.31 It is fraught with emotional issues associated with the currently popular notion of emotional intelligence.32 Recent research has also helped to shed important light on current issues associated with competence in the field.33