Lack of accountability is a leading topic in today's workforce. It costs corporate America billions of dollars each year and has financial impact on educational institutions as well. From employee theft to poor production of product and inefficiency, it is a serious problem. Facilities leaders need to take ownership and strive to implement…

Most executives have not heard of human performance technology (HPT), but a recent Google search showed 25 times more Google hits for "lean six sigma" than for "human performance technology." This article describes five factors that make HPT a hard sell: (1) HPT is not part of standard business jargon, (2) organizational executives associate…

For flooring manufacturer Mohawk Industries, it is not enough to teach employees how to be great. The long-time Training Top 125 contender focused last year on helping employees to blaze their own learning paths while meeting organization imperatives. That meant improving the technology that supports employee performance, as well as creating new…

During the last 20 years, faculty have faced rising workloads, increasing amounts of top-down accountability and oversight, mounting publication demands, decreasing numbers of tenure-track positions, and an increasingly dismal job market. The current recession has exacerbated the pressure by requiring departmental budget cuts, faculty layoffs,…

Procedures, financial controls and reports, and leadership are the three major components that "set the tone" for an effective, accountable, and ethical organization. Procedures must be formally documented instead of passed down verbally on the premise that "we've always done it this way." Meaningful management reports should be developed and…

Today, young people entering the job market face challenges, as well as uncertainty. The influx of new technologies and powerful market forces have changed the ways in which people work in their own offices, as well as with others around the globe. Alongside the excitement of new technologies and the financial benefits, they also confront new…

Examines barriers that performance consultants face when selling an organization on HPT (human performance technology), such as establishing credibility, learning the language of the business, and demonstrating the ability to run the HPT function as a business. Explores strategies that can be employed to eliminate or reduce barriers. (Author/LRW)

Discusses the process of personnel selection as an element of performance improvement and suggests that how well a potential employee will fit into the organizational culture should be a selection criteria. Describes five steps to integrate organizational culture into the personnel selection process, including an internal organizational cultural…

Suggests that human performance technologists need to have an analysis approach to support the development of an appropriate set of improvement recommendations for clients and then move to an action plan to help them see results. Presents a performance improvement model and a systematic approach that considers organizational context, ownership,…

Discusses unethical business conduct and corporate crime, focusing on workers who bend rules to achieve satisfactory performance and organizational goals. Describes research that investigated how two cues in an organizational setting, one legal (codes of conduct) and one social (company responses to ethical transgressions), affect how individuals…

Considers how human performance technologists (HPTs) can move toward the hard science, or management, arena of an organization. Topics include measuring meaningful outcomes to quantify performance improvements; measurable criteria for workers; essential skills for HPTs; dropping ineffective programs; and defining interventions. (LRW)

Describes a study of the barriers and enablers to the practice of HPT (human performance technology) that included a research review and interviews with professionals. Highlights communication and language, business environment change, professional relationships and placement of HPT expertise, and the need for a new business model for HPT.…

Human performance technology (HPT) models are compared. One model groups performance factors by their relation to the performer (internal or external). A second model categorizes factors by which organizational level has the most control over them (executive, managerial, or individual). A third model considers rational and emotional intelligences;…

Most training and educational professionals have focused their efforts on inculcating learning within individuals rather than within organizations. This is understandable, writes Forman, because so much needs to be accomplished to improve the efficacy of schools and corporate training programs. The notion of organizational learning has been…

Discusses the productivity and work days of white collar workers. Topics include productivity improvement; task analysis; the amount of time spent reading, and how to reduce it by improving writing skills; time spent in meetings; empowered time management; and sustaining a climate for change. (LRW)