The professional standards of school nursing practice provide a framework to help school nurses focus on their unique mission of promoting health and academic achievement for all students. Without the standards, the nurse’s role can become task oriented and limited in scope. By using an evaluation tool that reflects the standards, nurses not only…

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…

Cultural awareness training that emphasizes communication delivers only a partial solution to the challenges that intercultural work teams face. Improving collaboration requires a strong foundation of performance management before a work team can determine how they will cooperate to perform to excellence. Against the backdrop of the authors'…

The leap in wireless LAN standards to 802.11n is a WiFi upgrade so new it has not yet garnered final approval from the standards committee. Although that approval will not come until next year (vendors are currently building to a "pre-n" standard), there are plenty of notebook computers out there capable of running 802.11n. That means students…

Discusses quality improvement (QI) and how it can help human performance improvement (HPI). Compares QI and HPI and discusses focusing on products and services; focusing on the customer; using data more effectively; continuous improvement; benchmarking; establishing standards; specialization; and involving the clients. (LRW)

Discussion of performance analysis and improvement focuses on a performance system that is regulated by feedback from both internal and external sources. Discusses human performance technology (HPT), which focuses on the goals of the organizational structure; and explains the macrosystem, including metrics and standards; the microsystem; and…

The purpose of the standards described in this article are to provide guidance and a common set of values for human resource development/human performance training (HRD/HPT) professionals. General Standards; Research and Evaluation; Advertising and Other Public Statements; Publication of Work; Privacy and Confidentiality; Teaching and…

Examines three elements useful for solving problems revealed by data gathering and analysis in the context of performance technology: goals, standards, and feedback. Emphasis is on the need for performers of tasks, their supervisors, and the organization as a whole to have the same goals and expectations, and how this is achieved through…

Discusses measurement in human performance technology, emphasizing identifying countable behaviors and accomplishments and considering the time dimension. Topics include validation; accountability; decision making; criteria to evaluate; dangers of percentages and ratios; standards; increments or decrements in performance; learning; on-the-job…

Recent work with automotive e-commerce clients led to the development of a performance analysis methodology called the Seven Performance Drivers, including: standards, incentives, capacity, knowledge and skill, measurement, feedback, and analysis. This methodology has been highly effective in introducing and implementing performance improvement.…

Discusses performance management and its application at the organizational and the performer level to help manage individual employees. Topics include stakeholders' needs; linking jobs to strategic business goals; material resources; establishing performance goals; selecting employees; determining tasks; performance activities; performance…

Competency is defined as a set of related knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enables an individual to effectively perform the activities of a given occupation or job function to the standards expected in employment. Competencies for professionals in the performance improvement field have received considerable attention in recent years. For…

Sense and nonsense is abound in human performance technology (HPT). There is no single cause of the abundance of nonsense. However, there is a reason that nonsense is more abundant than sense. The reason is that any principle has a specific domain of applicability. Within that domain it is sense. Outside that domain it is nonsense. Some…

The authors update an article on intervention, discussing career development, communications, feedback, financial, human development, information, instructional, labor relations, measurement and evaluation, quality improvement, resource, reward and recognition, and selection systems; documentation and standards; ergonomics and human factors;…