Performance indicators specify the measurable evidence necessary to prove that a planned effort has achieved the desired result. They have two uses: to identify what should be accomplished, and to provide criteria for determining success or failure. (JOW)

This article asks "How literate do workers need to be?" and suggests such measures as the widespread use of technical materials written in "plain language" and employers' offering job-related reading programs. (JB)

Individual change is the key to organizational change. A seven-step model of individual change--awareness, understanding, belief, effort, reward, feedback, and system accommodation--provides a structure for the design and content of training programs that will ensure transfer of learning to the workplace. (SK)

A program to train bank operations supervisors to conduct quarterly informal performance appraisals involved three modes: content-only training, content-plus-procedure training, and no training. While content-plus-procedure was predictably the most satisfactory, content-only, because it lacked a practice component, was less effective than no…

The author explores the theory of changing basic thought processes in order to improve personal performance on the job. This entails helping people identify their existing thoughts and replacing the ones that won't support performance goals with those that will. (CT)

Describes a strategy-based learner-controlled instruction model. Strategies involve predetermining training results; recognizing the prior experiences of employees; using the real work world in training; evaluating actual performance; providing immediate and continuous feedback to employees; self-paced training; and self-managed training. (CT)

Stress management training can be a cost effective way to improve productivity and job performance. Among many relaxation techniques, the most effective in terms of teachability, participant motivation, and profitability are self-hypnosis, progressive relaxation, and transcendental meditation. (SK)

The author examines the potential possessed by both men and women in corporations to develop a newly-focused and people-sensitive management style. Discusses management skill dimensions, leadership qualities, flexibility, decision making, inner work standards, and performance stability. (CT)

Examines five potential problems concerning performance evaluation, including (1) personnel managers' organizational knowledge and where the employee fits in that organization; (2) how managers prepare performance standards; (3) how managers identify employee competence; (4) how performance standards are measured; and (5) results of performance…

Balancing consulting work with other life roles requires deciding how much one wants to work, how effectively and how often, what percentage of time to allocate to different elements, how much and how far one wants to travel, and how efficiently one manages the work environment. (SK)

The authors demonstrate the comprehensiveness of a performance management system and why it isn't just performance appraisal anymore. They discuss choosing performance appraisal measures and standards, communicating performance expectations, planning for performance, monitoring and controlling performance, appraising performance, providing…

When managers apply the skills they learn, the techniques associated with leadership training often do not translate to improvements in employee productivity or in organizational productivity or profitability. (JOW)

The behaviorist, cognitivist, and humanist approaches to learning all have advantages and disadvantages. A teaching cycle that uses all three techniques related to individual learning styles (theoretical, pragmatic, reflective, activist) may be the best route to achieving peak performance. (SK)

The author examines a team development approach to management that creates shared commitments to performance improvement by focusing the attention of managers on individual workers and their task accomplishments. It uses the "high-performance equation" to help managers confront shared beliefs and concerns about performance and develop realistic…

Various types of human resource accounting systems are described and analyzed: asset models, expense models, the utility formula, cost/benefit analysis, and a comprehensive program design. Steps in this last design (e.g., review all jobs in the organization, analyze training needs for targeted jobs, determine training programs that have the…