This article provides a systematic literature review about nonprofit and for-profit organizations using "big data" to inform performance improvement initiatives. The review of literature resulted in 4 peer-reviewed articles and an additional 33 studies covering the topic for these contexts. The review found that big data and analytics…

Theory at both the micro and macro level predicts that investments in superior human capital generate better firm-level performance. However, human capital takes time and money to develop or acquire, which potentially offsets its positive benefits. Indeed, extant tests appear equivocal regarding its impact. To clarify what is known, we…

It has become accepted wisdom that there is a shortage of leaders in the library profession. A number of leader and leadership development programs have emerged in Australia, Canada and the United States that attract interested participants, yet what is the core purpose of these programs? Do they work? Review of leadership programs reveals that…

Presents a literature review of 38 articles that discuss electronic performance support systems (EPSSs). Assesses and classifies each article's EPSS by its settings for use, initial reasons for development, and system features. Finds that the primary markets responding to the potentials of EPSSs are businesses and industry, with secondary markets…

Mountain Valley Elementary's decade-long struggle to improve student performance naturally makes one wonder if an excessive turnover in curriculum leadership has had a significant effect on how the students and teachers perform. As a teacher and Title I facilitator at Mountain Valley for the past 12 years, this author has experienced the…

During the last two decades, a shift has emerged in business and government sectors from a focus on training to a focus on performance improvement. This shift to Human Performance Technology (HPT), also called Human Performance Improvement (HPI) or performance technology, emerged in the educational technology literature in the late 1970s and early…

As is true for human resource development (HRD), the field of organization development (OD) draws from numerous disciplines to inform its theory base. However, the identification and selection of theory to inform improved practice remains a challenge and begs the question of what can be used to inform and guide one in the identification and…

This book examines the core principles of adult learning and the roots of andragogy, advances in adult learning, and practice in adult learning. The following are among the topics discussed in the book's 17 chapters: importance of learning theory; theories of learning (concept of part and whole models of development, theories based on elemental…

This document contains four papers from a symposium on performance, productivity, and continuous improvement. "Investigating the Association between Productivity and Quality Performance in Two Manufacturing Settings" (Constantine Kontoghiorghes, Robert Gudgel) summarizes a study that identified the following quality management variables…