Human competence is a vital element for any organization that expects to survive and then thrive. Developing individual performance ability is necessary but not sufficient because trained people alone will not make an organization successful. We must determine what people should deliver and why it should be delivered in order to add measurable…

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…

This article introduces a strategic argument and examples, in subsequent articles in this special issue, about sociocultural research opportunities for HPT practitioners and scholars. The authors take the view that recent criticisms of Instructional Systems Design have merit when considered from an organizational performance point of view. We see…

Over the past year the author has conducted user, task and context analyses as part of a larger project to develop a knowledge management (KM) system for the U.S. Navy. In this piece he shares that experience as well as point out a few of the challenges that he encountered. Ideally, this account will provide the opportunity for others to compare…

This sixth article in the Performance Technologist's Toolbox series focuses on the critical incident method of data collection. Critical incidents are narrative descriptions of important events that occur on the job and how employees behave in those situations. Critical incidents document the work context, the specific situation that arose, the…

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…