Suggests that professional researchers need to act as change agents to convince government officials of the usefulness of performance measurement. Offers guidelines for professional researchers who want to increase the use of performance by governments at all levels. (Contains 53 references.) (JOW)

The skills acquired in a Job-Alike Workshop can go a long way toward reducing the "I don't get no respect" syndrome compounded by high student/supervisor ratios. When support personnel learn student management strategies, their daily tasks are easier, and the positive effects are noticeable throughout the entire school. (MLH)

Describes the Army's Project A effort to scale the relative utility of different levels of performance across entry-level jobs, or Military Occupational Specialties. Explains how combined procedure incorporating interval estimation and ratio estimation method was used to estimate utility of 5 different performance levels for each of 276 jobs.…

Investigated relationship between personality variables and job performance in 43 accountants. Results indicated that, even with effects of cognitive ability taken into account, 3 personality scales (orientation toward work, degree of ascendancy, and degree and quality of interpersonal orientation) were significantly related to important aspects…

Explains how current commercial expert system technology can be used to create useful job aids. Expert systems are defined, situations in which an expert system job aid will be most effective are described, expert system shells are discussed, and three commercial expert system products are described. (LRW)

The author presents a training program for supervisors designed to improve an organization's performance appraisal system. Legal issues surrounding performance appraisal are discussed. Course topics include (1) definition and purpose of performance appraisal, (2) how appraisals can improve performance, (3) negative reactions and how to overcome…

The national skill standards project may take 10 years to complete and will be expensive to set up and maintain. Getting consensus from industry, unions, and educators and ensuring checks for fairness and nondiscrimination pose challenges. (SK)

Nineteen Air Force technicians completed four mental model measures: laddering, component-readiness ratings task, diagramming task, and think-aloud and verbal troubleshooting. All but the think-aloud technique predicted troubleshooting performance. Laddering and ratings were independently predictive, suggesting that they capture different aspects…

Contains citations and abstracts of 17 articles from U.S. and British journals on job performance, productivity, and motivation. (SK)

Examined work of the nurse's aides (NAs) through observation and in-depth interviews with 30 NAs. Found efforts of NAs were clearly focused on getting work done well enough to stay out of trouble and decisions with implications for quality of care were often driven by whether NAs would be reprimanded by supervisors or ostracized by peers.…

Performance-oriented program management is needed at all levels of government. Despite concerns about outcome versus impact, validity, reliability, cost, and standards, monitoring of public agency program quality and outcomes is feasible and essential for accountability. (SK)

Teams share commitment, translate purpose into performance goals, and have members be accountable with and to their teammates. Types of teams are those that recommend, make or do things, and run things. The distinction between teams and other working groups is performance: an effective team is worth more than the sum of its parts. (SK)

Clarifies the purpose of developing lists of competencies for each job in an organization and looks at how competencies can be used productively for employee development. Describes a process for identifying competencies that, if acquired, will help overcome known barriers to successful performance. (JOW)

Describes training programs based on the secrets of star performers in a company. Discusses the steps to implementing a star performer program: (1) determine that there is an identifiable performance deficit; (2) define and identify the star performer; (3) determine how star performers do it; and (4) train the average performer. (JOW)

Effective problem solving depends on adopting the appropriate frame of reference to guide the search for solutions. If the problem is mislabeled or the wrong frame of reference used, the chances for success are lower. (SK)