Week 10 Blog

 Human Performance Tech: Concepts and Process Models

This was a great week for reading and reflection. I had never really contemplated that workplace efficiency (e.g. Human Performance Technology (HPT)), was so closely related to both Instructional Systems Technology as well as Adult Education. I have never really been interested in the efficiency field (although I am highly interested in my own efficiency), but the fact that what I am studying is so close to its ideals, it is tempting to look into it a bit more.

I think one of the things I really liked about HPT was the fact that it really hearkens back to my love of behaviorism. Wilmoth et al said (Wilmoth, Prigmore, and Bray, 2010), “human performance must have clear, measurable standards applied within definable condition” (p8). As it deals almost exclusively on one’s performance, the outcome of any instruction must be a change in performance.

I also had an appreciation that knowledge management was included in this section. It was eye-opening in the Cheng paper (Cheng, Son, and Bonk, 2011) where it mentions, “the future of knowledge management will be characterized by a stronger recognition of the social aspect of knowledge” (p452). In my perceived role as a corporate trainer, I can envision having sections sit down for lunch each Friday and having a rotating roster of employees who take the hour to introduce what they do, and how. This transfer of knowledge would help to encourage a larger repository of corporate memory, as well as help the presenter clarify for themselves how to process what it is they do and how. This presentation experience would solidify their knowledge of their job, and pass bot possible interest in that job to others, as well as to cross-train employees in case of unforeseen needs.

-Kevin

 

References:

Cheng, J., Son, S. J., & Bonk, C. J. (2011). Technology and knowledge management. In M. Malloch, L. Cairns, K. Evans, & N. O. Bridget (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of workplace learning (pp. 443–455). chapter, Sage.

 Wilmoth, F. S., Prigmore, C., & Bray, M. (2010). HPT models. In R. Watkins & D. Leigh (Eds.), Handbook of improving performance in the workplace, vol. 2: Selecting and implementing performance interventions (pp. 5-26). Silver Spring, MD: International Society for Performance Improvement.

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 28, 2021 at 12:03 PM

    Kevin,

    I agree. This week a very interesting week for reading and reflection. I was completely unfamiliar with HPT before this week and I am still wrapping my head around a lot of the concepts. I, too, had never contemplated that workplace efficiency was so closely related to IST and Adult Education, though it makes sense because previously, I have found many corporate training-type jobs when looking at instructional design jobs. I wasn't entirely sure of the connection as I came to the field from a background in education, so I had only considered the field as another branch of K-12 and higher education. I love your ideas regarding knowledge management in your work as a corporate trainer. This sounds like an excellent way for the employees that you work with to learn from one another's work while also having the ability to network.

    -Shanna Sanders

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownOctober 29, 2021 at 1:27 PM

    Kevin, the knowledge management is fascinating. My last five years in the military, knowledge management had become important. So much so, that a new position was created in organizations to do this. Part of a knowledge manager's job was not just consolidation but also organizing information is an structured manner. This made it easier to access and update. I can't remember the number of times that I went back to a SharePoint location to find that my presentation or slide deck had been deleted or moved because of SharePoint updates. Some of my fellow employees had been there for years and had their own system for saving information which no one else could access. The knowledge manager would put a plan together for organizing data and get it approved for senior management and put it out as policy updates. Disorganized information is apparently a common problem for many organizations. People put information in certain locations that leave the company. Someone else comes in and creates another copy and puts it in another location in the SharePoint. Soon there are numerous copies of everything and no one to check which documents are valid. I can definitely see how this can be a HPT issue. Finding the information is half the battle.

    Ed

    Ed

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  3. KeirstenOctober 30, 2021 at 7:40 AM

    Kevin,

    I found this week’s material to be very interesting. I had little to no knowledge of HPT prior to this course and this week. Working in higher education I am well versed in instructional systems technology and adult education, but human performance technology was a new term I had not heard of. However, after this week’s readings I think that HPT closely relates to a course we teach at my university both at the undergraduate and graduate level, Project Management. At the graduate level students in this course can also earn the Six Sigma certification.

    If we break down the three words I think the easiest way to define this term is, working with humans to improve performance using technology or systems.

    ReplyDelete

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