We value research and best practices in the field.
Understanding the foundations of HPT, which include the history, people and terms, allows us to provide the best possible solutions to our clients.
Sharing that information with our clients helps us work together.
HPT's History
The field of HPT, as we understand it today, began in the United States in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Many believe that the field evolved from the ideas of B.F. Skinner. Randell K. Day states, “Many performance improvement pioneers got their start by attempting to improve training and were heavily influenced by Skinner”.
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Early pioneers, Thomas Gilbert and Joe Harless experienced instances in which well-designed instruction was failing to have an impact on individual and organizational performance. Both Gilbert and Harless came to recognize that training is but one factor that affects human performance. They questioned at the outset of design and development whether training was the appropriate intervention to improve individual and organizational performance.
Pershing, J. (2006). Human performance technology fundamentals. In J. A. Pershing (Ed.), Handbook of human performance technology (3rd ed.) (pp. 5-34). San Francisco: Pfeiffer.
Influential People & thier BIG ideas.
Thomas Gilbert
Thomas Gilbert was known as the "Father of Performance Technology". He felt that improving the performance of people must begin with identifying and resolving the environmental barriers, thus enabling the people to achieve maximum performance.
Joe Harless
Joe Harless believed that understanding the cause of a problem should drive any solution. He created the process of front-end analysis which is reflected in his first HPT model. Later, he added the components of ADDIE in his second structure.
Robert Mager
Mager's book "Preparing Instructional Objectives" argued that learning should go beyond what instructors can teach, but rather what learners can do after. He broke down performance objectives into three components; performance, conditions, and criterion. This introduced the notion that HP must have clear, measurable standards applied within definable conditions. He created a flow chart for analyzing performance problems.
Geary Rummler
Geary likened organizations to ecosystems, everything is linked together. He also found that organizational performance and individual performance are unique and require different solutions. He created a nine performance variable model.
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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
HPT Terms & Definitions
Human precedes performance technology due to the fact that the HP technologists deal with the performance of people operating within results-oriented systems. The HP technologist is focused on how to enhance individual human performance by looking at the organization, the process and the individual in the defined setting.
Performance in the HPT context is defined as the outcomes and accomplishments valued by the organization or system that one works in. These accomplishments are what HP technologists are concerned with.
Technology is a term that within the HPT context has been used increasingly to denote the application of procedures derived from scientific research and professional experience to the solution of practical problems. Merged with the word performance and introduced into the workplace it suggests objectivity and systematic procedure, it implies the application of what is known about humans and organizational behavior to the enhancement of accomplishments, economically and effectively, in ways that we value within the work setting.
HPT is systematic. It is an organized and applied in a methodical manner. Methods exist that allow HP technologists to identify performance gaps, characterize these in measurable or observable ways, analyze them, select proper interventions, and apply them in a controlled manner.
HPT is systemic. It looks at human performance gaps as elements of systems, which in turn, work with other systems. Without an evaluation of all the facets of the system, it rejects the apparent causes and solutions to the problem at hand. In this method, performance is seen as the result of a variety of influencing variables, all of which must be analyzed before proper, cost-effective interventions are selected and deployed.
International Society for Performance Improvement. (2008). What is HPT?. from http://www.ispi.org/content.aspx?id=54