Summary

The goal of This book is to describe how you can adopt the results of solid performance research and turn it into practical, and cost-beneficial performance results for your organization. A review of this book by Dr. Brenda Sugrue (currently Director of Instructional Systems for Ford Motor Company-formerly a training manager for IBM and a professor at the University of Iowa) described it in the following way: This book is all you need to understand the process of performance improvement in organizations, and the "active ingredients" that impact performance. The book separates the snake oil and fads from solutions that are supported by research. It gives clear and research-based guidelines for diagnosing the causes of performance gaps and selecting solutions for knowledge, motivation, and organizational problems. Case studies illustrate the application of the model and rules. In addition, the book describes how to reliably and validly evaluate the effects of performance solutions and identifies flaws in some common approaches to evaluation. The book answers the kinds of "why" and "what if " questions that rarely get addressed. It includes a powerful model of motivated performance that can be used to address any motivational problems. (It provides the reader with) the arguments and references to support organizational development and training practices and also the arguments and evidence to abandon practices that have been shown to either be ineffective or to do more harm than good. If you want to understand why what you are doing works (or doesn't work), you need to read this book. It is unlike any other to date in the field of performance improvement and training. It takes the profession to a higher level and is a must for anyone working in the area of organizational development, performance improvement, or training.