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.
