Chapter 3
Non-Instructional Interventions
Organizational Development
OD is the largest, in scope, of the improvement initiatives. It looks deeply at entire organizational systems as compared to HPT which will focus on a component of a system or touch superficially on a large system an make prescriptions about deep analysis.
An example of an OD intervention
Small Pond Films was a Boise based not -for-profit community film organization. It had a mission to to provide screenings and a forum that were open to all. The organization had persisted for five years and in that time had over one hundred regular participants and over four hundred sometimes participants. It was in no small part responsible for assisting in the creation of at least seven feature films and dozens if not hundreds of short films.
The main output of the organization was the online forum that served as a general workspace and communication tool for many of the mentioned film projects. The forum functioned well and did not censor any posting and there by encouraging free thought and creativity. However, in the last year a small group of film makers took advantage of the open forum and would regularly post offensive and provocative material. It is not entirely understood why as they continually expressed a desire to work collaboratively, nd when given another opportunity to participate in the community (online and in physical) they would do things to make nearly all the other members upset. This went on and many long time and substantially contributing members quit using the online forum because of the "hostile attitude" and how it made them "angry to read it."
Time was spent with these offending individuals. After it was discovered that there attitudes could not be changed they were asked to not post to the forum any more, but by that time the few remaining members using the forum had taken a defensive position about most any post and it was assessed that a culture of hostility had taken firm hold of Small Pond Films.
There was still a large need for a community film organization so the desicion was made to shut down Small Pond Film for good and Start fresh with a new mission and vision. While the new mission is not a liberal and open as the previous, it has been design to serve as large as possible a number of people who are committed to collaboratively producing micro-cinema.
For Further Reading: The Impact of Organizational Development by Brian Desautels
Corporate Culture Analysis
Recently Corporations have begun to see themselves as a societal component whether they want to be or not. Corporations that view themselves as positive social contributors tend to reap more benefit than sacrifice for their efforts.
For Further reading: Improving Corporate Social Performance: A strategic Planning Approach by Tim Hatcher
Motivational Systems
Motivation is an internal compulsion that gives a performer reason for action. Possibly the most difficult thing to change when considering human performance interventions.
Some alternate definitions for consideration:
Something that gets us going, keeps us moving, and helps us get jobs done.”
(Pintrich & Schunk, 1996)“A set of energetic forces…to initiate work-related behavior, and to determine its form, direction, intensity, and duration.”
(Pinder, 1998)“The psychological process that gives purpose and direction to people’s behavior.”
(Thiagarajan, 2002)
Incentive is an external forces that is aligned with a performers motive(s). It is far more easily manipulated than motive.
Appreciative Inquiry (AI)
For Further Reading: Motivating Individuals, Teams, and Organizations by Richard E. Clark
For Further Reading: Appreciative Inquiry: Unraveling the Mystery of Accentuating the Positive by Darlene M. Van Tiem, and Julie Lewis
Feedback and Communication Systems
For Further Reading: Appreciative Inquiry: Unraveling the Mystery of Accentuating the Positive by Darlene M. Van Tiem, and Julie Lewis
Compensation Systems
Are designed to address the performers incentive to perform. Obviously compensation can take the form of money but it may also be systems like health benefits packages or investment matching like 401Ks, also things like On-Job-Site child care, or even Share-Your-Passion-at -Work-Day. Compensation can be anything that the organization gives to the employee that employee see fair value in in trade for their performance.
For Further Reading: Appreciative Inquiry: Unraveling the Mystery of Accentuating the Positive by Darlene M. Van Tiem, and Julie Lewis
Job Aids
The old fashioned term for PSS. To be more specific job aids are generally more low-tech things than PSS. For example job aids can be things like:
- wordperfect keyboard templates for hotkey shortcuts and formatting
- A sign above a deep-fat fryer at a fast food restaurant informing/reminding employees that the grease is hot and will burn you
- Instructions on the side of a fire extinguisher
- Tire changing procedure that is found in the auto-manual of cars (usually kept in the glove compartment)
- New computer "Quick Set-up" guide
For further reading: Job Aids (Team Pie Project paper) by Carlos Diaz, Holly Foster, Tona Mitcham, Charles Bostaph, and Nathan Snyder
Performance Support Systems (PSS)
These are the modern job aid. They often take the form of an Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS) and can do fairly sophisticated support that analogue versions can not easily accomplish. Some examples of PSS/EPSS are:
- Tax-return software
- Google Maps (can be used for plotting navigation for various trips)
- GPS (can give real time navigation information)
- Wikipedia (can be used in a variety of ways where close to accurate information is required on nearly any subject)
- Webster.com/Google.com/Firefox-toolbar (provide fast spelling and even auto spelling correction in the last two examples)
- Electronic Calculators
For Further Reading: Performance Support Systems by Steven W. Villachia, Deborah L. Stone, John Endicott
Workplace Design
Workplace design employing architectural design and ergonomic design to create work spaces that facilitate desirable performance.
Also to be considered is User Interface (UI) of specific tools found in the workplace. To be very specific the GUI interface of many online applications is becoming a hugely important field.
For Further Reading: Work Place Desing by Karen L. Medsker