MIT 502
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Context and Conditions
Performance Intervention was completed as partial fulfillment for MIT 502: The Systematic Approach to Performance Improvement. The project was completed during the second term of Summer 2006 under the guidance of Dr. Arnold Murdock. The Performance Intervention project was completed in response to a need associated with the IBM Software Executive Briefing Centers’ (EBCs’) two week briefing preview.
The two week briefing preview was an internal tool which provided a snapshot of the clients scheduled for a briefing in the upcoming two weeks for each of the nine worldwide briefing centers. The business unit executive (BUE) who oversaw the Software EBCs believed the preview could be of greater value to its recipients by restructuring the content; however, he understood doing so would require thought and investigation into what was feasible and most beneficial to all involved.
Scope
Following a perception analysis, a performance analysis was conducted to determine the actual and optimal performances of the organizational systems, management systems, physical and technical systems, and human and social systems. Next, a gap analysis was conducted to determine the gaps, or needs, between the optimal and actual performances. Additionally, intervention strategies, feasibility and risk analyses, and an evaluation plan were completed as parts of the project plan package. The project was completed within one summer session.
Role
As the performance technologist on the project, I conducted all of the analyses and created the performance improvement plan. I researched all of the systems and put together the intervention strategies for each of them, complete with descriptions, rationale, and schedules. Likewise, I weighed the feasibility and risk for each solution and formulated an evaluation plan for the plan.
Reflection
MIT 502 helped ingrain in me the fact that training is not always the go-to solution to a problem or need within an organization. As instructional technologists it is our duty to thoroughly analyze the problem to determine whether instruction is, in fact, what will improve performance. The project I completed in MIT 502 was eye-opening to that fact and, although it was completed under the time constraint of a summer session, it was beneficial in that it allowed me to explore the field of human performance improvement.
