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.
