HPI Soup - human performance improvement

Ethan S. Sanders

Too many cooks haven't spoiled the broth.

Where did HPI come from?

As we began tracing the origiins of human performance improvement for the ASTD HPI Certificate Program, we could not help feeling like Sisyphus, the legendary Greek king of Corinth who declared that he was greater than the gods. His punishment for such blasphemy was to spend eternity rolling a large boulder up a steep hill in Hades, only to have it roll back down each time just before reaching the top.

So too has been our journey into the history of HPI. Each time we declared that we had uncovered the true roots, another fact would turn up and undo the progress we'd made. It adds to the struggle that HPI has so many terms--human performance technology and performance consulting, to name a couple.

Contributors to the field of HPI such as Thomas Gilbert, Joe Harness, Geary Rummler, and Robert Mager are well established as the founders. Yet, other contributors who are equally well known and have also spent their lives learning to diagnose and solve the performance problems of organizations appear to have no association with HPI (if you believe the mainstream literature). How is it possible that such intellectual giants as Peter Drucker, W. Edwards Deming, and Kurt Lewin aren't considered part of the HPI crowd? Without the theoretical foundations they laid for management sciences and diagnostics, certain HPI concepts wouldn't exist.

After many agonizing months trying to put together all of the pieces, we're convinced that the conventional view of the origins of HPI is missing the names of important incidental contributors as well as a record of how their theories changed the nature of HPI. There's no way to prove that Theorist X had a direct influence on Theorist Y, but we believe that common sense is on our side. As you will see in our timeline, this field is relatively young. By most accounts, HPI is an outgrowth of instructional systems design and programmed instruction, which didn't really come onto the scene until after World War II. In addition, nearly all of the contributors we dug up are American by birth. Even those who aren't, such as Lewin, spent much of their professional lives in the United States, with the notable exception of Deming.

Common sense tells us that if all of these contributors lived and worked at about the same time in the same part of the world and were all well published in the same language, the origins of HPI should be credited to all of them.

Why care about the origins of HPI?

While teaching the HPI program for ASTD, we've noticed a pervasive problem among HPI students. Because most have a solid background in one of the HRD disciplines (training, OD, or career counseling), they struggle when trying to reconcile the mainstream HPI theories they're being given with the theories they've known for years.

For instance, talking about systems theory is bound to evoke images of Peter Senge or Marvin Weisbord, even though we're attributing those concepts to the seminal works of Rummler or Mager. It isn't long before students start to wonder: "Isn't this the same stuff I learned in OD but with all new labels?"

The answer is "yes" and "no." If we view HPI from the standpoint of the interventions that are offered, there's a tremendous overlap with other disciplines such as HR, OD, and training. However, if we view HPI from the standpoint of the methodology for selecting those interventions, clear differences begin to emerge. Finding a way to get students to see the differences is a challenge. We've learned that helping them view the profession from a historical perspective is the first step in their journey toward an HPI mindset.

What's soup got to do with it?

The ingredients for chicken soup can vary tremendously. Everyone who makes it will swear that their soup is the most traditional, tastes the best, or has the greatest medicinal value. If you aren't a soup connoisseur, such distinctions are often difficult to see. That makes it difficult to decide the best way to cook chicken soup, though it's an important staple.

As you read through the category descriptions, theoretical contributions, list of published works, and associations that exist among HPI contributors, think of soup. The ingredients include behaviorism, diagnostic and analytical systems, organizational learning and instructional systems design, organization development and change management, systems theory, evaluation, and management sciences. But, to date, no one really knows how much or in what combination those ingredients are used by the typical performance consultant (if there is such a thing). Some of the ingredients are probably part of the soup stock; others tend to be sprinkled in as needed.

For example, it's impossible to imagine a performance consultant who doesn't regard systems thinking and analytical diagnostics (whether according to Harless, Rummler, Peter Pipe, Ron Zemke, or Marvin Weisbord) as a cornerstone of his or her practice. Likewise, behaviorist theory is so pervasive in the American culture (thanks to B .F. Skinner) that any performance consultant practicing in the United States must look at strategies for motivating employees to accept required interventions, even if the initial performance problem isn't closely related to how employees am behaving. On the other hand, how much a performance consultant relies on OD theory, ISD theory, or evaluation theory probably varies greatly.

Where does the field go from here?

HPI soup can be a Pandora's box for HPI students, practitioners, and clients.

If HPI doesn't draw from a cohesive body of knowledge, is it really a discipline, a profession, or even a field? Although that's a potential stumbling block for HPI, all is not lost.

One, we must remember that HPI (or HPT or performance consulting) does use a fairly standard model for articulating business goals, determining the gap between actual and desired performance, finding the root causes for that gap, recommending targeted solutions, and evaluating the results.

Two, we must keep in mind that most of the contributors we mention are highly successful practitioners. That is, their varied approaches to performance analysis, cause analysis, intervention selection, and evaluation have yielded impressive organizational results. Therefore, we can assume that although their theories vary (and in some cases contradict each other), it doesn't mean that they aren't valuable.

The real problem arises when we try to help other people become performance consultants. How are new practitioners supposed to embrace HPI when it includes almost all of the theories ever postulated about the best way to improve organizational performance? Students of HPI must have a starting point or their chances of success are greatly diminished. This starting point requires a cohesive body of knowledge that's replicable, scalable, and teachable.

So, why hasn't anyone ever assembled this body of knowledge? To begin with, a lot of mystique still surrounds the work of most successful performance consultants. Little information exists on exactly how particular performance consultants manage to get the organizational results they're famous for. Without that information, it's difficult to recommend the best theories and practices that a new performance consultant should use. After all, what works for Rummler or Dana Gaines Robinson may not work for the typical trainer-turned-performance consultant.

In addition, we have no industry standards for how frequently HPI projects should be successful and how much ROI they should produce. How can a new performance consultant hope to gain credibility without being able to advertise the percentage of HPI interventions that produce intended results?

What the HPI soup boils down to is that we must begin to understand which of the theories has the greatest chance of success. These theories will become the essential ingredients of HPI soup, which in turn will increases the acceptance and value of performance consulting work.

This is the point in history that HPI has reached: It's time to begin innovating HPI practices that people can use successfully in their organizations. When that happens, we will truly have a revolution and some very good soup.

Contributing disciplines

Behaviorism. This branch of psychology, defined as "the science of behavior without reference to consciousness or mental constructs" (Watson, 1925), has heavily influenced instructional and educational strategies with its assertion that one can predict behavior based on the stimuli presented. Trainers incorporated the idea of operant conditioning (that organisms learn to manipulate and control their environment by their responses to it) into their models, believing that immediate reinforcement contributes significantly to acquiring new skills or knowledge.

Pioneers of human performance improvement rooted their models in behaviorist concepts, although in some cases the same theorists rebelled against behaviorism at a later point in their careers.

Early attempts at programmed instruction were especially influenced by Skinner's small-step instruction and feedback concepts.

Diagnostic and analytical systems. HPI differentiates itself from other disciplines by the extent to which intervention choices are data-driven by the analysis process. In order to diagnose the causes of performance gaps, practitioners need comprehensive analytical tools to illuminate all possible considerations. Correctly diagnosing the gap between actual and desired levels of performance has been a primary emphasis of HPI since its beginning. Accordingly, many theorists made diagnostics their primary area of concem. Analytical models tend to focus on either the process of diagnosing organizational problems or ways of viewing the composition of organizations from many different perspectives.

Organizational learning and instructional systems design. The theories and approaches of instructional systems design were the forerunners of modern HPI theory. As training professionals focused on analyzing the exact deficiencies in performer knowledge and on providing targeted training to satisfy knowledge gaps, they became frustrated by their inability to influence performance Outcomes. Although they could demonstrate large increases in performer knowledge, it was difficult to demonstrate the impact that it had in the workplace. That frustration drove the search for nonlearning factors that prevent performers from attaining their performance goals.

The field of ISD developed in the 1950s in response to the need to train thousands of military personnel during World War II. The ISD model was born and helped guide instructional designers through these primary phases of ISD: analyze, design, develop, implement, and evaluate (the ADDIE model). Audiovisual methods of training, such as film, were put to use and found to be as effective as stand-up trainers. Standardized instructional methods were created (such as lecture, role play, and case studies), and instructional designers began building their courses around learning objectives that specified the exact learner behaviors desired.

OD and change management. Because human performance improvement concentrates on changing performance at both the individual and organizational levels, the fields of OD and change management have had considerable influence on HPI. In particular, OD interventions have focused on improving the culture, group dynamics, and structure of organizations. Change management has concentrated on helping individuals and groups adapt to changes by providing timely information, appropriate resources, and strategies for managing the turmoil that accompanies most change efforts.

Theorists who have focused on OD and change management provided HPI with the theoretical basis for understanding systems dynamics, human motivation, group and team dynamics, competency modeling, organizational learning systems, and feedback systems. Systems theory. This discipline studies the interrelationships between seemingly unassociated parts of an organization by examining the patterns of the interrelationships. Systems theory takes the holistic approach of examining how actions in one part of an organization can have negative or positive consequences in another part.

"Systems thinking is a conceptual framework, a body of knowledge, and a set of tools that has been developed over the past 50 years to make the full patterns clearer and to help us see how to change them effectively," wrote Senge in his classic The Fifth Discipline.

It would be impossible to improve individual performance in the workplace without a thorough understanding of the systematic framework of organizations. Performance problems don't exist in a vacuum: They're greatly influenced by the interdependent nature of the systems in which they occur. The theories and tools that have derived from systems thinking are intricately woven throughout HPI and the many other disciplines that contribute to HPI, such as OD. Theorists who have focused on systems thinking have made it possible for performance consultants to unravel the mysteries of pervasive organizational problems, and they offer solutions that address the root causes of those problems.

Evaluation. Evaluation is a critical phase in the ISD and HPI processes, because it produces the credibility that practitioners need in order to continue offering their services. The purpose of evaluation is to determine the value and impact of interventions. Quantification of the value of training led some theorists to consider ways of calculating the value of all types of interventions. In addition, there has been considerable interest in expanding the life cycle of evaluation to include formative and summative components.

The field of training evaluation represents one of the earliest attempts to establish the value of investing organizational resources in human development in order to bolster organizational effectiveness. Initially, that calculation was done by showing the cost-per-student for training, but evaluation for HPI has evolved into a more complex set of calculations. HPI evaluation considers the cost of the interventions against the real savings attained by fixing the performance problem. That calculation is often expressed as return-on-investment (benefit divided by cost).

Theorists who have focused on evaluation have made it possible for performance consultants to demonstrate their value to their organizations.

Management sciences. The discipline of management sciences evolved out of the industrial revolution and was forever changed by the revolutionary and controversial methods Frederick Taylor outlined in his 1911 book, The Principles of Scientific Management. His idea was to divide labor according to "thinkers" and "doers" and to create a standardized production process. Henry Ford's assembly line for the 1913 Model T was the embodiment of Taylor's philosophy.

Eventually, management concerns in the factories shifted to the physical and psychological safety of workers. With the rise of humanistic psychology and behaviorism, the focus changed to the social needs of employees. As the labor force became more educated and sophisticated, management theory responded by developing models to address higher needs such as motivation, job satisfaction, professional growth, and empowerment.

The contributors

Chris Argyris: The Action Science Guy. Best known for developing the practice of action science (a method for reflection and inquiry on the reasoning that underlies people's actions), Argyris is also known for helping develop the concepts of the learning organization, double-loop learning, and feedback systems. Argyris coined the term skilled incompetence to explain how defensive behavior and the fear of collective inquiry by management may protect us from threat or embarrassment but also may block learning. His primary interest is in understanding conflicts between individuals and organizations.

A well-respected professor who has taught at Yale and Harvard, Argyris pioneered the use of team building with upper-management participation. His 1970 book, Intervention Theory and Method, has become an OD classic.

Most HPI contributors and practitioners are connected with each other in some way. Argyris is a colleague of Peter Senge's, with whom he developed the concept of the learning organization.

Benjamin Bloom: The Taxonomy Guy A pioneer in educational technology, Bloom proposed a system that varies instructional time and materials so that all students have the opportunity to master tasks. He was the first instructional theorist to organize objectives related to what learners were supposed to do.

Bloom created a taxonomy of intellectual behaviors that has guided instructional design content since 1956. That resource varies instruction and time according to learner requirements, and is arranged in a hierarchy ranging from simple factual recall through the synthesis and evaluation of information. He also developed a model of six cognitive domains of learning.

W. Edwards Deming: The TQM Guy. Best known as a distinguished statistician and for his total quality management work in Japan in post-World War II, Deming was discovered in the United States in 1980, after spending 30 years turning around the Japanese economy. His clients included Ford Motor, General Motors, Dow Chemical, and Hughes Aircraft.

Deming wrote a "14 points" model of quality management in the 1950s, and theorized that emphasizing quality instead of setting production targets leads to higher output. He wrote his seminal work Quality, Productivity, and Competitive Positions in 1982.

Peter Drucker: The Management Sciences Guy. Drucker's most profound contributions have been to show that businesses are human as well as economic centers and that work must have social meaning. He proposed that managerial responsibilities should be undertaken by individual employees and work teams over such areas as job structure and benefits. He called that the "self-governing plant community."

Drucker developed the concepts of decentralized large organizations, management by objectives, and the role of knowledge workers. He published his seminal work The Practice of Management in 1954. More recent publications include The Executive in Action: Three Classic Works on Management (1996) and Peter Drucker on the Profession of Management (1998). He received ASTD's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998.

Robert Gagn[acute{e}]: The ISD Guy. Gagn[acute{e}] is a strong proponent of task analysis, which relates directly to Skinner's idea of sequenced learning events. Gagn[acute{e}] proposes that learners need to receive feedback on individualized tasks in order to correct isolated problems.

Gagn[acute{e}] created the Information Processing Model, which outlines nine events of instruction, in his book The Conditions of Learning: Training Applications (1996). He suggested that there are five types of learning: 1) psychomotor skills, 2) verbal information, 3) intellectual skills, 4) cognitive strategies, and 5) attitudes. Gagne believes that human performance needs to deal with multiple, rather than serial, learning objectives that should be linked to instructional goals.

Gagn[acute{e}]'s connection to other contributors: Gagn[acute{e}] has added to B. F. Skinner's theories of learning-event sequencing and immediate feedback. He has worked with Joe Harless and Geary Rummler.

Thomas F. Gilbert: The Engineering Guy. Gilbert's primary contributions include founding the field of human performance improvement and his 1978 seminal work Human Competence, in which he publicly broke away from behaviorism. In that writing, he was the first theorist to claim that the absence of performance support (not skills or knowledge) is the greatest block to exemplary work performance.

Gilbert developed a behavioral engineering model, a tool that focuses on changing such work environment aspects as information, resources, incentives, knowledge, capacity, and motives to raise individual performance--based on his 20 years of work using performance engineering in organizations.

Gilbert also helped found the International Society for Performance Improvement in the 1960s and prompted the publishing of Performance Improvement Quarterly.

Connection to other contributors: He studied under Skinner as a graduate student and worked with him at Harvard's behavior learning lab for 12 years. Gilbert sought inspiration in the writings of Frederick Taylor and Kurt Lewin. With Geary Rummier, Gilbert founded the Praxis Corporation in 1967. He had a lifelong association with Joe Harless and Robert Mager.

Joe Harless: The Front-End Analysis Guy. Harless coined the term fro nt-end analysis in 1969, to describe the rigorous diagnostic framework that needs to be done before addressing a solution to a problem. He believed that identification of a performance problem came too late in the process and that the cause of the problem often dictates the solution.

Harless was the first to focus on how HPI tools can reduce training expenses considerably. He brought awareness to the financial ramifications of using training solutions when other means could be more effective.

Harless created the front-end analysis model, which departed from previous models in that it's intended for use by employee teams. He founded the Harless Performance Guild in Washington, D.C., and served as president of ISPI in 1976.

Connection to other theorists: Harless was introduced to the field of HPI by accident when he walked into the wrong class being taught by Thomas Gilbert at the University of Alabama. He later worked for Gilbert at TOR (Theory for Reinforcement).

Roger Kaufman: The Mega, Macro, and Micro Strategic Planning Guy. Kaufman is best known for his strategic planning model, which addresses the mega (society), macro (organizational), and micro (individual) levels. He enhanced and expanded Donald Kirkpatrick's four-level evaluation framework to encompass intervention strategies.

Kaufman wrote his seminal work Identifying and Solving Problems: A Systems Approach in 1982. He has also written 31 books and more than 160 articles on needs assessment, quality management, and strategic planning.

Kaufman is a professor and director of the Center for Needs Assessment and Planning at the Learning Systems Institute, Florida State University. He's also a past president of the National Society for Performance and Instruction, before it became ISPI.

Connection to other theorists: Kaufman co-wrote The Guidebook for Performance Improvement with Sivasailam Thiagarajan and Paula McGillls. He also co-authored articles with Harold Stolovich and H. Mayer.

Donald Kirkpatrick: The Four-Level Evaluation Guy. Best known for his four-level framework of evaluation criteria (reaction, learning, behavior, and results), Kirkpatrick clarified the meaning of evaluation as it pertains to the training process. His Management Inventories are guides to such topics as how to conduct more productive meetings, how to get more staff support for organizational change, and how to plan and evaluate management and supervisory training.

Malcolm Knowles: The Andragogy Guy. Considered to be the "Apostle of Andragogy" and "father of adult learning theory," Knowles theorized that adults need to self-direct their leaming, need to know the purpose of what they're to learn, need to apply their relevant experiences to their leaming, and require a problem-centered approach to leaming.

Knowles applied essential adult leaming concepts to improve the field of training and development, and introduced the concept of the "leaming contract" and the "lifelong leamer."

Knowles wrote The Adult Learner: A Neglected Species (1990) and The Modern Practice of Adult Education: Andragogy Versus Pedagogy (1970).

Kurt Lewin: The Force-Field Analysis Guy. Lewin was an experimental social scientist who wedded Frederick Taylor's scientific thinking to democratic values and created "participative management." He assessed human behavior in terms of a "force field," in which opposing forces (driving and restraining) motivate action.

Lewin postulated that performance improvement happens most dramatically when restraining forces are reduced. His motivational theory emphasizes the need to balance psychic tension--a belief that differs radically from the theory that behavior is determined by past influences (Freud) or future goals (Skinner).

Lewin laid the foundation for Senge's learning organization concept, and he developed a three-stage organizational change process that consists of 1) unfreezing old behavior, 2) moving to a new level of behavior, and 3) refreezing the new behavior.

Connection to other theorists: Lewin was inspired by Frederick Taylor's scientific management work and echoed his same approach of "an attitude of questioning, research, and careful analysis." Lewin inspired the careers of Eric Trist (with whom he founded the journal Human Relations) and Ronald Lippitt (with whom he coined the term group dynamics). Lewin founded the Research Center for Group Dynamics at MIT with Douglas McGregor in 1946.

Robert Mager: The Instructional Objectives Guy. Mager is credited as the catalyst for transforming the field of instruction through a focus on instructional objectives for improved performance. He created the performance analysis flowchart with Peter Pipe. Mager's best known for his book, Preparing Instructional Objectives (1984). He also wrote Making Instruction Work (1988), Analyzing Performance Problems (1984), Measuring Instructional Results (1973), Goal Analysis (1972), and Developing Attitudes Towards Learning (1968). Together, those books have been called the "Mager six pack."

Mager is a past president and life member of ISPI. He was awarded the ISPI Distinguished Professional Achievement Award in 1994.

Connection to other theorists: Mager worked with Gilbert and Harless, and co-wrote Analyzing Performance Problems in 1984 with Pipe.

Douglas McGregor The Theory X & Y Guy. McGregor developed the theories of X and Y management styles, which are metaphors for the master and servant polarity. Theory X defines a repressive, authoritarian, fearful type of management, Theory Y defines an optimistic, creative, and independent style.

McGregor publicized A.H. Maslow's "hierarchy of needs" model of motivation by claiming that managers must pay attention to employees' higher needs in order to unleash their inherent potential. He coined the term organization development with Richard Beckhard in the 1950s McGregor's seminal work, The Human Side of Enterprise (1960), has become a management classic. He studied and then taught at Harvard and MIT, where he founded the Industrial Relations Section.

Connection to other theorists: McGregor brought Lewin to MIT in 1946, and built on his work throughout his career. He collaborated with Warren Bennis at MIT and was close friends with Eric Trist.

Susan Markle: The Programmed Instruction Gal. Markle developed and popularized the concept of programmed instruction, based on her research of and work experience with Skinner's "teaching machines." In 1970, she concluded that behaviorism alone is insufficient to explain human behavior and learning, and suggested that a subject's positive responses in the Skinner Box didn't equate to that subject's understanding. With Philip Tiemann, she developed a model that combines operant conditioning with cognitive learning and information gathering.

Markle suggested that three types of learning are central to programmed instruction: discriminations, generalizations, and chains (a series of simple responses that form a sequence). While a professor at UCLA in 1964, she wrote her seminal work Good Frames and Bad: A Grammar of Frame Writing, which has become a classic on programmed instruction.

Connection to other theorists: Markle wrote her doctoral dissertation on Skinner's teaching machine project, then worked with Skinner at Harvard from 1956 to 1960. Her work was heavily influenced by Gilbert's "mathetics" system and Norman Crowder's intrinsic programming work.

Geary Rummler: The Three Levels Guy. Rummler's best known for his theory on the three levels of organizational performance: organizational, process, and individual job or performer. He determined that each level influences the other, and, therefore, each must be addressed systematically.

With Gilbert, Rummler rebelled against behaviorism due to the growing frustration that it wasn't comprehensive enough to solve all types of performance problems. In his seminal work with Alan Brache, Improving Performance: Managing the White Space on the Organization Chart (1990), Rummler emphasized the importance of looking at organizational processes, which he called the "white spaces." He has led performance improvement efforts at such corporations as Ford, GM, Hewlett-Packard, Shell Oil, and Citibank.

Rummler, a former president of ISPI, was awarded ASTD's Lifetime Achievement Award and inducted into the Human Resource Development Hall of Fame in 1986.

Connection to other theorists: Rummler co-founded the Center for Programmed Learning in 1962, and published Training: Handbook for Professionals in 1988, with George Odiorne. He also co-founded Praxis Corporation with Gilbert in 1969.

Peter Senge: The Learning Organization Guy. Senge is probably best known for popularizing the concept of the learning organization, as described in his 1990 bestselling book The Fifth Discipline. He identified five critical practices for creating a learning organization: 1) personal mastery, 2) mental models, 3) shared vision, 4) team learning, and 5) systems thinking. He also illustrated a systems-oriented approach to achieving high performance.

Senge is founder and director of MIT's Sloan School of Management, and has introduced thousands of managers at Ford, Digital, Proctor and Gamble, AT&T, and other major corporations to his concepts as a partner of Innovation Associates.

Connection to other theorists: In his book, The Fifth Discipline, Senge built on the work of Argyris.

B.F. Skinner: The Behaviorist Guy. Considered to be the basis of behaviorism, Skinner's theories also serve as the foundation of HPI. He's considered to be the originator of contemporary instructional design. He demonstrated that small-step instruction, coupled with extensive feedback, enhances learning.

Skinner published his seminal work Science and Human Behavior in 1953, introducing the idea of behavior modification. He provided the original basis for stimulus-response, feedback, and reinforcement in The Science of Learning and the Art of Teaching (1954).

Skinner's connection to other theorists: While a professor at Harvard's graduate school, he taught Thomas Gilbert and later worked with him for 12 years there. Skinner also worked with Harless and Rummler.

Frederick Taylor: The Scientific Management Guy. Taylor's best known for his revolutionary scientific management principles--the tenets of which include authority based on knowledge instead of position, the first wage-incentive system, breaking down tasks into smaller components, and the creation of a productivity expert.

Taylor laid the foundation for modern-day assembly line work and pioneered concepts of organization and management--especially the integration of methods, policies, planning, and people. He was the first theorist to suggest that workers' productivity increases when they're involved in designing their own work.

Connection to other theorists: In addition to inspiring and influencing most current management theorists, Taylor's ideas most directly affected the work of McGregor, who broadened Taylor's views to include applications with group dynamics.

Sivasailam (Thiagi) Thiagarajan: The Games Guy. One of Thiagi's greatest contributions has been to elevate serious play, games, and fun as performance interventions. His major areas of expertise and formal education include social psychology, cognitive science, and complexity theory. He integrated playfulness, person-to-person interaction, and experiential learning into what used to be a solely individual, isolated, theory-based approach to improving human performance.

Thiagi has also been a pioneer and leader of ISPI, where he served as president and vice-president. For his contributions to the field of HPI, he was awarded ISPI's highest Life Member Award, as well as other awards and more than 20 presidential citations. He has been making presentations at ISPI annual conferences since 1968.

Connection to other theorists: Markle was one of Thiagi's early discoverers and mentors. She was president of NSPI when they met at a programmed instruction workshop in New Delhi in 1966, sponsored by USAID. Impressed by what Thiagi was doing as a high school teacher, Markle excused him from the workshop and encouraged his creative freedom. Back in the United States, Thiagi met with Markle's mentor, Skinner, who enlightened and inspired him.

Donald Tosti: The Feedback Guy. Tosti asserts that the critical characteristics of feedback are tied to who gives it, the content, where it is given, and when it is given.

Tosti specializes in the application of human performance technology to organizational change culture. He was the editor and co-author of Performance Based Management, a series of HPI training programs. He also introduced the use of the Organizational Scan Model, which identifies actions to improve performance outcomes.

Marvin Weisbord: The Six Boxes Guy. In 1976, Weisbord developed the widely used organizational diagnostic framework, The Six Box Model, in which he identified the critical areas of an organization as purposes, structure, leadership, relationships, rewards, and helpful mechanisms.

His seminal work, Organizational Diagnosis: A Workbook of Theory and Practice (1978), has become a text for many OD practitioners. Weisbord served as associate editor of the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science from 1972 to 1978.

Connection to other theorists: Weisbord was friends with Eric Trist, Peter Vaill, and Ronald Lippitt. He co-founded the consulting firm Block-Petrella-Weisbord with Peter Block and Tony Petrella in 1970.

So, is it soup yet? Much remains to be seen--and proven--in the field of HPI as practitioners apply it and demonstrate the results of their efforts. There are as many different recipes as there are cooks, but the outcomes are bound to be satisfying.

Ethan S. Sanders is manager of instructional design in the education department at ASTD, esanders@astd.org.

Julie L. Ruggles is a graduate intern currently completing her masters of science degree in applied behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University.

WORLD EVENTS BY DECADE

1900s

Wright Brothers' Flight at Kitty Hawk Henry Ford Introduces the Model T

1906: The National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education is formed.

1910s

World War I

1911: Frederick W. Taylor publishes The Principles of Scientific Management.

1920s

Women Get the Vote The Prohibition Years

1920s: Unions set up their first training programs for employees. Bell Labs introduces TQM and statistical quality control.

1925: Mary Parker Follett develops "The Law of the Situation" emphasizing human factors in management and recommending joint business planning between leaders and staff.

1927: The Hawthorne Experiments at the Western tin Cicero, Illinois, demonstrate the influence of physical and psychological factors on productivity.

1930s

Stock Market Crash Jesse Owens Wins Gold Medal at the Berlin Olympics

1931: Professor Erwin H. Schell initiates M.I.T.'s executive development program--the first "away-from-company" program for executives.

1936: Dale Carnegie publishes How to Win Friends and Influence People.

1938: U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an executive order stating that the government, as an employer, should provide training for

1939: Peter Drucker publishes his first book The End of Economic Man

World War II

Jackie Robinson Breaks Major League Baseball Color Barrier

1942: The American Society for Training Directors (ASTD) is formed on April 2, 1942, at a meeting of the American Petroleum Institute, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Fifteen training directors hold in their first meeting on January 12, 1943, in Baton Rouge.

1942: Drucker publishes The Future of Industrial Man: A Conservative Approach.

1943: Abraham Maslow publishes A Theory of Human Motivation.

1944: The G.I. Bill of Rights is signed, making grants and loans for college available to U.S. military personnel.

1945: ASTD publishes the first issue of Industrial Training News, a quarterly publication that eventually becomes Training & Development magazine.

1950: American experts Joseph M. Juran and W. Edwards Deming go to Japan as advisors on the reconstruction of Japanese industry.

1951: Total Quality Control by A.V. Feigenbaum is published.

Birth of the Computer

1953: B.F. Skinner's Science and Human Behavior is published, introducing the idea of behavior modification.

1954: Drucker's The Practice Management is published.

1954: Skinner's The Science of Learning and The Art of Teaching is published, introducing the basis for stimulus response, feedback, and reinforcement.

1956 Benjamin Bloom publish his Taxonomy of Intellectual Behaviors.

1958: Responding to the U.S.S.R.'s launch of Sputnik, the U.S. government signs the National Defense Education

1960s Vietnam War Neil Armstrong Walks on the Moon

1960: Douglas M. McGregor's The Human Side of Enterprise is published, describing Theory X and Theory Y as opposing viewpoints of people's fundamental perceptions of work.

1961: The Institute for Behavioral Research and Programmed Instruction at University of Michigan opens.

1962: Congress votes into law the Manpower Development and Training Act (MDTA).

1962: The Nation Society for Performance and Instruction is formed.

1968: The term human resource development is coined by Leonard Nadler during his class at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

1970s Watergate Scandal

Roe v. Wade

1970: The new U.S. Occupational Safety and Heath Administration (OSHA) mandates safety education and training for workers.

1970: Chris Argyris's Intervention Theory and Method is published.

1970: The NTL Institute for Behavioral Science announces it will build "the world's first university devoted entirely to applied behavioral science."

1973. The Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) is enacted. CETA provided public service employment and subsidized on-the job training for disadvantaged people.

1973: The International, Federation of Training and Development is formed, with ASTD'S assistance, through a grant from the Agency for International Development.

1973: Malcolm Knowles's The Adult Learner: A Neglected Species is published, outlining his theories on adult learning.

1978: Section 127 of the Revenue Act of 1978 enacted. The law excludes from taxable income employer-sponsored educational assistance for any type of course.

1978: International Society for Performance Improvement publishes Thomas Gilbert's book Human Competence, in which he breaks away from his behaviorist beginnings.

1978: Marvin Weisbord publish es Organizational Diagnosis: A Workbook of Theory and Practice.

1980S Rise of the Personal Computer

AIDS Is Identified

1981: Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson publish The One-Minute Manager.

1982: Roger Kaufman's seminal work Identifying and Solving Problems: A Systems Approach is published.

1982: W. Edwards Deming's Quality Productivity, and Competitive Positions is published.

1982: Tom Peters and Robert Waterman publish In Search of Excellence.

1983: Job Training Partnership Act is enacted passed by U.S. Congress to provide training and employment assistance to disadvantaged and dislocated workers.

1984: Robert Mager and Peter Pipe's Analyzing Performance Problems is published.

1986: Congress approves National Job Skills Week.

1987: The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is established.

1990s Breakup of the Soviet Union Persian Gulf War

1990: Peter M. Senge's The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization is published.

1990: HRD Quarterly is published jointly by ASTD, Jossey-Basis, and University of Minnesota.

1990: Geary Rummler publishes Improving Performance: Managing the White Spaces on the Organizational Chart.

1996: Robert Gagn[acute{e}]'s The Conditions of Learning: Training Applications is published.

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