Chapter 1 Performance Improvement Flashcards
Which of the following best describes Gilberts Behavior Engineering Model?
A. The model includes inputs, performance and process controls, outputs, resource expectations or consequences, and feedback
B. The model indicates that optimal performance is attained when three levels (organization, process, and job/performer) work together.
C.The model identifies six major sets of factors that affect workplace performance, including information, resources, incentives or concequences, knowledge and skills, capacity, and motivation.
D. The model includes business analysis, performance analysis, cause analysis, perfomrance imporovement solution selection, performance imporovement solution implentation, and evaluation of results.
The model identifies six major sets of factors that affect workplace performance, including information, resources, incentives or consequences, knowledge and skills, capacity, and motivation.
Response C is correct because the model identifies six major sets of factors that affect workplace performance, including information, resources, incentives or consequences, knowledge and skills, capacity, and motivation.
Which of the following best describes Rummler and Brache’s model?
A. The model includes inputs, performance and process controls, outputs, resources, expectations or consequences, and feedback.
B. The model indicates that optimal performance is attained when three levels (organization, process, and job/performer) work together.
C. The model identifies six major sets of factors that affect workplace performance, including information, resources, incentives or consequences, knowledge and skills, capacity, and motivation.
D. The model includes business analysis, performance analysis, cause analysis, performance improvement solution selection, performance improvement solution implementation, and evaluation of results.
B. The model indicates that optimal performance is attained when three levels (organization, process, and job/performer) work together.
Response B is correct because Rummler and Brache’s model labels three distinct parts of an organization’s performance system (organization, process, and job/performer), and breakdowns in performance in any of these three levels will prevent optimal performance.
What indicates the need for a holistic approach in performance improvement to ensure that fixing one component of an organization does not negatively affect another part of the organization?
A. Knowledge and skills assessment
B. Development capacity
C. Resource allocations
D. Systems thinking
Systems thinking
Response D is correct because systems thinking requires the performance practitioner to consider the broader effects of solutions on an organization. This avoids initiatives that create issues within the system that offset the benefits of the initiative.
Why is it important for the learning and performance professional to look at organizational problems holistically when identifying performance improvement solutions?
A. This helps identify individuals who need training.
B. This enables the stakeholders to identify the key organizational stakeholders who are needed for organizational buy-in.
C. This helps determine how a change in one part of an organization may affect the other parts of the organization.
D. This provides the best foundation for conducting a comprehensive business analysis.
This helps determine how a change in one part of an organization may affect the other parts of the organization.
Response C is correct because organizations are systems in which all parts are interrelated. Systems theory indicates that changes in one part of a system can have unintended consequences in another, seemingly unrelated, part of the system.
Why is a business analysis important to the performance improvement process?
A. It identifies why a performance issue exists.
B. It identifies a performance project’s limiting factors.
C. It identifies deficiencies in individual performers’ knowledge and skills.
D. It identifies what is important to the organization to ensure that resources are not wasted on performance issues that have little effect on important business outcomes.
It identifies what is important to the organization to ensure that resources are not wasted on performance issues that have little effect on important business outcomes.
Response D is correct because business analysis makes clear what is important to the organization and what is not, which allows the TD professional to target solutions to issues that really have an effect on the organization’s goals.
What best represents a guiding principle for the way human performance is developed and changed?
A. Content presented must be job-relevant and available when people need it.
B. Learning can be fun; it does not need to be boring.
C. Expected performance must be defined and reinforced by management.
D. People are motivated to learn when they see how it will help them perform their job.
Expected performance must be defined and reinforced by management.
Response C is correct because, to be successful, expected performance must be defined by business needs, which must be supported by senior management.
- A department manager knows that floor installers are often questioned while they are on the job by clients about alternative products. The manager sees this as an opportunity to make more money and talks to you about the solutions required. You tell the manager that you want to examine the effects of multiple solutions on both the installers and the sales team, as well as the effects on the company’s interactions with customers and suppliers. After a week, you return and explain the advantages and disadvantages of each option to the manager. In this example, what role in a human performance improvement are you serving?
A. Analyst
B. Solution specialist
C. Change manager
D. Evaluator
Soutions speciallist
Response B is the correct answer because the role of the HPI practitioner is to recommend possible performance improvement solutions to address performance issues that are related to business needs.
You are an HPI consultant. A sales organization has called you to request customer service training for its front desk staff. You meet with two of its managers who discuss the poor results of their latest customer service survey and the organization’s goal of being the market leader in customer service. In further examination of the survey results, you discover that most customers cited a lack of salesperson response time as the biggest complaint. You state that you are happy to conduct customer service training; however, you recommend that they begin with a solution that quickens salesperson response time. You suggest that they gather data along the way and talk again with you in a few months. What approach are you using?
A. Root cause based
B. Change management
C. Results-based
D. Evaluation-based
Results-based
Response C is the correct answer because this approach is driven by a business need and a performance need and is also justified by the results of the cause analysis.
A midsize company approaches you about a leadership development issue. There is concern that the high-potential talent pool is not large enough to support expected vacancies at the branch manager level. You conduct an activity to identify exceptional performance in the branch manager role and determine potential barriers to conducting the role successfully. Which performance improvement model are you using?
A. Holloway-Mankin’s performance DNA model
B. Mager and Pipe’s model for analyzing performance problems
C. Harless’ front-end analysis model
D. Rummler-Brache’s nine box model
Holloway-Mankin’s performance DNA model
Response A is the correct answer because the model seeks to identify the model of exceptional or key performance along with the barriers preventing its attainment.
Systems thinking is important in performance improvement because ______________.
A. It looks at problems holistically
B. Small, incremental changes can have disastrous effects on organizations
C. It enables the practitioner to identify the potential for the most successful changes
D. All of the above
Responses A, B, and C all speak to important factors in performance improvement. Systems thinking is important because it puts a problem into the context of the larger whole with the objective of finding the most effective place to make an appropriate performance improvement. Therefore, response D is correct.
Which of the following models represents different ways individuals deal with everyday events? (Choose the best response.)
Cause-and-effect analysis
Appreciative inquiry
Open space technology
Ladder of inference
Ladder of inference
Response D is correct because, according to Chris Argyris, people will interpret events differently and thus affect the outcome.
Which of the following is an approach that shifts the focus of analysis and dialog from problems and concerns to opportunities and visions by focusing on the positive? (Choose the best response.)
Cause-and-effect analysis
Appreciative inquiry
Open space technology
Ladder of inference
Appreciative inquiry
Response B is correct because appreciative inquiry involves the analysis of positive and successful (rather than negative or failing) operations. In essence, it “appreciates” what is there
Which of the following is important for the performance improvement practitioner to understand about the organization being analyzed? (Choose the best response.)
The competitive environment
Compliance issues
The industry segment, organizational structure, formal and informal power structures, knowledge transfer, and business awareness
All of the above
All of the obove
Response D is correct because performance improvement practitioners need to have a broad understanding of the organization’s industry to effect changes that will improve organizational results. Response A, the competitive environment, refers to what competitors are doing, new and emerging technologies, innovations, and so forth. Response B, compliance issues, refers to health, safety, and financial reporting requirements by industry, country, or region. Response C, the industry segment, organizational structure, formal and informal power structures, knowledge transfer, and business awareness, encompass the broad company knowledge (as opposed to industry knowledge) that a performance improvement practitioner should have.
Which of the following are best described as generic configurations or templates that can be applied to many situations? (Choose the best response.)
Cultural and global awareness
Appreciative inquiry
Mergers and acquisitions
System archetypes
System archetypes
Response D is correct because system archetypes define patterns of behavior of systems. Archetypes can be used to identify the type of system one is working with.
Which of the following recognizes the interrelationships of parts and the importance of their interaction to create the whole? (Choose the best response.)
Closed systems theory
Systems view
Open systems theory
Fifth discipline theory
Systems view
Response B is correct because a systems view is a perspective of the whole that takes into account everything that makes up the whole and how those parts interact. It’s a way to focus on the biggest goal while collecting data and information about an organization.
Which of the following is NOT one of the three perspectives on problems? (Choose the best response.)
Events
Patterns
Resources
Structures
Resources
Response C is correct because resources are not a perspective or level from which to view problems in this model. Resources may be potential sources of problems.
Which of the following is NOT a principle of systems thinking? (Choose the best response.)
Solutions should be chosen and implemented as quickly as possible.
Cause and effect are not related to time and space.
There are no final or right answers.
Behavior gets worse before it gets better.
Solutions should be chosen and implemented as quickly as possible.
Response A is correct because the idea that solutions should be chosen and implemented as quickly as possible is not a principle of systems thinking. It contradicts the long-term and more fundamental approach to problem solving that is characteristic of systems thinking.
A performance improvement practitioner has been hired to help your organization solve some performance issues after a recent merger and subsequent downsizing. In observing some of the staff, the practitioner tells you that several people say they do not know where they fit in the organization and that they use their time trying to understand what to do in the new structure. Which of the four stages of transition are these individuals in? (Choose the best response.)
Disengagement
Disidentification
Disenchantment
Disorientation
Disorientation
Response D is correct because individuals in this stage of transition through a merger or acquisition tend to feel lost and confused and don’t know where they belong.
You ask the performance improvement practitioner to meet with the manager of these employees to discuss the observations. You ask the practitioner to provide coaching tips that will help solve some of the issues. Which of the following is the best approach a supervisor should take in a situation like this? (Choose the best response.)
Confront the workers and tell them to start working again now that they’ve paused to relieve some stress.
Provide information and direction.
Ask questions and explore their emotions and feelings.
Neutralize their anger and allow the individuals to tell you their concerns.
Provide information and direction.
Response B is correct because information and direction will help employees stop worrying about the future and enable them to understand their priorities.
The management team of a manufacturing firm is constantly reacting to new problems and does not make long-range plans. You want to tell the management team that it needs to apply a systems thinking approach. What rationale will you use? (Choose the option that is the most accurate.)
It will help identify the most appropriate training solutions needed to fix the problems.
It will help identify the employees who are best at resolving crises.
It will allow the management team to uncover the root causes contributing to the problems and consider the effect of any implemented changes.
The organization will not thrive without long-range planning.
It will allow the management team to uncover the root causes contributing to the problems and consider the effect of any implemented changes.
Response C is correct because systems thinking allows the team to consider how changes in one area of the organization will affect other areas, thereby enabling the team to understand the effects of small changes and avoid the occurrence of major problems.
Which of the following statements best defines performance analysis? (Choose the best response.)
It is the process of identifying constraints on the performance improvement initiative.
It is the process of identifying business goals.
It is the process of identifying the organization’s performance requirements and comparing them with actual performance.
It is the process of gaining an understanding of external influences on the organization.
It is the process of identifying the organization’s performance requirements and comparing them with actual performance.
Response C is correct because the purpose of performance analysis is to measure the gap between the desired and actual performance of an organization.
Which of the following analyses helps to define the environment in which the organization is operating? (Choose the best response.)
Business analysis
Performance analysis
Gap analysis
External analysis
External analysis
Response D is correct because it refers to an inventory of economic, social, political and legislative, workforce, technological, and competitive forces that have an effect on an organization.
All of the following factors affecting an organization should be considered during an external analysis EXCEPT ______________. (Choose the option that completes the sentence accurately.)
Economic
Social
Competitive
Emotional
Emotional
Response D is correct because emotional factors happen inside of an organization.
Which question is NOT part of performance improvement project scope? (Choose the best response.)
What should performance look like?
Which tools should be used to assess the need?
What operational results should the organization achieve?
Who are the stakeholders and other interested parties, including management, team leaders, and individual contributors?
Which tools should be used to assess the need?
Response B is correct because it is not part of the project scope; determining which tools to use to assess the need is part of designing data collection.
Which of the following is NOT a measurement criterion that reflects whether objectives have been met? (Choose the best response.)
Behavior change (application)
Increased knowledge
Business analysis
Performance metrics such as ROI
Business analysis
Response C is correct because it isn’t a unit of measure; it’s a process.
Which of the following identifies the project’s limiting factors? (Choose the best response.)
Performance analysis
Gap analysis
Constraints analysis
Business analysis
Constraints analysis
Response C is correct because a constraints analysis is used to identify limiting factors such as budget, time available, timing, space, resource availability, and resource expertise that may act as limiting factors to a performance improvement project.
Gap analysis should define all of the following EXCEPT ______________. (Choose the option that completes the sentence accurately.)
Driving forces
Desired state
Appropriate initiatives
Methods for change
Appropriate initiatives
Response C is correct because appropriate initiatives are not identified until the solution selection phase of the performance improvement process.
What analysis tool is used to refine a list of brainstormed ideas into something clearer and more easily understood? (Choose the best response.)
Affinity diagram
Flowchart
Block diagram
Interrelationship digraph
Affinity diagram
Response A is correct because this tool enables the practitioner to gather large amounts of ideas, organize those ideas into logical groupings, and define those groups.
What tool is the best choice when specific, detailed information is desired from a group of people? (Choose the best response.)
Focus groups
Interviews
Brainstorming
Surveys
Interviews
Response B is correct because in a one-on-one setting, the interviewer can obtain details.
The purpose of a resource analysis is to ______________. (Choose the option that completes the sentence accurately.)
Identify the content or resources available in an organization now that may help with designing and implementing a performance improvement solution
Take an inventory of the economic, social, political, and legislative forces that influence the way an organization functions
Identify how people, materials, methods, machines, and the environment combine to add value to a product or service
Conduct a culture audit to uncover the organization’s values and beliefs
Identify the content or resources available in an organization now that may help with designing and implementing a performance improvement solution
Response A is correct because a resource analysis looks at content and resources available to help design or implement a performance improvement solution. By reviewing resources available internally, TD professionals can identify the resources needed in the future to provide the appropriate level of support, the maturity of the organization, and the infrastructure, barriers and enhancers when designing and implementing a performance improvement solution.
Which of the following is part of a business analysis task? (Choose the best response.)
Creating a predetermined number of goals
Designing a company-wide training plan
Identifying apparent knowledge or skill gaps
Conducting a benchmark study of competitors
Conducting a benchmark study of competitors
Response D is correct because conducting a benchmark study of competitors is an example of an external business analysis to identify relevant forces and issues outside the organization. Internal factors may be considered as well.
The sales manager of your company has contacted you. Sales have dropped 20 percent below target in the last month, and he wants you to quickly design and deliver training on sales-closing techniques. What should you do first? (Choose the best response.)
Ask the manager what the desired level of performance is
Suggest changes to the current sales target
Observe the sales agents’ current performance
Design an enhanced incentive program
Ask the manager what the desired level of performance is
Response A is correct because the first step in conducting a gap analysis is to identify the difference between the current state and the desired state.
