Question: What are some ways the ideas/concepts/principles discussed in this chapter be applied in your professional work. Do you see opportunities where these ideas could help you or your students?
Response: At this present time I do not believe that HPI could be of help in my professional work. At one of my places of employment I am my only employee. The other people who assist me in the program all volunteer and there are only about five of them. At my other place of employment I am second in command and we have three other employees. It seems likely that it would be cost prohibitive to have HPI do a total analysis of our work force at either position.
I do however think that as business grows, it would be a great benefit to start out with a plan in place before the companies get to large. I have heard said that it is easier to do it right the first time than to do it wrong and have to do it again. Two times is not better than one.
How I do think HPI can and has helped me is in promoting themselves through this textbook Trends And Issues In Instructional Design And Technology. While reading the text it brought to mind all of the different improvement plans that I have gone through in the last thirty years.
My first introduction to human improvement programs was in the 70's and 80's in the United States Air Force. Some programs were good and some were obviously designed for civilian application and did not fit the military environment. One section has us take a personal stress level profile test. A well adjusted stable persons test scores should have been around the 300-350 range. We all scored in the 500's which basically meant we should have been committed to a psychiatric institution immediately. ( do not pass go , do not collect two hundred dollars). The instructor was quite upset. A few of the questions they used to judge our mental stability by were (1) How many times have you moved in the last five years. (2) Do you have a well defined line between you home life and your job. Well if you know anything about the military you get why the questions were not appropriate.
What I did get from this chapter is to always be evaluating the evaluating process. It came through loud and clear that there is no one magic solution to any companies human improvement issues. This is what sets HPI apart form some of the "Snake Doctor Medicine Show Cure Alls" I have attended in the past.
I have mentioned in a previous article the KAIZEN events through the aerospace company that I previously worked for and how our motto among the employees was " He who KAIZENS last wins." It's not to say there were not many valuable points to the program, there were. It was just as they say "not all that".
I enjoyed very much reminiscing while learning more about the HPI system. Thank you for the good time and the new information.
Oshkosh Airventure camping
We all have the same amount of hours in a day. It's what we do with them that sets us apart.
5 comments:
My father was in the Air Force so I know exactly what that is like to move around all of the time.
Obviously they had to question the effectiveness of their evaluation. Did they make any changes to improve it? What, in your opinion, was the difference between good and bad HPI programs in the Air Force?
I can see how HPI would not be effective in your current profession(s). At first, it seemed very unrelated to education in my opinion. After a second glance, I made a connection about using the flowchart to evaluate my classroom productivity. I think you are correct about continuously evaluating our evaluating techniques.
Sometimes I feel quite lost in the business-speak of our textbook. I have only worked in educational settings, so I'd never before thought about human performance, improvement plans, etc. That seems very frustrating to constantly have people coming in, telling you how to do a job you're already doing to the best of your ability. I don't think I would like outside people coming in to tell me what I already know.
I think you have the answer to solving business model problems, Ginger: assessing your own business, planning to avoid mistakes, and making small, effective changes rather than huge, sweeping changes.
I agree it would be better to have HPI come in as the company is growing. I've found in jobs I've had that the way you were first shown how to do something is often the way people are going to continue doing a task even after being told to change what they're doing. People are very resistant to change so I think figuring out the best way in the beginning would be best. That way if changes are needed after re-evaluating they are minor changes that people are more likely to make.
I can see why you would think you wouldn't use HPI as you have a small business and it isn't necessary. But as I have been reading your blogs right along--I think that you have made these changes and improvements as you evalauted your progress. You are actually employing this process on your own. I think you are doing a great job and the students you work with are really being give a opportunity and expanding their horizons litteraly and completely.
Margie
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