Week10-My Reflection Regarding HPT

Through reading these articles of this week, I know the concept and key elements of HPT.

In the term of the concept of HPT, there are different definitions from different experts. In the article-Human Performance Technology Fundamentals, James A. Pershing also defines HPT as - Human performance technology is the study and ethical practice of improving productivity in organizations by designing and developing effective interventions that are results-oriented, comprehensive, and systemic. (Van Tiem, et al., 2004). And in this article, the author introduced each term in the definition in detail. At the same time, the article also introduces else definitions of PHT from Gilbert, Ainsworth, Stolovitch, and so on. Although there are different definitions, in my opinion, all these seem to be all-around people, organization, and productivity. Hence, I think that the people and productivity of an organization should be key elements of HPT.

In the article- The Human Performance Technology Model, the author points out that people are important, people and people’s knowledge and skills are very important for the organization and even you could say that they are the heart and soul of the organization. I strongly agree with the opinion. In fact, organizations consist of people, and the productivity of an organization relies on the people’s knowledge, skills, attitude, and wisdom. Some methods and advanced equipment could help the organization improve productivity, but these methods also are produced by people and are implemented by people, and the equipment also needs to be operated by people. Just like the experience of Dr. YaTing Teng, her major at undergraduate is agriculture, and later she took in the IST. These experiences will be helpful for her job and further, she and her knowledge is a kind of storage for her compony. Therefore, I think that the people indeed are the most important parts of organizations.

Reference

Van Tiem, D. M., Mosely, J. L., & Dessinger, J. C. (2004). Performance technology - defined. In D. M. Van Tiem, J. L. Moseley, & J. C. Dessinger (Eds.), Fundamentals of performance technology (pp. 2-20). Washington, DC: International Society for Performance Improvement.

Pershing, J. (2006). Human performance technology fundamentals. In J. A. Pershing (Ed.), Handbook of human performance technology (3rd ed.) (pp. 5-34). San Francisco: Pfeiffer.