Theories Of Performance Interventions

As discussed in the Fundamentals of Performance Improvement textbook, there are eight distinct categories of performance interventions. These categories consist of (1) Learning, (2) Performance Support, (3) Job Analysis/Work Design, (4) Personal Development, (5) Human Resource Development, (6) Organizational Communication, (7) Organizational Design and Development, and (8) Financial Systems. Each intervention is designed to tackle gaps pinpointed in an organization through proposed solutions (Van Tiem, Moseley, & Dessinger, 2012).

The first of the eight categories is learning, which is whereby knowledge and skills can be improved through learning interventions such as organizational learning, action learning, online/e-learning, and knowledge

Interventions under this category include talent management, staffing, employee development, performance appraisals, retention, and so forth. The next category is organizational communication, whereby communication interventions may include communication networks, information systems, suggestion systems, grievance systems, dispute resolutions, and social media (Van Tiem, Moseley, & Dessinger, 2012). The seventh category is organizational design and development. These interventions seek to align all aspects of an organization with business strategy (Van Tiem, Moseley, & Dessinger, 2012). Organizational design and development interventions include team strategies, virtual teams, strategic planning, environmental scanning, benchmarking, ethics, and so forth. The final category is financial systems. These interventions can enhance the organization and the individuals, and encompass forecasting, cash flow analysis, open book management, or carefully planning for mergers, acquisitions or joint ventures (Van Tiem, Moseley, & Dessinger,

The enablers for continuous improvement are internal and external stakeholder commitment to the continuous improvement process (Van Tiem, Moseley, & Dessinger, 2012). Barriers to continuous improvement include lack of a champion from upper management to communication improvement goals to employees, lack of accountability, and failure to acknowledge workers epitomizing continuous improvement in the workplace (Van Tiem, Moseley, & Dessinger, 2012). Continuous improvement is an important component to performance improvement within an