Figuring Things Out: A Trainer's Guide to Needs and Task Analysis

Figuring Things Out is for any human resources development specialist who wants to boost the achievement potential of employees and companies.. Aware of the complexity of the tasks facing the human resources development specialist today, Ron Zemke and Thomas Framlinger have written this book to serve a need...to give you a handy sourcea catalogof tactics, techniques, and procedures designed to help you apply more effectively the knowledge and skills youve already gained.The authors offer a system for conducting organizational effectiveness studies, determining training needs, and performing task analysis. This system represents the successes in many years of trial and error and basic intuitive judgments in the field of human resource development. Figuring Things Out is process-oriented, adaptable, and highly useful.Section I gets you started with the rationale and tactics for conducting a Figuring Things Out Study and helps you formulate a performance model. Sections II through V explain in detain the techniques and procedures, complete with examples of how they work. Youll find coverage of time studies, task listings, S-R tables, behavioral frequency counts, behavioral algorithms, focus group discussions, one-on-one interviews, consensus groups, the critical incident technique, fault tree analysis, and much more.In Section VI, youll learn about matching techniques with problems. Based on the successes and failures in the authors own experiences, this section presents factorspolitical, strategic, tactical, and technicalthat you will have to consider in deciding which technique is appropriate for which problem.Section VII tells you how to structure and deliver a presentation of results that will gain the support and confidence of senior management. Heres what Figuring Things Out gives the human resources development specialist: *A took-kit for analyzing and solving human performance problems *Step-by-step, successful techniques and procedures for developing a problem-solving strategy *Ideas for a performance model that will help answer the important questions *Advice on how to match techniques and problems *Guidance for good communication with organization management.

Table of Contents:
Introduction; Why This Book?; The Strategies of, and Tactics for, Conducting an FTO Study; Finding a Place to Startor, Why You Have to Have a Model; Watching People Work: Observational Approaches to Figuring Things Out; Simple Observations, Time Studies, and Task Listings; Developing and Using S-R Tables: The Deterline Approach to Task Analysis; Behavioral Algorithms: An Information-Processing Approach to Task Analysis; Using Behavioral Frequency Counts; Talking to People About Work; Talking to People in Groups: The Focus Group Discussion; Doing It Face-to-Face: Making the Most of One-On-One Interviews; Let Your Fingers Do the Walking: Gathering Information Over the Telephone; Playing Twenty Questions; Tell Me a Story: The Critical Incident Technique; Making Order from Chaos: Using Consensus Groups; Using Surveys and Questionnaires; Odds and Ends; Looking at Performance Information: Reading the Other Persons Watch; Fault Tree Analysis: Making Progress Working Backwards; Pyramid Power: Using Learning Hierarchies in Task Analysis; Matching Techniques and Problems; Deciding When to Use What: Technical Criteria; Deciding When to Use What: Organizational Criteria; A Flow Chart Approach to Selecting the Right Technique; In Summary; Reporting Results to Management; Beyond Figuring Things out: Solutions Still Pay the Rent.