Title: Performance support in business
Author Name: Adrianna
1. Introduction
While business and industry continues to expand globally, so does the demand for employee training. Training payroll increased in 2014 as well, with companies spending $42.4 billion internally and $6.1 billion for outside consulting services and products (Dempsey, 2017). With such a demand in the corporate sector, proper training and the effectiveness of workload distribution can have a major impact on the success of a company. This case study will explore HPI/Performance support in the business setting. Even with a team as small as 10 people, managing workloads and work distribution can be challenge. If everyone doesn’t receive their work in a timely matter, it affects productivity, customer service and can eventually affect profits and return on investments.
2. Overview of the Case
For a fortune 500 Insurance company there were several teams consisting of 8-10 people with one manager. The company handled commercial insurance for policies statewide. The state was further divided into territories with a manager over each territory. A processor would sort and assign work, while a manager oversaw that the operations were carried out. When one team performance was compared to another, there seemed to be a great disparity between the two. One team excelled in performance while another lagged behind. Many of workers was seen as “dropping the ball” and were not able to process their work as quick as others. The initial reaction is that perhaps the worker needed more training. The following website shows that many times, its not the training but the performance itself: https://trainingindustry.com/magazine/issue/training-versus-performance-it-isnt-always-a-training-issue/
Through various assessments and one on one evaluations it was discovered that the workers were very competent in carrying out their duties. The underlying problem was how work was being distributed to them. Some territories were larger than others, thus creating more work for some teams over others. Some task was more complex and required more time to complete them and others tasked needed more experienced workers to handle them.
3. Solutions Implemented
Human performance technology (HPT) is a way Human performance improvement can be used and carried out. HPT stems from the General systems theory. It is defined as, “an engineering approach to attaining desired accomplishment from human performers by determining gaps in performance and designing cost-effective and efficient interventions (Dempsey, 2017).” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LDBdfj4Z-4
The company implemented a new sorting system, similar to the products created by Duck Creek- duckcreek. It used software that factored in several needs: complexity of task, date received, if the task was marked rushed, and if it was in a large or small territory. The sorting system divided the work faster and more efficient than the processor. To test the effectiveness of this system it was only used on tasks within one line of business. Commercial Insurance has several lines: Commercial Auto, General Liability, Workers Compensation, etc. Below are several sites that can be used to as performance technologies to manage groups within organizations.
Workflow Management Sites
Monday Work.com (https://monday.com/)
Duck Creek( https://www.duckcreek.com/product/)
Calendly (https://calendly.com/)
Asana (https://asana.com/teams/managers)
Freedcamp (https://freedcamp.com/)
4. Outcomes
Management was able to better manage who received what. The team’s performance could be better assessed and accurately compared to other teams. In addition to tangible results, the morale of the team increased. The members of the team no longer felt they would be patronized unfairly for not producing work as quickly compared to their counterparts.
5. Implications
The company began to use to this software with every line of business.
References
Dempsey, R.A.R.J. V. (2017). Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology (Subscription). [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780134237039/