Human Resource Performance Enhancement Plan

Hanna Spicer

Human Resources Performance Enhancement Plan

Week 6

Final Project

4 November 2012

Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

MGMT500

Dr. Whitney Stevens

Human Resource Performance Enhancement Plan 2

Abstract

In assessment of a current situation at a local college in Kansas regarding the

performance of an employee, a performance enhancement model was utilized to determine the

root cause for the problem. The chosen performance enhancement model was the Rothwell

Human Performance Model and each step of the model was endured in effort to determine where

the source of the problem originates.

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About the Organization

The current organization for which I work is the United States Department of Education,

yet I am contracted to colleges for course development and to help further institutions. For the

last 3 years I have worked on a grant at a local community college. There is a small team that

works for the college on the grant that are responsible for completing the objectives that are in

the respective year of the grant and to maintain their respective budgets for the areas by which

they manage. In the last year, the coordinator of the grant was replaced and a new coordinator

was hired. Upon beginning the position the coordinator was trained and went through extensive

grant overviews; however because of the amount of things the new coordinator indicated that she

already knew, some of the training sections were bypassed and with 7 months remaining in the

grant year, the amount she knew about reporting and recording for a grant would not be fully

uncovered until the grant year ended, which was on October 1.

Performance Enhancement Model

The Performance Enhancement Model utilized for this scenario will be the Rothwell

Human Performance Model as it provides a step-by-step model to assure that the root of the

problem is identified, as well as the solution to the problem that has been appropriately

identified. Dr. Rothwell, PhD., SPHR, is President of Rothwell and Associates, Inc. He is also

Professor of Human Resource Development at the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania

State University. He heads the #1-ranked graduate program in Human Resource Development in

the United States and has worked with over 30 multinational corporations as a consultant. Dr.

Rothwell has worked in the Performance, Organizational Development, and Human Resource

field since 1979 and has authored, co-authored, edited, and co-edited over sixty books and many

best sellers. Below is the model:

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Human Resource Performance Enhancement Plan 5

Realize what is happening

Upon the resignation of the course developer that is salaried through the grant, the new

coordinator indicated that she would handle the remaining course contracts for development to

me as I oversee course development. After returning from 2 weeks of vacation I was informed by

the coordinator that there were contracts developed and signed for the development of the

remaining 2 courses that the resigned position was responsible for. As the contracting of college

employees is her responsibility, I went about my tasks and did not investigate further who she

had contracted. Many contracts occur without me knowing the details so there was no reason for

me to investigate.

Then as the day for me to review the content that had been developed in the course and

the accreditation process began, I realized what was happening. The coordinator had developed

contracts for the development of the courses and the courses were done at a very low level of

satisfactory. They were missing basic content that any course developer would know to be

pertinent. As it was clear that something was not appropriate with these courses’ development, I

further investigated and ran an activity report for the learning management system to determine

who had created what content in the courses. Much to my surprise, the coordinator was the only

name showing up in the course and knowing that she has an extremely limited amount of course

development familiarity, it all began to make sense. I confronted her and asked who she had

contracted for those two courses and she said herself.

Envision what should be happening

A course developer with expertise in course development should have been contracted to

the course development project. In no way should the coordinator have had any involvement in

course development as she is not trained or certified in any aspects of course development. A

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process policy that contains the requirements for course development contracts at the college

needs to be developed.

Clarify present and future gaps

There is a communication gap regarding expectations in general and expectations in

course development. As a result of this taking place, I became aware of a present gap where the

expectations for who can develop a course for the college is lacking and also there is lacking the

expectation of what is required in a course. Future gaps will include these same instances of

lacking communication if there are no steps taken to fill the gaps and minimize lacking

communication in the future.

Determine the present and future importance of the gaps

There is an importance in minimizing and eliminating the gaps for expectations being

communicated in course development for future and present situations. The misunderstanding of

the expectations will continue to result in poorly designed courses, which will lead to courses not

being accredited and the college forfeiting revenue. For the time of the grant, which has less than

two years remaining, I can help assure the changes are made prior to the full accreditation

review; however, at the time that I am no longer contracted to the college and assisting with the

accreditation checks these lacking expectations will result in negative results for the college and

overall revenues.

Identify the underlying causes of the gap

While the coordinator of the grant may have believed she was a viable option for course

development, there was clearly a misunderstanding on her part of what went into developing a

new online course. As the contracted amount of revenue for a course development is much

greater than the salary that the coordinator receives, it seems as though an obvious cause for the

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motivation for the coordinator to contract her without inquiring if there were any policies in

place that would prevent this activity. The underlying cause of the gap is a lack of

communication by me to the coordinator regarding the expectations by which a course is to be

developed and the amount of information that is required for accreditation. Another underlying

cause of the gap is that the coordinator is continually seeking opportunities to supplement her

income and it would have been the best practice for the college to implement policy where this

was not optional for the coordinator’s position.

Human Performance Enhancement and Strategies that close the gap

A meeting needs to occur with myself and the college administration regarding the

creation and implementation of policies and best practices for the college to implement a plan for

future course development and course development contracts. At that time, all employees will

need to be made aware of the policies to assure that in the future there are not ill developed

courses that are not approvable for accreditation. From that point forward, all newly hired

employees will be explained the policies for supplemental income, additional contracts, and the

requirements for receiving a course development contract to eliminate the probability of poor

courses.

Likely outcomes of implementation

The positive that can be maximized is for the college as it will maximize on having

quality courses developed and minimize the courses that are lacking in expertise of the

developer. The negative for the college will be minimized as putting these policies in place will

result in a greatly minimized number of courses where the college will be fearful for the

accreditation requirements to be lacking in attaining accreditation. However, the positive for the

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employees may not be minimized as many would like the opportunity to make supplemental

income and the new policies in place will limit their opportunities.

Plan for implementation

The first step of the plan for implementation is to set meetings with the appropriate

people at the college and discuss the problem at hand. Then a draft of the policies needs to be

developed and shared with the college administration for review. Following each party of

administration having an opportunity to review the plan, the plan will be discussed at a meeting.

From there the plan will be finalized and put into place for the following of the college

employees. A final step is to implement a continual policy awareness plan so that new employees

are always made aware of the plan.

Implement the plan

First I will wait until the current accreditation evaluation that is taking place this month is

complete, at that time a meeting with the college administration will take place. I will draft the

discussed policy and distribute it to the administration involved. After the policy has been

finalized, the administration will implement the plan to the college employees. Also, the college

administration will be responsible in making sure the continual policy awareness measures are

put in place for the employees of the college to follow.

Assess outcomes

At the time that my position is to dissolve at this college, I will perform a survey for

assessment regarding the policy that has been put in place regarding the requirements to be able

to develop courses or qualify for supplemental contracts at the college. At this time the college

administration will see where the opportunities are for further informing the employees about the

policies at hand for contracts for course development and supplemental contracts are.

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Executive Summary

Due to there being a lack of communication and policy in place, the coordinator for the

grant at the college developed courses without being trained or qualified. For that reason courses

were developed inappropriately. A policy will be developed and implemented for all employees;

thus assuring quality courses are developed for the college.

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References:Hersey, Paul, Blanchard, Kenneth H., and Johnson, Dewey. E. (2008). Management of 

Organizational Behavior (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Rothwell, W.J. (2005) Beyond Training and Development. New York: Amacom.

Rothwell, D. W. J. (2012). Itd group. Retrieved from http://www.itdworld.com/speakers/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47:william-j-rothwell