WO2000067179A2 - Systeme, procede et article fabrique pour cadre de performances humaines avec approche holistique de la liaison - Google Patents

Systeme, procede et article fabrique pour cadre de performances humaines avec approche holistique de la liaison Download PDF

Info

Publication number
WO2000067179A2
WO2000067179A2 PCT/US2000/012093 US0012093W WO0067179A2 WO 2000067179 A2 WO2000067179 A2 WO 2000067179A2 US 0012093 W US0012093 W US 0012093W WO 0067179 A2 WO0067179 A2 WO 0067179A2
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
information
logic
performance
task
framework
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US2000/012093
Other languages
English (en)
Other versions
WO2000067179A8 (fr
Inventor
Craig Mindrum
Dennis R. Bowers
Original Assignee
Accenture Llp
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Accenture Llp filed Critical Accenture Llp
Priority to AU48179/00A priority Critical patent/AU4817900A/en
Publication of WO2000067179A2 publication Critical patent/WO2000067179A2/fr
Publication of WO2000067179A8 publication Critical patent/WO2000067179A8/fr

Links

Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/06—Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to the maximization of human productivity and more particularly to system software for a human performance framework with a holistic approach to linking.
  • the job of creating staff schedules is complex, and involves such variables as the definitions of each task, the percentage of an employee's time that it takes to do a particular task, the day of the week, month, or year in which the task should be performed, the skill levels of employees available to perform each task, resource constraints such as equipment capacity at the location that facilitate or prevent a task from being scheduled, relationships between tasks that affect their placement and movement on the schedule, calculations for each task for a task's length, start time, positive and negative tolerances in completing a task, and employee availability by day of the week, hours of the day, their skill level and priority or seniority levels or categories.
  • Each remote location has unique differences in layout, sales patterns, sales volume, and product mix.
  • a system provides access to the Internet, particularly by businesses, to input information electronically in a framework to manage people more consistently, more effectively, and with more confidence that what they do will make a discernible, even measurable, difference.
  • Logic is synthesized which deals with people and organizations from around the world.
  • a new paradigm for analyzing human performance is provided to assist in crafting integrated human performance solutions that result in increased financial results.
  • Figure 1 is a block diagram of a representative hardware environment in accordance with a preferred embodiment
  • Figure 2 is a block diagram of the registry process in accordance with a preferred embodiment
  • Figure 3 illustrates examples of authentication methods in accordance with a preferred embodiment
  • Figure 4 illustrates the components of the system network architecture in accordance with a preferred embodiment
  • Figure 5 illustrates an application security architecture in accordance with a preferred embodiment
  • FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the major information flows that are described in the following sections in accordance with a preferred embodiment
  • FIG. 7 is a block diagram of certificate processing for a new client registration in accordance with a preferred embodiment
  • Figure 8 illustrates a member feed in accordance with a preferred embodiment
  • Figure 9 is a functional block system architecture diagram flowchart in accordance with a preferred embodiment.
  • FIG. 10 is a flow chart of the processing in accordance with a preferred embodiment.
  • a preferred embodiment of a system in accordance with the present invention is preferably practiced in the context of a personal computer such as an IBM compatible personal computer, Apple Macintosh computer or UNIX based workstation.
  • a representative hardware environment is depicted in Figure 1, which illustrates a typical hardware configuration of a workstation in accordance with a preferred embodiment having a central processing unit 110, such as a microprocessor, and a number of other units interconnected via a system bus 112.
  • the workstation shown in Figure 1 includes a Random Access Memory (RAM) 114, Read Only Memory (ROM) 116, an I/O adapter 118 for connecting peripheral devices such as disk storage units 120 to the bus 112, a user interface adapter 122 for connecting a keyboard 124, a mouse 126, a speaker 128, a microphone 132, and/or other user interface devices such as a touch screen (not shown) to the bus 112, communication adapter 134 for connecting the workstation to a communication network (e.g., a data processing network) and a display adapter 136 for connecting the bus 112 to a display device 138.
  • a communication network e.g., a data processing network
  • display adapter 136 for connecting the bus 112 to a display device 138.
  • the workstation typically has resident thereon an operating system such as the Microsoft Windows NT or Windows/95 Operating System (OS), the IBM OS/2 operating system, the MAC OS, or UNIX operating system.
  • OS Microsoft Windows NT or Windows/95 Operating System
  • IBM OS/2 operating system the IBM OS/2 operating system
  • MAC OS the MAC OS
  • UNIX operating system the operating system
  • OOP Object oriented programming
  • OOP is a process of developing computer software using objects, including the steps of analyzing the problem, designing the system, and constructing the program.
  • An object is a software package that contains both data and a collection of related structures and procedures.
  • OOP Since it contains both data and a collection of structures and procedures, it can be visualized as a self- sufficient component that does not require other additional structures, procedures or data to perform its specific task. OOP, therefore, views a computer program as a collection of largely autonomous components, called objects, each of which is responsible for a specific task. This concept of packaging data, structures, and procedures together in one component or module is called encapsulation.
  • OOP components are reusable software modules which present an interface that conforms to an object model and which are accessed at run-time through a component integration architecture.
  • a component integration architecture is a set of architecture mechanisms which allow software modules in different process spaces to utilize each others capabilities or functions. This is generally done by assuming a common component object model on which to build the architecture. It is worthwhile to differentiate between an object and a class of objects at this point.
  • An object is a single instance of the class of objects, which is often just called a class.
  • a class of objects can be viewed as a blueprint, from which many objects can be formed.
  • OOP allows the programmer to create an object that is a part of another object.
  • the object representing a piston engine is said to have a composition-relationship with the object representing a piston.
  • a piston engine comprises a piston, valves and many other components; the fact that a piston is an element of a piston engine can be logically and semantically represented in OOP by two objects.
  • OOP also allows creation of an object that "depends from” another object. If there are two objects, one representing a piston engine and the other representing a piston engine wherein the piston is made of ceramic, then the relationship between the two objects is not that of composition.
  • a ceramic piston engine does not make up a piston engine. Rather it is merely one kind of piston engine that has one more limitation than the piston engine; its piston is made of ceramic.
  • the object representing the ceramic piston engine is called a derived object, and it inherits all of the aspects of the object representing the piston engine and adds further limitation or detail to it.
  • the object representing the ceramic piston engine "depends from" the object representing the piston engine. The relationship between these objects is called inheritance.
  • the object or class representing the ceramic piston engine inherits all of the aspects of the objects representing the piston engine, it inherits the thermal characteristics of a standard piston defined in the piston engine class.
  • the ceramic piston engine object overrides these ceramic specific thermal characteristics, which are typically different from those associated with a metal piston. It skips over the original and uses new functions related to ceramic pistons.
  • Different kinds of piston engines have different characteristics, but may have the same underlying functions associated with it (e.g., how many pistons in the engine, ignition sequences, lubrication, etc.).
  • a programmer would call the same functions with the same names, but each type of piston engine may have different/overriding implementations of functions behind the same name. This ability to hide different implementations of a function behind the same name is called polymorphism and it greatly simplifies communication among objects.
  • composition-relationship With the concepts of composition-relationship, encapsulation, inheritance and polymorphism, an object can represent just about anything in the real world. In fact, our logical perception of the reality is the only limit on determining the kinds of things that can become objects in object- oriented software. Some typical categories are as follows:
  • Objects can represent physical objects, such as automobiles in a traffic-flow simulation, electrical components in a circuit-design program, countries in an economics model, or aircraft in an air-traffic-control system.
  • Objects can represent elements of the computer-user environment such as windows, menus or graphics objects.
  • An object can represent an inventory, such as a personnel file or a table of the latitudes and longitudes of cities.
  • An object can represent user-defined data types such as time, angles, and complex numbers, or points on the plane.
  • OOP allows the software developer to design and implement a computer program that is a model of some aspects of reality, whether that reality is a physical entity, a process, a system, or a composition of matter. Since the object can represent anything, the software developer can create an object which can be used as a component in a larger software project in the future.
  • OOP enables software developers to build objects out of other, previously built objects.
  • C++ is an OOP language that offers a fast, machine-executable code.
  • C++ is suitable for both commercial-application and systems-programming projects.
  • C++ appears to be the most popular choice among many OOP programmers, but there is a host of other OOP languages, such as Smalltalk, Common Lisp Object System (CLOS), and Eiffel. Additionally, OOP capabilities are being added to more traditional popular computer programming languages such as Pascal.
  • Class hierarchies and containment hierarchies provide a flexible mechanism for modeling real-world objects and the relationships among them.
  • class libraries allow programmers to use and reuse many small pieces of code, each programmer puts those pieces together in a different way.
  • Two different programmers can use the same set of class libraries to write two programs that do exactly the same thing but whose internal structure (i.e., design) may be quite different, depending on hundreds of small decisions each programmer makes along the way.
  • similar pieces of code end up doing similar things in slightly different ways and do not work as well together as they should.
  • Class libraries are very flexible. As programs grow more complex, more programmers are forced to adopt basic solutions to basic problems over and over again.
  • a relatively new extension of the class library concept is to have a framework of class libraries. This framework is more complex and consists of significant collections of collaborating classes that capture both the small scale patterns and major mechanisms that implement the common requirements and design in a specific application domain. They were first developed to free application programmers from the chores involved in displaying menus, windows, dialog boxes, and other standard user interface elements for personal computers.
  • Frameworks also represent a change in the way programmers think about the interaction between the code they write and code written by others.
  • the programmer called libraries provided by the operating system to perform certain tasks, but basically the program executed down the page from start to finish, and the programmer was solely responsible for the flow of control. This was appropriate for printing out paychecks, calculating a mathematical table, or solving other problems with a program that executed in just one way.
  • event loop programs require programmers to write a lot of code that should not need to be written separately for every application.
  • the concept of an application framework carries the event loop concept further. Instead of dealing with all the nuts and bolts of constructing basic menus, windows, and dialog boxes and then making these things all work together, programmers using application frameworks start with working application code and basic user interface elements in place. Subsequently, they build from there by replacing some of the generic capabilities of the framework with the specific capabilities of the intended application.
  • Application frameworks reduce the total amount of code that a programmer has to write from scratch.
  • the framework is really a generic application that displays windows, supports copy and paste, and so on, the programmer can also relinquish control to a greater degree than event loop programs permit.
  • the framework code takes care of almost all event handling and flow of control, and the programmer's code is called only when the framework needs it (e.g., to create or manipulate a proprietary data structure).
  • a programmer writing a framework program not only relinquishes control to the user (as is also true for event loop programs), but also relinquishes the detailed flow of control within the program to the framework. This approach allows the creation of more complex systems that work together in interesting ways, as opposed to isolated programs, having custom code, being created over and over again for similar problems.
  • a framework basically is a collection of cooperating classes that make up a reusable design solution for a given problem domain. It typically includes objects that provide default behavior (e.g., for menus and windows), and programmers use it by inheriting some of that default behavior and overriding other behavior so that the framework calls application code at the appropriate times.
  • default behavior e.g., for menus and windows
  • Behavior versus protocol Class libraries are essentially collections of behaviors that you can call when you want those individual behaviors in your program.
  • a framework provides not only behavior but also the protocol or set of rules that govern the ways in which behaviors can be combined, including rules for what a programmer is supposed to provide versus what the framework provides.
  • a preferred embodiment of the invention utilizes HyperText Markup Language
  • HTTP Hypertext Markup Language
  • T. Berners-Lee D. Connoly, "RFC 1866: Hypertext Markup Language - 2.0" (Nov. 1995); and R. Fielding, H, Frystyk, T. Berners-Lee, J. Gettys and
  • HTML Hypertext Transfer Protocol - HTTP/1.1 : HTTP Working Group Internet Draft
  • HTML documents are SGML documents with generic semantics that are appropriate for representing information from a wide range of domains. HTML has been in use by the World-Wide Web global information initiative since 1990. HTML is an application of ISO Standard 8879; 1986 Information Processing Text and Office Systems; Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML).
  • HTML has been the dominant technology used in development of Web-based solutions.
  • HTML has proven to be inadequate in the following areas: Poor performance;
  • UI User Interface
  • Custom “widgets” e.g., real-time stock tickers, animated icons, etc.
  • client-side performance is improved.
  • Java supports the notion of client-side validation, offloading appropriate processing onto the client for improved performance.
  • Dynamic, real-time Web pages can be created. Using the above-mentioned custom UI components, dynamic Web pages can also be created.
  • Sun's Java language has emerged as an industry-recognized language for "programming the Internet.”
  • Sun defines Java as: "a simple, object-oriented, distributed, interpreted, robust, secure, architecture-neutral, portable, high-performance, multithreaded, dynamic, buzzword- compliant, general-purpose programming language.
  • Java supports programming for the Internet in the form of platform-independent Java applets.”
  • Java applets are small, specialized applications that comply with Sun's Java Application Programming Interface (API) allowing developers to add "interactive content” to Web documents (e.g., simple animations, page adornments, basic games, etc.). Applets execute within a Java-compatible browser (e.g., Netscape Navigator) by copying code from the server to client.
  • Java-compatible browser e.g., Netscape Navigator
  • Java's core feature set is based on C++.
  • Sun's Java literature states that Java is basically, "C++ with extensions from Objective C for more dynamic method resolution.”
  • Another technology that provides similar function to JAVA is provided by Microsoft and ActiveX Technologies, to give developers and Web designers wherewithal to build dynamic content for the Internet and personal computers.
  • ActiveX includes tools for developing animation, 3-D virtual reality, video and other multimedia content. The tools use Internet standards, work on multiple platforms, and are being supported by over 100 companies. The group's building blocks are called
  • ActiveX Controls small, fast components that enable developers to embed parts of software in hypertext markup language (HTML) pages. ActiveX Controls work with a variety of programming languages including Microsoft Visual C++, Borland Delphi, Microsoft Visual Basic programming system and, in the future, Microsoft's development tool for Java, code named "Jakarta.” ActiveX Technologies also includes ActiveX Server Framework, allowing developers to create server applications. One of ordinary skill in the art readily recognizes that ActiveX could be substituted for JAVA without undue experimentation to practice the invention.
  • Framework-Based Reuse Within the paradigm of framework-based reuse, a generic framework or architecture is constructed that contains commonalties. In a house analogy, one could purchase a prefabricated house framework consisting of floors, outside walls, bearing walls and a roof. The house can be customized by adding partition walls, wall-paper, woodwork, carpeting etc. Similarly, prefabricated application frameworks are available that contain baseline application structure and functionality. Individual applications are completed by adding specific functionality and customizing the look-and-feel.
  • An example of a commonly used application framework is Microsoft Foundation Classes. It is a framework for developing Windows applications using C++. MFC supplies the base functionality of a windowing application and the developer completes the application by adding functionality within the framework.
  • Framework-based reuse is best suited for capturing template-like features, for example user interface management, procedural object behaviors, and any other features that may require specialization.
  • Some benefits of using a framework include:
  • Extensive functionality can be incorporated into a framework.
  • I can build the plumbing, wiring, and partition walls right into the framework, reducing the incremental effort required for each house. If I know I am going to build a large number of very similar applications, they have more commonalties that can be included in the framework rather than built individually.
  • component-based reuse key functionality is encapsulated in a component.
  • the component can then be reused in multiple applications.
  • components correspond to appliances such as dishwashers, refrigerators, microwaves, etc.
  • application components with pre-packaged functionality are available from a variety of vendors.
  • An example of a popular component is a Data Grid. It is a component that can be integrated into an application to deliver the capability of viewing columnar data in a spreadsheet-like grid.
  • Component-based reuse is best suited for capturing black-box-like features, for example text processing, data manipulation, or any other features that do not require specialization.
  • Some benefits of using components include:
  • a microwave can be used in virtually any house, whether it's framework is steel or wood, and regardless of whether it was customized for building mansions or shacks. You can put a high-end microwave in a low-end house and vice-versa. You can even have multiple different microwaves in your house.
  • framework-based approach for building human resource management applications is appropriate for developing the user interface, handling user and system events, starting and stopping the application, and other application-specific and delivery platform-specific functions.
  • a component-based approach is appropriate for black-box functionality. That is, functionality that can be used as-is with no specialization required.
  • the present invention provides an automated staff scheduling system and method in which the variables associated with making an optimum staff schedule can be defined, maintained, and consistently applied.
  • the present invention also provides an automated staff scheduling system and method which can be operated by relatively unskilled operators and which requires little technical knowledge or supervision.
  • the present invention provides an automated staff scheduling system which represents and utilizes a corporation's staffing policy when creating staff schedules at each remote location.
  • the present invention provides a method which incorporates state, federal and local labor regulations (referred to herein as 'state' regulations) and corporate policy when creating schedules.
  • the present invention obviates the above mentioned drawbacks of the prior art systems and provides a system and method for generating optimum staff schedules that are unique to each of a plurality of remote locations given a plurality of variables.
  • optimum schedules take into account: the tasks that need to be scheduled and when they should be scheduled; the skill levels of employees that are available to perform the tasks; the resources available to facilitate tasks; the relationships between tasks; calculations to combine unique location values with unique location historical data and corporate policy to determine the length, start time, and positive and negative slide for a task; employee availability by day of the week, and hours of the day, skill level, and priority of seniority levels; and applicable 'state' labor regulations.
  • positive and negative slide for a task refers to the latitude or tolerance of shifting the end point(s) of a task forward or backward in time.
  • the present system and method thus minimizes the training times required for location managers and brings more expertise to bear on this complex task than is possible with traditional manual scheduling schemes.
  • a preferred embodiment in accordance with the invention loads the Scheduler Resource File and the State File from a storage into a computer RAM as shown in
  • the Scheduler Resource File specifies which resources will be used in the schedule and where to find the initial values of these resources.
  • a resource is an item that may be of limited supply, or a reference value or a value that is modified as the other values on the schedule change.
  • the Scheduler Resource File contains the resource type, the name of the resource and whether the particular resource is being created or updated. There are three types of resources: Decreasing (the resource is 'consumed' or committed as a task is scheduled, for example, equipment), increasing (the resource is accumulated as a task is scheduled, for example, people), and Constant (the resource must simply exist with no regard to its capacity in order for the task to be scheduled).
  • the State File defines the minimum and maximum time an employee may work before the applicable labor regulation requires a paid or unpaid break, the maximum hours an employee may work before being paid overtime by day and week, and also defines the minimum and maximum shift lengths as required by applicable labor regulations.
  • the Process loads the definition for each task.
  • This routine loads the Task Definition File, the Task Relation File, the Task Resource File and the Calculation File from the Mass Storage Device into the Memory in Figure 1.
  • the Task Definition File defines the tasks that are to be scheduled. It contains information about the day of the week on which the task is to be performed, the required skill level for this task, the percentage of an employee's time that it takes to do a particular task (from 1% to 100%), flags for task type and task placement, and the letter code (e.g., P, S, C, D, and the like) to represent the task on the Schedule Bar Chart.
  • the task type flags indicate whether a task can be split, whether a task is a pool task, whether the task skill level can be changed when an employee is moved from this task, and whether a task allows a break to replace this task.
  • Task placement flags change the way a task is placed on the schedule.
  • a preferred embodiment in accordance with the invention utilizes task type flags and task placement flags to improve the performance of each task while optimizing the schedule. It optimizes the schedule by taking into account the duration of a task, each task's start-time, and the positive and negative slide for a task.
  • the Task Relation File defines the relationships between tasks and events. It describes how each task is related to other tasks or events. For example, certain tasks can only be performed after another task has been completed, but before closing time for that location.
  • the invention When defining the relationships between tasks and events, the invention is able to define multiple groups of relationships. During the process of placing a task on a schedule, each group of relations are tested and if no relation is violated in that group, the task is placed on the schedule. Otherwise, the next group of relations are tested.
  • the Task Resource File defines the resources that are referenced by each task. It contains the resource type and the quantities and capacities of each resource that can restrict or enable a task to be scheduled. Resources are tracked every fifteen minutes on the schedule and are used to determine if an item is available for a particular task.
  • the Task Resource File references resource definitions in one of three files: (i) the Location Master File 10 which contains values unique to each location that are then used to define resources or are used in calculations to define task attributes; (ii) the Daily File 7 which contains values for a specific day which deviate from the normal values and which may cause additional tasks to be scheduled; and (iii) the Sales Curve File 8 which contains values for a particular location's past performance which is stored by time period during the day, by each day of the week and for each season of the year.
  • the Calculation File contains information which allows the invention to access data from various files and perform operations to calculate a task's start-time, the duration of the task, the positive and negative slide for the task, and the task manpower percent.
  • the calculations feature uses data from the Calculation File to perform calculations on the values retrieved from the Parameter
  • the calculations feature can also perform other calculation sets to achieve a nesting or parenthetical structure of calculations and logic.
  • the Parameter File contains look-up table values and is used to incorporate various corporate standards into the scheduling process.
  • the Parameter File also contains the skill level matrix which cross references a given skill level to other skill levels to determine which other skill levels a given skill level is able to perform.
  • One aspect of a preferred embodiment is the flexibility provided to modify the values that affect the way a task is scheduled without altering the program logic. This is possible because the Task Relation File, the Task Resource File, and the Calculation File are located in separate external files.
  • a preferred embodiment in accordance with the invention accesses the Task Definition File and retrieves the skill level required for each task. Next, the invention determines the task's duration, the percentage of an employee s time that it takes to do a particular task (from 17% to 100%), and defines the boundaries of a window which reflects the task's start-time and stop-time, taking into account the positive and negative slide for each task. If these values are not defined in the Task Definition File, then they will be retrieved from either the resource constraints, or from calculations in the Calculation File.
  • the process determines the required manpower by skill level.
  • the skill level matrix in the Parameter File is accessed to determine the highest skill level that can perform the task.
  • placement logic for each task, it places the task on the schedule within the Task Placement window, which is defined by the schedule's start-time, task duration, and the positive and negative slide for the task.
  • the placement logic has the ability to look at what shifts are currently on the schedule and the current task's placement window, and then find the best existing shift to which to append the current task. Due to the limited computational power available at a remote location, it is not possible to solve multiple simultaneous equations which are typical of the linear programming nature of scheduling.
  • the representation of calculations and placement logic in a rules fashion serve to incorporate as much human reasoning and logic into the process to minimize the computational power required to solve the problem in a timely fashion.
  • the relative placement of a task on the schedule can be controlled to include corporate policy and expertise in the ordering of tasks on the schedule.
  • the process continues in the Schedule Optimization Phase. In an optimal fashion, this phase divides the schedule into different shifts and inserts breaks in the shifts where necessary.
  • the invention accesses the Skill Shift File and retrieves the preferred minimum and maximum shift lengths as well as any preferences in order to build minimum, maximum, or average length shifts.
  • the Skill Shift File defines the skills that are expected to be generally available at the particular location and also contains values which define the preferences on the length of a shift by skill level.
  • a shift can be defined in numerous ways such as (i) the duration of the shift is only as long as the length of the tasks; (ii) fill the shift to the maximum shift length or the minimum shift length; or (iii) must be the first shift or the last shift.
  • the corporate policies may be incorporated and optimized by allowing this logic to define the minimum and maximum length of time for a shift in accordance with corporate policies for each skill level.
  • the Schedule Optimization Phase is able to remove any sudden increased requirements in a location's demand for a given skill level. This occurs when the created schedule positions persons with the same skill level to perform different tasks at the same time.
  • the process smooths this sudden demand requirement for a given skill level by taking the sudden increased requirement for the given skill level and testing it for the following conditions:
  • a preferred embodiment in accordance with the invention divides the schedule into shifts in the following manner. Starting with the highest skill level, the tasks to be done are allocated to different shifts according to the shift logic defined in the Skill Shift File. As each shift is created, the remaining tasks on the task line for that skill level are evaluated to see if they can be pushed to a lower skill level. The process of first placing the task at the highest skill level and then trying to move the task to a lower skill level when creating shifts ensures that a full shift will be built around a task that requires the higher skill level, but will move other tasks to a lower skill level to minimize costs.
  • the applicable state, federal, local regulations are retrieved from the State Master File, and this information is used to insert breaks into each shift.
  • the optimization process inserts a break between the start-time and stop-time for each shift, where the interrupted tasks will best append to the beginning or end of another shift.
  • any dangling or isolated tasks whose length does not entirely fill the time between the start-time and stop-time of a shift, are combined with designated filler tasks to completely fill this empty time.
  • the Task Schedule Record contains one record per scheduled employee with that employee's name, skill level and the start-time and stop-time for that employee's shift.
  • the Task Schedule Record contains the task information for each employee, and holds, among other things, the schedule date, the employee skill level, the name of the task, the task's start-time, the task's duration, the skill level required by the task, and the positive and negative tolerances of the task.
  • the Assign Name Phase assigns worker names by the week or days of the week. The information is accessed from the Schedule Header Record, the Employee Schedule Record, and the Task Schedule Record. For each of the selected days of the week, the total employee availability is determined and the Employee Master File and the Employee Availability File are accessed to obtain information concerning the employees.
  • the Employee Master File contains basic information about the employee such as the employee's name and address as well as the employee's pay rate, and the address of the location where the employee works.
  • the Employee Availability File contains information for each employee by day of the week. It contains the skill level and priority of the employee, and the availability by hours of the employee.
  • a preferred embodiment in accordance with the invention initially assigns employee names to the day with the least total employee availability, followed by the next most restrictive day and so on.
  • employees names are assigned by skill level.
  • the available employees on that day that can perform the skill level will be sorted by their priority and the percentage of their minimum or maximum hours which have been already scheduled. Once all employees of equal skill and priority have reached their minimum requested hours for the week, the employees are sorted by such preferences as the percentage of requested maximum hours for a week.
  • the State File is retrieved to ensure that no minor is assigned to a shift in violation of any applicable labor regulations.
  • the chart including the letter codes, is displayed and printed out on a printer or plotter to provide an indication of the tasks and manpower requirements, for example on fifteen minute intervals, throughout a given day across the top of the chart, there appears the business hours of the day along the abscissa axis, with quarter-hour intervals interposed between one-hour time lines.
  • the chart utilizes a value which constitutes a projected total business demand distributed by hour, and additionally illustrates on the right border the time duration of the various skill level requirements for the tasks involved that day.
  • Selected time intervals may also include several tasks with assigned employees performing the letter-coded tasks for designated intervals between the scheduled start and stop times.
  • the system includes a central processing unit which is connected to control the display device in response to inputs supplied to the microprocessor via the user's manipulation of the keyboard, or via other inputs supplied through a conventional network interface (e.g., modem, bar-code readers, standard network bus, and the like) as illustrated in Figure 1.
  • the microprocessor accesses memory which contains information that is supplied via the keyboard or the network (e.g., Internet or other network connection), or is transferred thereto in conventional manner from storage medium or working memory.
  • the memory contains instructions for executing the routines on information that is stored in the several fields according to the present invention previously described.
  • the memory also includes main menu functions and buffer storage or interactive display control for synchronously displaying lines of data bits on display device in conventional manner.
  • Permanent records and periodic reports may be plotted or printed out under control of a processor.
  • several files of information in data base are gathered and stored regarding applicable labor regulations, employee information, task definitions, task relations, and the like, as previously described, and these files are accessed and modified under control of the processor in response to the scheduling routines such as the initialization, create preliminary schedule, optimization, assign names, and the like, as previously described for controlling the display on display device of a chart of the tasks and required manpower at prescribed time periods throughout the day.
  • Figure 2 summarizes how these different strands of thought have evolved, in each case resulting in greater impact on the business as they evolved to the next stage.
  • Figure 2 illustrates the various stages of change management and the impact made on business in accordance with a preferred embodiment. Each of the stages illustrated in the Figure are elaborated below in accordance with a preferred embodiment.
  • Change management began as a professional field with two primary emphases: one having to do with traditional human resources work, and another with educational and training endeavors. Both emphases were fairly straightforward, because companies generally had both a human resources department and a training department.
  • the environment represents a set of influences over which the company generally does not have direct control, but which affects the company and, ultimately, its people. These influences may be economic, regulatory, social, technological, or physical.
  • Figure 3 illustrates the Layers of the Human Performance System in accordance with a preferred embodiment. Each of the components is described in the sections following to assist one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention without undue experimentation.
  • the "sell” has to be made very quickly after the insight. And the sell involves using the picture of the human performance system to create a framework of interventions that links investments in human performance to more optimal performance of work, and thus better alignment with the strategic direction of a company and its overall value. In other words, it's not enough just to say that we can see something the right way.
  • the right kind of vision or mindset is no good if one only has the old tools.
  • Systemic understanding must be accompanied by systemic tools with which to influence the system. If we had such tools, what would they look like? These tools include: • Comprehensive, distilling knowledge and experience both from internal client experience and external expertise.
  • the Human Performance Framework is architected from the inside out in accordance with a preferred embodiment.
  • FIG 4 illustrates the Individual Layer in accordance with a preferred embodiment.
  • Ability and motivation ultimately drive the work of human beings.
  • Knowledge is a mental state that can also be called “understanding”; it's the result of a process of integration - integrating external facts and information, as well as internally synthesized experience and discovery.
  • Knowledge is the "know-how” ability, and skills are the “can-do” ability. Both are required for optimal performance. To take a simple example, an airplane pilot in training must read, listen, and acquire a great deal of abstract knowledge about flying. But this alone does not constitute the ability to fly the plane. At the same time, one does not generally put first-time students directly into a plane and send them up before they have acquired some knowledge about what they are to do. Know-how and can-do must come together as the student flies the plane.
  • Doing skills are those we most often link to the successful performance of tasks in the workplace. These skills include both “harder,” technical skills and “soft” skills, often described as social skills or professional qualities. Doing skills enable the quality of actions performed in the Operations layer, including hard skills like the productive use of technology or manipulation of information, as well as the softer skills like communication, necessary to deliver process value.
  • Learning skills which include not just learning but also behavior change skills — include experiential learning that is not directly linked to on-the-job doing. Character traits that are not genetically linked to personality but evolve with experience, environmental exposure, and learning also may be considered learning and behavior change skills.
  • a third dimension of ability - creativity is somewhat more controversial, at least from the standpoint of academic study. Not all cognitive scientists would place creativity in the realm of ability. However, there is no doubt that creativity plays a huge role in high-quality performance. The ability to look beyond received notions of how to do something, and to find a way that results in a new, leading-edge solution, is critical to organizational success.
  • Intellectual traits are based on the "wiring” of the nerve cells that make up the brain, and include aptitude ("IQ”), “mental quickness,” and inductive reasoning (i.e., moving from parts to the whole).
  • IQ aptitude
  • mental quickness and inductive reasoning (i.e., moving from parts to the whole).
  • the genetic basis of IQ has been clearly and consistently exhibited in research, most popularly using the Stanford-Binet intelligence scale.
  • Physical traits include appearance, metabolism (often perceived as "energy level”), body type, height, strength, dexterity, tonal memory, color blindness and structural visualization.
  • Personality traits are the most recent and the most rigorously studied of traits. Recent research by scientists involved in the Human Genome Experiment (a multi-university research effort decomposing DNA to identify the human characteristics carried by genetic material) has traced four personality traits to genetics: novelty seeking, harm avoidance, reward dependence, and persistence.
  • Motivation Motivation is a very complex dimension of human performance, as attested to by the hundreds of definitions of motivation developed over the last fifty years. The discussion of motivation here is intended to cut across many or most of these definitions and, in addition, establish a meaningful way to address the subject.
  • motivation is the willful intention to achieve an outcome or goal.
  • motivation is the willful intention to achieve an outcome or goal.
  • think of motivation as a two-step process: First comes the initial thought. This creates a sort of tension in the status quo of a person, a tension that demands action of some sort. Second, then, that tension is translated into energy, yielding behavior and new levels of performance.
  • stimuli coming from many places that cause that tension-to-action movement - and in this context, the stimuli from people within the organization (or the structures and rules created by people) are particularly relevant.
  • Organizations can influence motivation in their people: they can create positive willful intention; they can also create negative intention.
  • Intention Two levels of awareness shift when a new thought is introduced to a person's status quo. Attention focuses the awareness to a local perception. Intention brings about a change in that localization and attaches greater importance to it. Intention is an expression of focus and thought. Intentions that originate inside a person are immediately important and relevant, and are usually processed emotionally. Intentions conceived internally are typically expressed as aspiration, dream, or fantasy.
  • Intention originating from the organization - that is, externally to the individual often takes the form of a vision or message communicated to relevant stakeholders.
  • the individual employee receives the vision and screens it for "relevance.”
  • the intention is typically processed intellectually by a person - although we all know cases where a vision is so inspirational or the leader so charismatic that the person is engaged emotionally.
  • a typical error in organizational motivation, however, is to over-rely on the emotional component. This must be followed up, or augmented, by motivation that engages people intellectually. Emotions are powerful: they can flame up, but they can also flame out.
  • Values are the deeply-held goals, ideals, and principles of the individual that typically lead and guide willfulness.
  • a person assesses the "fit" of an organization's intention. The individual filters out those intentions that are relevant, but not deeply desired.
  • an individual's values are supportive of the organization's intention, the intention evolves to a deeper level of anticipated commitment — a willfulness to begin the pursuit of that intention.
  • Beliefs also serve as a guide, though in this case they constitute more of an assurance that one's actions occur within a system that has meaning - that life is not fruitless or useless.
  • Norms can be thought of as the collective attitude or behavioral expectations of a group, and are often what we mean when referring to an organizational "culture.” They represent a critical motivational component in many (but not all) jobs and roles, since the degree of external affiliation can be a major driver of team performance. For more solitary, "solo flyer" employees, norms are less likely to play as significant a motivational role as for others with more need or desire for external affiliation and acceptance or approval.
  • mapping of intention to values, beliefs and or norms is successful — i.e., in alignment -
  • activation energy may be aroused.
  • This activation energy, conviction describes the extent to which the social filters of beliefs, values, and norms are internalized so as to drive individual energy to pursue the, now willful, intention.
  • conviction can be indexed by the degree of effort an individual is willing to exert to reach a goal.
  • conviction energizes the pursuit of productive behavior change on the path oward the now deeply desired intention, the concept of comfort enters the emotional and physical picture.
  • comfort represents the degree of resistance or pain one is willing to tolerate or overcome in order to achieve a goal.
  • resistance There are two forms of resistance that tend to be considered, differing mainly in the degree of discomfort they create. The first is the anxiety resulting from the anticipation of an unknown or frightening future state possibly less comfortable (more painful) than the status quo. The second, even more powerful, form of resistance is the fear in the current moment as an employee faces the immediate anticipation prior to the trial of a new behavior. This immediate and specific emotional reaction of fear is in anticipation of a specific threatening stimulus: for example, investing in a new behavior, practice or study on the path toward new performance.
  • the short-circuit emotion-based deliberation uses a shortcut to the more primitive emotional brain, causing a more dramatic flee or fight response in the individual.
  • This stressful survival response leaves inadequate time for the more intricate and recently evolved thinking brain, to fully deliberate.
  • this emotional energy can be used to constructively engage effort we may consider the tension productive — for example, nervous energy that stimulates thought, effort, and creativity.
  • the brain may seek to protect the employee, enabling rationalization of the status quo and denial of the relevance or belief in the organization's new intention.
  • the motivation level meets the comfort level in a productive engagement, the individual begins the active learning and experimentation process associated with trying out new behaviors.
  • Confidence is the person's internal model of how well his/her current ability to perform a job or task addresses the new job or task requirements. Confidence is regarded as a largely internal assurance that individual effort expended will yield anticipated outcomes. It is, however, influenceable both (a) by feedback from respected sources and (b) through self-observation and reflection. The bolstering of confidence contributes to comfort or the mitigation of tension or anxiety that typically accompanies change. In turn, this may lead to additional risk-taking, collaboration and curiosity, as learning and change become less risky and less painful processes. As behaviors are successfully pursued and feedback yields additional confidence, learning and achievement derived from challenge and experience may yield satisfaction. Satisfaction is the degree of fulfillment of meaningful needs and desires. It is critical to make this needs/desires distinction, since the satisfaction of more basic needs has only a partial impact on potential performance but are necessary prerequisites for fulfillment of meaningful desires.
  • the organization layer represents the suite of activities - organizational design as well as many other management actions - that most directly influence the ability and motivation of people (see Figure 5).
  • Figure 5 illustrates the organizational framework in accordance with a preferred embodiment. The presumption here is that management can take actions, can be directive, in influencing human performance. And the suite of interventions listed under the organization layer acknowledges - in fact, demands agreement about - the truth that there is no "silver bullet" solution to the problem of optimizing human performance. No piece by itself will accomplish the goal. Everything must be present for an optimal solution.
  • organization structure refers to the suite of activities that involve selecting the workforce competencies needed to enact business strategies, and then designing jobs, roles, and team structures to ensure that those competencies can be present in the workforce.
  • Competency Planning There are four subcomponents to organization structure: Competency Planning. Competencies are the overall skill sets that are required, by the workforce, in order to achieve strategic business objectives and to optimize business performance. Within this subservice, strategic goals of the organization are analyzed and monitored to ensure that the proper competencies are built in to the workforce.
  • Job/Role Design Based on the set of competencies identified as critical for aligning the workforce with business strategy, particular jobs and roles are designated that provide the necessary competencies. Team/Group Design. Based, then, on the design of jobs and roles within the workforce, particular groupings of individuals are designed in order to achieve maximum synergy among people directed toward particular tasks.
  • Resourcing ensures that structures are in place to build competencies. Resourcing ensures that a company has the actual people with the potential to spread those competencies throughout the company, and that they are deployed so those competencies are properly directed. Resourcing involves two primary subcomponents: ⁇ Recruiting/selection
  • the recruiting and selection subcomponent includes all activities related to the hiring of people from the outside. In recruiting/selection, people are matched to general categories of jobs and roles in the organization.
  • Deployment/redeployment In deployment/redeployment (also called “staffing") all members of the workforce are deployed to particular jobs, and/or shifted to new responsibilities.
  • the organization's purpose plays a critical role in the deployment process. Redefinition of the company's business domain has strategic implications for its human resource management system. Thus, serious thought must be given to defining the qualifications that are mandatory for managing the new organization. Specification of the qualifications, identification of persons possessing those skills, and moving people into jobs should be guided by the organization's strategic plans and its overall staffing strategy.
  • Performance management is focused on a set of consequences for different kinds of performance. It also focuses on altering, encouraging, and directing performance through either positive or negative reinforcement. This is also where career management for individuals takes place. The alignment of individual performance with a company's strategic objectives is found here more than in any other component of the organization layer.
  • Evaluation/Appraisal is a formal process to provide workers with an assessment of job performance relative to targets.
  • evaluation is used here because ideally, this component includes not only judgment (appraisal), but also a set of actions designed to remediate, counsel, and direct people toward improved performance.
  • evaluation can be used to promote a variety of goals. For instance, evaluation systems could drive employees toward increased productivity, to identify fast-trackers, and identify poor work behavior, while at the same time providing information to other human resource systems by systematically compiling data.
  • HR information systems The increased popularity of computer-based HR information systems is a case in point. Many companies are concerned with building a link between the evaluation (or performance appraisal systems) and other human resource systems such as recruitment, compensation, career planning, and training.
  • Recognition This refers to a set of consequences that are primarily non-monetary. These may be formal programs (employee recognition programs) or informal actions such as highlighting certain people during meetings, in official communications, or even simply in conversation.
  • Termination This, finally, represents the ultimate form of negative reinforcement (short of ritual execution) within an organization.
  • This aspect of organizational design is often overlooked, yet the manner in which an organization turns employees into non-employees has profound effects on current workers. Although this aspect of organizational life is rarely pleasant, termination of employees for poor performance often has the effect of assuring other workers that the organization is aware of employees who are not performing well, particularly when this poor performance puts additional pressure on co-workers to pick up the slack.
  • Attrition and retention research on job choice, career choice, and turnover clearly shows that the kind and level of rewards an organization offers influences who is attracted to work for an organization and who will continue to work for it..
  • Culture are one feature of organizations that contributes to their overall culture or climate. Depending upon how reward systems are developed, administered, and managed, they can cause the culture of an organization to vary quite widely. For example, they can influence the degree to which it is seen as a human resource-oriented culture, an entrepreneurial culture, an innovative culture, a competence-based culture, and a culture of participation.
  • Reinforce and Define Structure the reward system of an organization can reinforce and define the organization's structure. Often this feature of reward systems is not fully considered in the design of reward systems. As a result, their impact on the structure of an organization is unintentional. This does not mean, however, that the impact of the reward system on structure is usually minimal. Indeed, it can help define the status hierarchy, the degree to which people in technical positions can influence people in line management positions, and it can strongly influence the kind of decision structure that exists.
  • Cost reward systems are often a significant cost factor. Indeed, the pay system alone may represent over 50% of the organization's operating cost. Thus, it is important in strategically designing the reward system to focus on how high these costs should be and how they will vary as a function of the organization's ability to pay.
  • the learning component of the organization layer is focused on the knowledge and skills necessary for individuals and teams to perform. It is comprised of two primary subcomponents in accordance with a preferred embodiment:
  • training generally refers to ways in which skills are acquired.
  • Knowledge sharing refers, obviously, to the manner in which new knowledge is acquired.
  • Training refers to the formal training content, instructional design, and opportunities for individuals and teams to learn efficiently and effectively. This subcomponent prepares workers for performing new tasks at "day one" proficiency levels, or for performing the same tasks at higher proficiency levels. Instructional and delivery methods represented here range widely, and will usually be used in combination with many techniques.
  • Training is, in turn, comprised oi formal and informal components.
  • Formal training consists of the following main elements:
  • Just-in-Time Learning Curricula identifies the formal learning opportunities that should be provided to the organization. Usually these learning opportunities consist of courses, seminars, or conferences that use various instructional methods and media. Within the curricula component, these individual learning opportunities are organized into curriculum paths that individuals should follow. These paths ensure that individuals have learned the more basic material, often reinforced through actual job performance, before proceeding to more advanced learning opportunities.
  • Curriculum plans include course descriptions, dependencies between courses (e.g., prerequisites), performance objectives, and audience descriptions.
  • Courses is the subcomponent that identifies the specific delivery method(s) for a given curriculum path, and provides the instructional content, organized in a way that promotes learning and delivers individuals who can achieve "day one" performance targets.
  • JIT Just-in-Time Learning provides information that is accessed as people perform their jobs.
  • JIT Learning content is often organized by task; it is also highly focused, because the task performance requirements may preclude a thorough exploration of the topic. (Consider, for example, a customer service representative for an airline on the phone with an irate passenger, and the CSR's limited ability to absorb new information in this situation).
  • Informal Learning provides opportunities for improving skills in situations that cannot or do not need to be accounted for in advance. Although less structured and more ad hoc, they often are the most salient and productive learning experiences, because they arise at the point and time of need. Informal Learning includes the following elements in accordance with a preferred embodiment:
  • Self-Directed Learning occurs when workers themselves develop new skills, by asking for coaching, or by reading trade journals or attending seminars and conferences. Self-Directed Learning is often influenced by others within an organization. For example, a coach might suggest a direction for an individual's self-development.
  • Coaching is usually interpersonal, where one person provides solicited or unsolicited advice to an individual on any topic related to job performance, including career counseling. This coaching can be formalized into mentoring relationships or can simply be an informal discussion between colleagues on a topic. Coaching provides salient information at the point of need (either the worker has asked for advice, or the coach has identified a "teachable moment") in the right context. Effective coaches are respected for their expertise, concern for others, and their ability to send difficult messages regarding performance in a constructive manner. Loosely speaking, coaching can also be provided through technology and tools, found in the work layer of the human performance framework.
  • Knowledge Support provides useful information in varying degrees of
  • Knowledge support aids the process of converting tacit knowledge held by a few individuals into explicit knowledge that can be shared throughout the organization.
  • Knowledge support is comprised of three primary subcomponents: content creation, content evaluation, and content indexing.
  • Content can take many forms: presentations, white papers, case studies, lessons learned, or responses to a specific question or situation.
  • Media ranges from simple text and graphics to sophisticated animation, audio, and video.
  • Creation is performed either by an individual or group for a specific business purpose (e.g., a sales proposal to a customer), then "repurposed” as share-able, explicit knowledge. This act of creation makes the content explicit. Organizations can sometimes accelerate this process through formal projects or groups to package knowledge.
  • Evaluation verifies that the information supplied is high-quality and relevant to the organization's needs. This quality assessment can be done by expert reviewers or, in a more emergent fashion, through assessments by users of this information, or through determining the frequency of use of a piece of knowledge (the more frequently an item is used, the more valuable it presumably is to other individuals).
  • Indexing organizes and categorizes the information in ways that other people in the organization will find useful. To be fully effective, indexing goes beyond mere keyword matching; it needs to understand the semantics of the information. Access and dissemination of the content is obviously required also. This is found in the tools and technology components of the work execution layer.
  • Performance Support provides the day-to-day tools and access to relevant knowledge that helps workers accomplish tasks. This support is immediate and very fine-grained; ideally it is perfectly relevant to the task at hand. A key design decision is: who will initiate support under which circumstances, the system or the worker? The more proactive the system is in supplying support, the smarter it needs to be, because the chance of unnecessarily interfering with the work increases with proactiveness.
  • Indexing may be necessary to organize and relate information appropriately. This information might be in the form of stories, but can also be textual or an animation to illustrate a principle.
  • a well-integrated, well-indexed knowledge management service could provide the advice.
  • most knowledge management processes are not rigorous enough (and probably shouldn't be) to support advice creation for a mission-critical business process.
  • Access Paths provide the workers with the ability to acquire relevant information for their specific task at the point and time of need. In a well-designed performance support environment, this access would appear to workers to simply be a natural part of their work. Access paths are provided to:
  • JIT Learning provides short, focused learning modules that workers can access either in the course of work, or away from primary job performance.
  • leadership within the human performance framework refers to leadership shown by identifiable individuals within the organization. Leadership is necessary at all levels of an organization, but particularly for those individuals identified as having a high impact on the workforce or on a team. Leadership involves people interacting on an individual basis, acting as coach and mentor as well as supervisor, to demonstrate to all employees that their contribution to the work of the group is valued. It involves helping each individual and team to achieve its full potential and appropriate recognition of those achievements. Skillful leadership of people is a key component to creating a high performance work group.
  • Stewardship refers to a general sense of leadership that provides assurance to people that there is someone strong at the helm. This is a combination of charisma, communication skills, intelligence, caring, and probably many other characteristics. Yet this kind of leadership can be encouraged within individuals, and it can be designed into the human performance system of an organization. Stewardship is demonstrated at levels throughout the organization, not only at the highest level, but also in teams.
  • Sponsorship is that unique aspect of leadership which is directed toward a particular change initiative. Whereas leadership is active in all directions and at all times, sponsorship is focused on active encouragement and facilitation of a program of change.
  • Sponsors are responsible for creating an environment that enables change to be made on time and within budget. Although some thinkers in this area maintain distinctions between sponsors (those who have the power to sanction or legitimize change), agents (those individuals or groups who actually perform the work of making change happen), and advocates (those who support the change, but lack the power either to sanction the change or to make it happen), sponsorship within the human performance framework includes all these roles.
  • Mentoring refers to close professional relationships between more experienced employees and less experienced employees in organizations. Mentoring implies a long-term interest in the professional development of someone. Developing mentoring capabilities within a company involves going well beyond establishing mentoring "programs," because mentoring cannot be established by decree. It involves the serendipity of relationships established by accident as much as by design. Coaching refers to the type of leadership that directs employees very close to the point of performance. It presumes an active role in observing and providing short periods of feedback and direction to an employee.
  • Efficient and effective communication is vital to human performance, not only during times of rapid change, but at all times. Communication ensures that employees have a sense of direction, and of connection to the organization and other employees. Communication contains important links to other components in the architecture framework, especially to Leadership and Culture. Developing a longer-term climate of open communications requires a commitment to continue communicating into the future. By communicating regularly, such events move from being special to "the way we do things around here.” Additionally, successful organizations employ mechanisms of regular performance based communications enabled through the system of team briefing.
  • Communication is comprised of planned communications and ad hoc communications.
  • Planned communications refer to the "official" communications of a company, with the intent to provide a consistent set of messages to all employees. Although these official communications are generally thought of as one-way, in fact, effective communication programs are only possible where there is a two-way flow and where the audience has the opportunity to question in order to develop understanding.
  • Key messages are the themes that will resonate through all communications, both to a team and to the entire organization. Every communication must have a purpose: to bring the audience to a specific level of awareness or understanding about the project or to announce the reaching of a major project milestone. Organizations should not send out communications when there is no specific purpose. Key messages should be the primary driver of the communication plan. Each key message can address a different audience (stakeholder) or address several audiences at different times. Each message communicated must be customized for its target audience. This will ensure that the information is relevant.
  • Vehicles, or communication channels, are the methods used to deliver messages to stakeholders.
  • the vehicles used can be as informal as a telephone conversation or as formal as a prepared presentation or a newsletter.
  • the vehicles used will differ depending on the stakeholder group and the message being delivered.
  • Feedback must be generated and evaluated in order to monitor, check, and improve communications. In order to check that the key messages are reaching their target audiences as well as to provide a means of "self tuning" communications to meet the needs of audiences, feedback should be regularly sought from both audiences and communicators. Achieving such a system may include the development of questionnaires and surveys as well as management debriefs after communications events.
  • Ad hoc communications refer to informal communications among employees at all levels of an organization. Here we find a strong link to the cultural aspects of the architecture framework. A culture of openness can only be built by encouraging communication links among workers. Within ad hoc communications, the primary work for management is establishing the vehicle by which such communications may take place easily.
  • Sustained high levels of performance depend on people supported by a culture that is cohesive, that defines explicit values and encourages work in accordance with those values. This is an area within the framework which many people are apt to treat as "more art than science," and yet this should not blind us to the fact there are proven techniques for building a high-performing, highly- motivated culture. Many of the components of the human performance framework affect the culture and values of the organization. A positive work experience is affected by effective leadership, workforce planning, and well-targeted training and development programs. Also important is demonstrating a genuine concern for performance issues, including appropriate forms of recognition and reward.
  • Values involves both values clarification and values ownership. Organizations often make the mistake of not being explicit about what particular values they wish embodied in their culture. Values clarification involves: • Definition of the potential values to be considered.
  • Values are of no benefit if they are simply abstractions, or if they remain simply as policy statements. Values ownership ensures that organizations take specific actions to ensure the development of ownership of the values at all levels of the organization.
  • Cohesion Organizations cannot speak of a "culture” at all without a sense of cohesion or belonging among all personnel. Specific actions must be taken on an ongoing basis to establish and nurture cohesion.
  • the operations layer is comprised of the processes performed, the technology and tools that enable that performance, and the physical environment in which the work is performed.
  • the operations layer is comprised, then, of three components (see Figure 6): • Process
  • FIG. 5 illustrates the Operations Layer in accordance with a preferred embodiment. Each of the components of this critical layer are discussed below in accordance with a preferred embodiment.
  • Technology refers not only to the information systems at hand for workers, but to the equipment, tools, applications, and the particular delivery vehicles for those applications.
  • the tools and technologies made available to the employee when carrying out processes directly influence the performance of the individual. Absence of appropriate tools and technology can significantly reduce the effectiveness of the individual. Conversely, well-designed tools and technology can leverage human performance and provide a competitive advantage.
  • the physical setting in which work takes place can have a direct impact on the individual's ability to perform effectively, both directly and through its impact on motivation.
  • Physical setting includes:
  • Layout involves different concerns, depending on whether the focus is on a group or team, or on an individual.
  • Group design must be cognizant of a physical workspace that encourages collaboration when it is appropriate. It also must take into account a design of space that encourages informal meetings, where innovation often takes place. Individual design is where ergonomical considerations are highlighted - things such as appropriate seating, proper height of desks and terminals, and so forth.
  • Design of supporting tools may involve primarily the information technology tools for workers. However, all tools supporting work performance must be designed into the total performance solution.
  • the strategy layer concerns the basic strategic direction for the company. Strategic direction rigorously analyzes the company's or business unit's external environment, market dynamics, and organization. In this layer, the company makes a clear statement about how it intends to serve its markets to achieve competitive advantage and maximize shareholder value. Work in this layer occurs when (1) the strategic direction needs clarifying for some internal reason; and (2) when occurrences in the company's environment (regulation, competitors, economy) dictate strategic change. Our discussion in this section is intended only to sketch the basic outlines of strategy, certainly not to treat the subject in detail.
  • Figure 7 illustrates the various components of the strategy layer in accordance with a prefe ⁇ ed embodiment.
  • the strategy layer is comprised of three components that are detailed below.
  • a corporate strategy provides the company with a common direction that focuses its collective effort on creating sustainable value in the industries and markets in which it chooses to compete.
  • the corporate strategy differs from a business unit strategy in that it: focuses the collective effort on its business portfolio; defines how it will structure and govern itself to create and manage synergy across the corporate center and its business units; and manages relationships with external stakeholder groups.
  • the business unit strategy clarifies what the business unit aspires to be, what business it is in, what goals it is seeking to achieve, what value proposition it will deliver to customers, which capabilities are required for success, how to distinguish its portfolio of products and services from its competitors, and how it will contribute to achieving the company's vision and objectives.
  • the business unit strategy differs from the corporate strategy in that it focuses on how to be successful in a particular market, leverages effort within the business unit, and seeks a distinctive marketplace position for its produce/service portfolio.
  • Figure 8 illustrates the various components making up the Environment layer in accordance with a preferred embodiment.
  • the environmental layer is made up of a number of external influences on the company and its people. These are things over which the company has no direct control. So, although we cannot design "interventions" for these occurrences, they nevertheless must be included in the human performance framework as primary influences.
  • Figure 9 illustrates each of the components of a Human Performance Framework in accordance with a prefe ⁇ ed embodiment. This is a way of looking at human performance, and a way of communicating its fullness in an integrated manner. As the framework is used, it becomes a tool by which to guide the development of solutions to influence human performance for our clients.
  • the framework in accordance with a prefe ⁇ ed embodiment includes:
  • the individual layer of the framework is where human performance arises; they are where our interventions are felt most strongly. All intentional interventions to influence human performance apply either directly to the individual and groups of individuals, or indirectly through the work layer (process, technology, physical setting).
  • the operations layer and the strategy layer identify things that influence human performance, but they are not ultimately designed by a human performance architect (that is, put another way, they are not directly owned by the Change Management competency). In those layers, a human performance architect provides input to the definition of other architectures. 7.
  • the organization layer identifies the elements that are directly implemented by the human performance architect (that is, they are within the "people" element of the Business Integration model). 8. The impact of our interventions on human performance are predictable at a macro level, and they can be measured.

Abstract

L'invention concerne un système assurant une discussion détaillée d'un cadre de gestion du personnel plus cohérente, plus efficace, avec une plus grande confiance dans le fait qu'il en résultera dans la tâche du personnel une différence sensible, et même quantifiable. Une logique concernant des personnes et des organisations du monde entier a été synthétisée. L'invention porte sur un nouveau paradigme d'analyse des performances humaines, destiné à assister la création de solutions intégrées de performances humaines donnant lieu à de meilleurs résultats financiers.
PCT/US2000/012093 1999-05-03 2000-05-03 Systeme, procede et article fabrique pour cadre de performances humaines avec approche holistique de la liaison WO2000067179A2 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AU48179/00A AU4817900A (en) 1999-05-03 2000-05-03 System, method and article of manufacture for a human performance framework witha holistic approach to linking

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US30423199A 1999-05-03 1999-05-03
US09/304,231 1999-05-03

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2000067179A2 true WO2000067179A2 (fr) 2000-11-09
WO2000067179A8 WO2000067179A8 (fr) 2002-07-25

Family

ID=23175626

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/US2000/012093 WO2000067179A2 (fr) 1999-05-03 2000-05-03 Systeme, procede et article fabrique pour cadre de performances humaines avec approche holistique de la liaison

Country Status (2)

Country Link
AU (1) AU4817900A (fr)
WO (1) WO2000067179A2 (fr)

Cited By (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US7155400B1 (en) * 2001-11-14 2006-12-26 Qgenisys, Inc. Universal task management system, method and product for automatically managing remote workers, including automatically recruiting workers
US7240018B2 (en) * 2002-01-11 2007-07-03 Navitaire, Inc. Rapid generation of minimum length pilot training schedules
US7945469B2 (en) * 2004-11-16 2011-05-17 Amazon Technologies, Inc. Providing an electronic marketplace to facilitate human performance of programmatically submitted tasks
US8005697B1 (en) 2004-11-16 2011-08-23 Amazon Technologies, Inc. Performing automated price determination for tasks to be performed
US9985943B1 (en) 2013-12-18 2018-05-29 Amazon Technologies, Inc. Automated agent detection using multiple factors
US10438225B1 (en) 2013-12-18 2019-10-08 Amazon Technologies, Inc. Game-based automated agent detection

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
No Search *

Cited By (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US7155400B1 (en) * 2001-11-14 2006-12-26 Qgenisys, Inc. Universal task management system, method and product for automatically managing remote workers, including automatically recruiting workers
US7240018B2 (en) * 2002-01-11 2007-07-03 Navitaire, Inc. Rapid generation of minimum length pilot training schedules
US8447646B2 (en) 2002-01-11 2013-05-21 Accenture Global Services Limited System and method for rapid generation of minimum length pilot training schedules
US7945469B2 (en) * 2004-11-16 2011-05-17 Amazon Technologies, Inc. Providing an electronic marketplace to facilitate human performance of programmatically submitted tasks
US8005697B1 (en) 2004-11-16 2011-08-23 Amazon Technologies, Inc. Performing automated price determination for tasks to be performed
US8306840B2 (en) 2004-11-16 2012-11-06 Amazon Technologies, Inc. Providing an electronic marketplace to facilitate human performance of programmatically submitted tasks
US8392235B1 (en) 2004-11-16 2013-03-05 Amazon Technologies, Inc. Performing automated price determination for tasks to be performed
US9985943B1 (en) 2013-12-18 2018-05-29 Amazon Technologies, Inc. Automated agent detection using multiple factors
US10438225B1 (en) 2013-12-18 2019-10-08 Amazon Technologies, Inc. Game-based automated agent detection

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
AU4817900A (en) 2000-11-17
WO2000067179A8 (fr) 2002-07-25

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
Englund et al. Creating an environment for successful projects
Foster et al. Managing quality: Integrating the supply chain
Coetzee et al. Career counselling and guidance in the workplace: A manual for career practitioners
Eagan et al. Engaging undergraduates in science research: Not just about faculty willingness
Hughes et al. Managing human resource development programs: Current issues and evolving trends
Sauber et al. Developing supply chain management program: a competency model
Martin et al. Realigning top management's strategic change actions for ERP implementation: how specializing on just cultural and environmental contextual factors could improve success
Loo Training in project management: a powerful tool for improving individual and team performance
WO2001018683A2 (fr) Procede et systeme d'ordonnancement de taches a base de ressources
Humphreys Designing a management development programme for procurement executives
Kennedy et al. Enabling the management accountant to become a business partner: Organizational and verbal analysis toolkit
WO2000067179A2 (fr) Systeme, procede et article fabrique pour cadre de performances humaines avec approche holistique de la liaison
Phillips et al. ROI fundamentals: Why and when to measure return on investment
Monger Managerial Decision Making with Technology: Highlights of the Literature
Parker et al. Managing projects, managing people
Ziegenfuss Are you growing systems thinking managers? Use a systems model to teach and practice organizational analysis and planning, management policy, and organizational development
Viardot Human resources management in large information-based services companies: towards a common framework?
Daghfous Industrial modernisation initiatives: a technology transfer, organisational learning, and knowledge management perspective
Bikson et al. Computer-Mediated Work
Bondarouk et al. Implementation of collaborative technologies as a learning process
Rawat et al. Workforce Training and Development For HR Capacity Building In Some Selected SMEs Of Uttarakhand
Smeltzer A behavior systems analysis approach to designing a high-impact knowledge management system
Yaure A case study analysis of technology decision making at a higher education institution
Kohonen Sales process development between sales and customer relationships to increase efficiency
Chun The impact of applying reengineering principles to reshape administrative processes at a multicampus community college

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
AK Designated states

Kind code of ref document: A2

Designated state(s): AE AG AL AM AT AU AZ BA BB BG BR BY CA CH CN CR CU CZ DE DK DM DZ EE ES FI GB GE GH GM HR HU ID IL IN IS JP KE KG KP KR KZ LC LK LR LS LT LU LV MA MD MG MK MN MW MX NO NZ PL PT RO RU SD SE SG SI SK SL TJ TM TR TT TZ UA UG UZ VN YU ZW

AL Designated countries for regional patents

Kind code of ref document: A2

Designated state(s): GH GM KE LS MW SD SL SZ TZ UG ZW AM AZ BY KG KZ MD RU TJ TM AT BE CH CY DE DK ES FI FR GB GR IE IT LU MC NL PT SE BF BJ CF CG CI CM GA GN GW ML MR NE SN TD TG

121 Ep: the epo has been informed by wipo that ep was designated in this application
DFPE Request for preliminary examination filed prior to expiration of 19th month from priority date (pct application filed before 20040101)
REG Reference to national code

Ref country code: DE

Ref legal event code: 8642

AK Designated states

Kind code of ref document: C1

Designated state(s): AE AG AL AM AT AU AZ BA BB BG BR BY CA CH CN CR CU CZ DE DK DM DZ EE ES FI GB GE GH GM HR HU ID IL IN IS JP KE KG KP KR KZ LC LK LR LS LT LU LV MA MD MG MK MN MW MX NO NZ PL PT RO RU SD SE SG SI SK SL TJ TM TR TT TZ UA UG UZ VN YU ZW

AL Designated countries for regional patents

Kind code of ref document: C1

Designated state(s): GH GM KE LS MW SD SL SZ TZ UG ZW AM AZ BY KG KZ MD RU TJ TM AT BE CH CY DE DK ES FI FR GB GR IE IT LU MC NL PT SE BF BJ CF CG CI CM GA GN GW ML MR NE SN TD TG

D17 Declaration under article 17(2)a
122 Ep: pct application non-entry in european phase
NENP Non-entry into the national phase in:

Ref country code: JP