| Abstract: | Most Human Resource Development (HRD) and Performance Improvement (PI) professionals agree that organizational performance is critical. There is less agreement, however, on the specific concepts that underlie differing models of performance diagnosis and improvement. Part of this disagreement may stem from a lack of a strong theoretical and empirical grounding in the multi-disciplinary concepts that comprise the basis of performance improvement. Swanson's (1994) Performance Diagnosis Matrix of Enabling Questions identifies elements central to HRD effectiveness and provides a theoretical framework through which multiple and diverse scholarly contributions can be explored to provide HRD/PI with additional theoretical strength. This discussion offers a more complete and stronger understanding of HRD/PI and the elements necessary to improve organizational performance by researching significant authors and research studies for concepts raised in the fifteen enabling questions posed in Swanson's Performance Diagnosis of Enabling Questions. These fifteen questions address performance variables (mission/goal, systems design, capacity, motivation, and expertise) at three performance levels (organizational, process, and individual). |
