Dissertation: Occupational Narratives of Human Performance Technology
by Sheryl K. Narahara
by Sheryl K. Narahara
Paralleling dramatic economic, social and technological transformations, the field of Human Performance Technology (HPT) [1] has rapidly moved from product development (industrial model) to process orientation (knowledge model). Interested in how HPT practitioners have risento meet emergent challenges, I conducted a three-tiered life history interview(Seidman) with twelve established professionals (six men and six women, ¼ ofinternational origins, and spanning three generations.) Examining the narrative phenomena of storytelling (Bruner) as a source of knowledge and culture among a distributed community of practice (Wenger), my research provides professional reflections (Schon) on emergent patterns and themes through an iterative process of reciprocal/auto-ethnography (Lawless.)
[1] Human performance technology is a field of practice that has evolved largely as a result of the experience, reflection, and conceptualization of professional practitioners striving to improve humanperformance. It is relatively a new field that has emerged from the coalescing of principles derived from carefully documented practice of thoughtful behavioral and cognitive psychologists, instructional technologists, training designers, organizational developers, and various human resource specialists. HPT possesses a base of research and theory but as a rapidly evolving professional field, its practice frequently outpaces its research and theoretical foundations. (Stolovitch & Keeps, The Handbook of HPT, 199, p. 3)
[1] Human performance technology is a field of practice that has evolved largely as a result of the experience, reflection, and conceptualization of professional practitioners striving to improve humanperformance. It is relatively a new field that has emerged from the coalescing of principles derived from carefully documented practice of thoughtful behavioral and cognitive psychologists, instructional technologists, training designers, organizational developers, and various human resource specialists. HPT possesses a base of research and theory but as a rapidly evolving professional field, its practice frequently outpaces its research and theoretical foundations. (Stolovitch & Keeps, The Handbook of HPT, 199, p. 3)