Volume 62: Issue 1

Welcome to our first issue of the Performance Improvement Journal (PIJ) for 2023! As always, we also express our sincere gratitude and appreciation to our esteemed Board of Directors for their valued input and feedback, as well as our associate editors and contributing authors who offer us such interesting and engaging perspectives from the field.

My thoughts...

We are all looking forward to the new year with the hopes of turning the page on some of the global challenges we have all been recently facing, including the lingering pandemic, impacts of climate change, and political uncertainty

Dale M. Brethower was professor emeritus at Western Michigan University (WMU), having started as a graduate student at Harvard University who studied under B. F. Skinner. He was a pioneer in the field of human performance technology (HPT) and served as president in 2000–2001 for the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI). His family and colleagues share their memories and tributes to his esteemed life and legacy.

This article describes an initiative of designing a strategic plan with a volunteer board using the online platform Zoom. The article defines the role of boards of directors in general and addresses the special case of volunteer boards, presenting key performance issues of volunteer boards. Emphasis is placed on the relevance of formulating clear, focused understanding of organizational purpose, role clarity and performance expectations, strategic emphasis fortified by clear agendas, the structuring and enlisting of board member contributions to governance, guidance by board staff, and shared versus individual authority of board members. Board strategic planning represents one of the most valuable deliverables by the governing body and provides an avenue of structured contribution that leads to results. Using Zoom as the vehicle for designing the board strategic plan and implementation plan as described in this article optimized adult learning principles and integrated highly structured and persuasive facilitation to generate a strong, well-connected plan, demonstrating the benefits of economy made possible using an online forum. The final product reflected rigorous critical thinking and design for realistic application.

Likert scales (although ordinal scales) are often treated as interval scales during statistical analyses. There have been attempts to add a modifier (such as moderately, somewhat, or slightly) to the intermediate anchors of Likert scales (i.e., disagree and agree) to help them become interval-like scales. However, the research findings are inconsistent. For interval-like 5-point and 4-point Likert scales, a recent study suggests using strongly disagree, moderately disagree, neutral, moderately agree, strongly agree (in either ascending or descending response order), and strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, strongly disagree (in descending order). However, practitioners and researchers should be aware that research evidence in this regard has been inconsistent.

TRANSLATING CORE VALUES INTO ACTIONABLE STRATEGIES

REMEMBERING DALE BRETHOWER—INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT AND HUMAN PERFORMANCE TECHNOLOGY PIONEER

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT OF A VOLUNTEER BOARD: DESIGNING A STRATEGIC PLAN USING ZOOM

EVIDENCE-BASED SURVEY DESIGN: ADDING “MODERATELY” OR “SOMEWHAT” TO LIKERT SCALE OPTIONS AGREE AND DISAGREE TO GET INTERVAL-LIKE DATA

INTERNAL COMPETITION IN A HIGH-PERFORMANCE TEAM

SPECIAL FEATURE: KNOW YOUR COLLEAGUES—STEPHANIE JOHNSON AND MARSHA PARKER

INTERVIEW WITH STEPHANIE JOHNSON, PHD

What attracted you to PI, human performance technology, and ISPI?

OPTIMIZING PERFORMANCE IN THE REFRIGERATION INDUSTRY: AN HPT APPROACH

SPECIAL FEATURE: KNOW YOUR COLLEAGUES

LIFE, A FULL CIRCLE? FROM WINNING THE ISPI CASE STUDY COMPETITION TO JUDGING IT! REFLECTION OF THE PAST AND THE PRESENT

FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE—SHAPING THE FUTURE OF PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT

LEVERAGING HPT TO ENHANCE HVAC TECHNICIAN RETENTION: A MULTISITE CASE STUDY

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE APPLIED IN PRICING RATE DESIGN IMPLEMENTATION

BEING RESPONSIVE IN TIMES OF CHANGE

VALUING TIME TO REFLECT

SPECIAL FEATURE: KNOW YOUR COLLEAGUES: JACK PHILLIPS AND PATTI PHILLIPS

EDITOR'S NOTES