MTS Performance Improvement Solutions 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A performance consultant discovers that employees have the skills to do the job but consistently choose not to follow the correct process. Which intervention is MOST appropriate?
- Provide additional skills training
- Implement a consequence management system (Correct answer)
- Redesign the job aids
- Conduct a needs assessment
Correct answer: Implement a consequence management system
When performers have the skills but choose not to perform, the issue is motivational and consequence-based rather than skill-based.
Question 2: Which of the following BEST describes the purpose of a logic model in performance improvement planning?
- It maps the relationship between resources, activities, outputs, and outcomes (Correct answer)
- It identifies the root cause of performance gaps
- It measures return on investment for training programs
- It documents the job task analysis findings
Correct answer: It maps the relationship between resources, activities, outputs, and outcomes
A logic model visually depicts how program inputs and activities are expected to produce specific outputs and lead to desired outcomes.
Question 3: An MTS is evaluating whether a performance problem warrants a training solution. Which question is MOST critical to ask first?
- What is the cost of the training program?
- Could performers do the task if their lives depended on it? (Correct answer)
- How many employees are affected by the performance gap?
- What is the timeline for implementing the solution?
Correct answer: Could performers do the task if their lives depended on it?
Mager and Pipe's classic diagnostic question distinguishes skill deficits (can't do) from performance problems (won't do), directing the appropriate intervention.
Question 4: During solution implementation, a change resistance team forms among senior employees. The BEST immediate response is to:
- Mandate compliance through disciplinary action
- Involve the resistors as subject matter experts in refining the solution (Correct answer)
- Replace the resistors with more cooperative team members
- Delay implementation until full consensus is reached
Correct answer: Involve the resistors as subject matter experts in refining the solution
Engaging resistors as SMEs converts their energy from opposition to ownership, leveraging their experience while reducing resistance.
Question 5: Which evaluation approach allows an MTS to determine whether a performance improvement intervention caused the observed change in results?
- Pre-test and post-test with a control group (Correct answer)
- Supervisor rating surveys administered after training
- Level 1 reaction surveys completed immediately after
- Cost-benefit analysis of the intervention
Correct answer: Pre-test and post-test with a control group
A control group design isolates the effect of the intervention from other variables, establishing causation rather than correlation.
Question 6: A performance improvement plan includes job aids but workers say they are too complex to use on the job. Which revision strategy is MOST effective?
- Reduce the reading level and add visual decision trees (Correct answer)
- Replace job aids with mandatory memorization training
- Increase font size and change the color scheme
- Move the job aids to an online repository for easy access
Correct answer: Reduce the reading level and add visual decision trees
Simplifying language and adding visual decision trees makes job aids more usable in real-time performance situations.
Question 7: In the ADDIE model, which phase involves specifying learning objectives, assessment instruments, and content sequencing?
- Analysis
- Design (Correct answer)
- Development
- Implementation
Correct answer: Design
The Design phase translates analysis findings into blueprints specifying objectives, assessments, and content structure before development begins.
MTS Performance Improvement Solutions 2
A performance consultant discovers that employees have the skills to do the job but consistently choose not to follow the correct process.
Which intervention is MOST appropriate?