Gilbert's Behavior Engineering Model

In 1978, Thomas F. Gilbert, psychologist and founder of the human performance technology field, published Human Competence: Engineering Worthy Performance. In this seminal work, Gilbert proposed the Behavior Engineering Model as a framework for assessing an organization’s performance gaps, analyze causes of those gaps and possible solutions by applying his understanding of engineering, science, philosophy and technological improvement. In introducing the Leisurely Theorems, Gilbert (1978) states that he “tried to create a useful, simple, and coherent system for engineering more worthy performance in individuals and especially groups of people.”

The Behavior Engineering Model (BEM) identifies six categories influencing human performance and provides a framework for analyzing these factors. They are:

• Data and Information: performance expectations, performance standards, desired outputs, goals and objectives. People need clearly and consistently communicated expectations. They should know what they are supposed to do. Additionally, feedback is an important source of data. In order to be effective, feedback should be timely, specific and useful.
• Environmental Supports and Resources: time, tools, equipment, materials, financial resources, etc. An organization should provide sufficient and appropriate resources to support performers’ achievement.

• Consequences, Incentives and Rewards: These can take many forms and can be positive or negative. In order to effectively stimulate desired outcomes, consequences, incentives or rewards need to have meaning, i.e. negative consequences should be those that people want to avoid and positive consequences should be those that people desire.

• Knowledge and Skills: This is the repertory intrinsic to the performers. Do they have the requisite knowledge and skills to perform optimally? Knowledge and skills are gained through a variety of sources including formal education, training, experience, observations, etc.

• Capacity: an individual’s physical and mental talents and capabilities to perform.

• Motives: The reasons people do what they do: needs, desires, aspirations, fears, self-esteem, self-efficacy and a host of other internal characteristics. Motivations have a significant impact on performance, however, they can be particularly difficult for human performance improvement professionals to alter as many motives are outside of their scope of practice.

Key Terms:

Competence: An individual’s ability to succeed at doing a job; creating a valuable result that exceeds the cost of the behavior.

Worth: The state when the value of an accomplishment exceeds the cost of the behavior

Leisure/Human Capital: the opportunity and time available to perform; the intersection of an organization’s skills, the required roles and the people available.

Performance: Distinct from behavior, performance is the accomplishments of human behavior.

Leisurely Theorems:

1st Leisurely Theorem: Human competence is a function of worthy performance, which is a function of the ratio of valuable accomplishments to costly behavior. The value of our accomplishments should exceed the costs (time, money, resources, energy, etc.) invested in achieving the accomplishments.

W = A/B (Worthy performance = Ratio of Valuable Accomplishments to Costly Behaviors)

2nd Leisurely Theorem: Analyze the performance gap, discrepancy between actual performance and desired performance, by comparing typical performance to exemplary performance. This comparison is the PIP: Potential to Improve Performance

PIP = Wex/Wt (Potential to Improve Performance = Ratio of Exemplary Performance to Typical Performance)

3rd Leisurely Theorem: Diagnose performance deficiencies and determine effective means of producing worthy performance. For an accomplishment, a performance deficiency has a direct cause either in the performer’s behavior repertory (P), the environment (E), or a combination of both. Ultimately, an organization will always find a contributing cause in the management (M).

W = A/B = A/(P + E + M)

Additionally, the components of behavior. Behavior (B) is equal to a person’s repertory of behavior (P) modified by their supportive (working) environment (E).

B = P + E

Fourth Leisurely Theorem: Develop a systematic perspective on evaluation the value of accomplishment.

References:

Gilbert, T.F. (1978). Human Competence: Engineering Worthy Performance.

New York: McGraw-Hill.

Gilbert, T. (2007). Human competence: Engineering Worthy Performance (Tribute edition).

San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Rothwell, W.J., Hohne, C.K., King, S.B. (2013). Human Performance Improvement: Building

Practitioner Performance. (Second Edition). New York: Routledge.