Robert W. Swezey

Computer Assisted Training of Complex Managerial Performance.

Abstract The degree of training effectiveness in most prior management training technologies is considered. It is suggested that training should not only focus on the specific content of managerial tasks (e.g., what managers should think or do in response to certain task or situational demands) but should also focus on structural components of managerial effectiveness (e.g., “how” managers think and function, including the utilization of adaptive differentiation and flexible integration, especially in complex, fluid and uncertain settings). A training experiment employing two scenarios of a computer assisted quasi-experimental simulation is reported. Computer-based training was interspersed between exposure to the two simulations. Data indicate that training in both specific content and in structural components of management generated considerable improvement in performance. The degree of improvement after exposure to only specific training was diminished and restricted to simpler aspects of performance. No improvement was evident for those managers who were not exposed to training. Suggestions for future managerial training technologies are advanced.

Effects of instructional strategy and motion presentation conditions on the acquisition and transfer of electromechanical troubleshooting skill

Three instructional strategy conditions and the presence or absence of visually presented motion during instruction were manipulated, and their effects on the acquisition and transfer of electromechanical troubleshooting performance were investigated. In this study use of visually presented motion during training (as opposed to static display presentation) was not found to enhance either maintenance performance or transfer on troubleshooting tasks. However, results indicated that subjects trained via a procedure-based training strategy performed more accurately, but slower, than did subjects whose training consisted of conceptual information concerning system structure and function for a reference performance task. When a transfer task was used as the criterion measure, results indicated that training that included conceptual information concerning a systems structure and/or function improved performance. Results thus suggested that some level of generic structure and functional knowledge is required for cross-domain transfer on cognitive troubleshooting tasks, and that this information should include both general procedures for troubleshooting and declarative information on the structure and function of the systems of interest.

Enhancing the safe driving performance of older commercial vehicle drivers

Previous research has indicated that various aspects of perceptual, cognitive, and psychomotor performance that are relevant to driving tend to deteriorate with increasing age. Despite age-related ability changes, many individuals continue to drive into their eighties and nineties. However, the onset, rate, and amount of deterioration varies widely among individuals. As a result, the level of competence in basic driving skills that determine overall driving performance, and the underlying abilities that contribute to performance cannot be predicted by chronological age alone. Each year the average age of commercial drivers in the United States increases. Even with current societal changes - downsizing of industrial and military organizations - the commercial trucking industry faces a shortage of qualified drivers. Retaining older drivers - often the safest group - can help stem the shortage. However, if older drivers present unique or increased safety or productivity risks, those risks must be identified and reduced. Until now, research on older drivers has focused on automobile drivers 65 years of age and older; very little research has been conducted on older commercial drivers. All things considered, it may be appropriate to treat older commercial drivers and older automobile drivers as separate driver populations. Several differences between these two driver groups may add to accident risk for older commercial drivers. For instance, older automobile drivers have been shown to reduce the number of miles they drive, drive on familiar routes, and avoid demanding and risky driving situations. On the other hand, older commercial drivers are likely to drive long hours and be exposed to many of the high risk situations older automobile drivers avoid. Specifically, older commercial drivers will be more likely to drive more at night, in adverse weather, and have less flexibility in the routes they take. The primary objective of this research, therefore, was to identify and reduce the risks (if any) associated with older commercial drivers, thereby enabling this growing segment of the population to remain in the workforce while at the same time ensuring safe and productive driving. In order to address this objective, a series of studies were designed to: (1) Examine the effects of increasing age on perceptual, cognitive, and psychomotor abilities by collecting data on ability measures that have been shown to be related to driving. (2) Investigate the effects of diminished abilities on direct measures of driving performance in order to determine how age-related ability deterioration affects performance in commercial vehicle driving. (3) Evaluate methods of compensating for age-related ability changes through vehicle design changes or training interventions.

Task and training requirements analysis methodology (TTRAM): an analytic methodology for identifying potential training uses of simulator networks in teamwork-intensive task environments

A methodology designed to identify potential application areas for use of networked simulations is presented. The technique, known as task and training requirements analysis methodology (TTRAM), has been independently applied to the analysis of numerous US military aircraft simulator networking requirements, and appears to effectively discriminate tasks that are prone to skill decay, that are critical to mission success, that require high levels of internal and external teamwork, and that require additional training support.

Effects of instructional delivery systems and training parameter manipulations on electromechanical maintenance performance

A need was identified for data concerned with maximum possible and maximum comfortable angular displacement of the thumb. These measures, along with thumb reach data, were collected from a sample of 105 subjects. It was found that thumb reach was not correlated with either maximum or most comfortable degree of angular displacement. In addition, angular displacement was not correlated with age. Design guidelines for angular displacement of the thumb are provided.A research program is presented in which computer assisted instructional (CAI) based delivery systems were compared with other training media to determine the extent to which instruction delivered via these methods affects performance on electromechanical maintenance tasks. Summaries of two preliminary studies are presented and a third study is discussed in greater detail. In the latter study opportunity for hands-on practice, access to job aids, and instructional delivery system parameters were manipulated. Performance was measured immediately following training and again after a one-week interval. Both handson practice of the maintenance activity and access to job aids during training were found to significantly improve maintenance performance. However, no differences in performance of procedural maintenance tasks were found among students who were trained using CAI-based as opposed to other lower technology-based instructional delivery systems.

Older Commercial Vehicle Drivers: Abilities, Age, and Driving Performance

This research reports upon a series of related studies which involved investigations of fifteen human abilities, their changes which occur with aging, and their effects upon commercial truck driving performance. One-hundred and seven commercially licensed truck drivers, divided into five age cohort groups, participated in the research study. An ability testbed was used to measure 15 driving related perceptual, cognitive, and psychomotor abilities. Driving performance was assessed using an interactive commercial truck driving simulator. Relationships between perceptual, cognitive, and psychomotor abilities and measures of driving performance indicated that functional levels on these tasks and driving performance were significantly related; however, age, in and of itself, was not predictive of driving performance.

Older Commercial Drivers: Literature Review

This paper reports on a comprehensive literature review of the older driver and older commercial driver literature. The review included sources of data from private and government data bases, empirical research published in public journals, and existing commercial vehicle driving task analyses. The review uncovered key abilities which degrade with age, including: static visual acuity, dynamic visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, useful field of vision, field dependence, depth perception, glare sensitivity, night vision, audition, reaction time, multilimb coordination, control precision, decision-making, selective attention, and attention sharing. The review also sought to identify which of those abilities might effect the performance of critical commercial driving tasks. Although much investigation has been done of older person abilities, most of the studies have looked at persons in either medical or judicial systems. We found little data on driving degradation of older but healthy drivers.

An Application of a Multi-Attribute Utilities Model to Training Analysis

Edwards, Guttentag, and Snappers, (1975) multi-attribute utilities model is applied to a decision making problem in a military training analysis situation. Multi-attribute utilities is a Bayesian-oriented decision making paradigm. Results of the application are presented and the model is compared to a second simple judgment analysis model using the same input data. Aspects of the multi-attribute utilities approach are discussed.

Aspects of Criterion-Referenced Measurement in Performance Evaluation

Four measurement models for use in performance evaluation (norm, criterion, domain, and objectives-referenced measurement) are presented and the contingent relationships among them are discussed. An argument is made for the use of criterion-referenced measurement in performance testing. Literature on two major problem areas in criterion-referenced measurement, reliability and validity, is briefly reviewed; and a recent example of criterion-referenced performance test development in an applied training context is described.

RESEARCH TO ENHANCE THE SAFE DRIVING PERFORMANCE OF OLDER COMMERCIAL VEHICLE DRIVERS: EFFECTS OF SELECTED ERGONOMIC INTERVENTIONS UPON DRIVING PERFORMANCE.

Interventions designed to target ability deficiencies common among older commercial vehicle drivers were evaluated during the course of this effort. Four interventions, consisting of three in-vehicle compensatory aids and a single driver training program, were used in the study. A between-subjects design was used to assess the effects of each intervention; subjects assigned to an experimental group received all four interventions, while those in a control condition were not exposed to the countermeasures. The degree to which the interventions enhanced, or otherwise influenced driving performance was examined by contrasting performance with versus without the interventions (i.e., comparing the experimental and control groups). Assignment to each experimental condition was blocked (or grouped) by age. Results indicated that all four interventions led to enhanced performance.