A Handbook of Job Aids [Hardcover]

Allison Rossett (Author), Jeannette Gautier-Downes (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0883902907 | ISBN-13: 978-0883902905 | Publication Date: June 15, 1991

You can save time and money and improve work performance throughout your organization--with the help of job aids. Job aids make it easier to perform tasks by providing access to information, procedures, policies, and examples. These sources of information make it easier to perform tasks by providing access to information, examples, policies, and procedures. Paired with training and supervisory support, job aids play a key role in introducing new work technologies and systems. The authors clearly instruct you how to create seven job aid formats:

• step job aids
• worksheets
• arrays
• decision tables
• flow charts
• checklists
• combination job aids.

Learn about every step of job aid implementation:

• Identifying the problem
• Choosing the format and the medium
• Preparing the job aid draft
• Piloting the job aid
• Making revisions to the job aid
• Managing the job aid

With this guide, you will:

• Establish new and expanded ways of defining job aids
• Offer approaches that broaden opportunities to employ job aids
• Present strategies to improve the quality of the job aids that are developed...and much more!

The authors reinforce each job aid with a case study that shows just how the job aid can be used. Without job aids, employees often don't know where to find information. They can waste their own time--and the time of others--seeking answers. With effective job aids in place, employees will stop wondering where to go: the job aids will provide the information they need.

Job aids save huge amounts of time and money. Any trainer or manager seeking to improve organizational effectiveness should look no further--A Handbook of Job Aids is the most comprehensive job aid source available.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

ALLISON ROSSETT, professor of Educational Technology at San Diego State University, is a consultant in the design, development, and evaluation of performance and training systems. A native New Yorker, ping pong champion in her youth, and yo-yoer in training, Allison has offered keynote speeches in this country and abroad. She teaches classes and consults on instructional design, learning technologies, performance analysis and needs assessment, and indepAndent learning.Rossett was the recipient of an Association for Educational Technology Book of the Year Award for her Training Needs Assessment. Her book, A Handbook of Job Aids, published by Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, won the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) top book award and an Association for Educational Technology Tool of the Year Award. She has also published dozens of articles, edited journals, offered seminars, coached and advised business and government leaders, evaluated programs, and managed corporate contracts and federal and state grants.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Pfeiffer (June 15, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0883902907
• ISBN-13: 978-0883902905
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #989,504 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Allison Rossett, long time Professor of Educational Technology at San Diego State University, is in the Training magazine HRD Hall of Fame, was recently a member of the ASTD International Board of Directors, and was honored by selection as an ISPI Member-for-Life. Recipient of ASTD's recognition for lifelong contributions to workplace learning and performance and designated a 2008 LEGEND, Allison co-authored Job Aids and Performance Support: Moving from Knowledge in the Classroom to Knowledge Everywhere in 2007. In 2009, she released a new edition of her classic First Things Fast: A Handbook for Performance Analysis. Allison was featured in eLearn magazine in December, 2008.

Rossett edited The ASTD E-Learning Handbook: Best Practices, Strategies, and Case Studies for an Emerging Field. She also completed a white paper for the American Management Association, Blended Learning Opportunities and another, more recently, on learner engagement, for Adobe Systems. She is the author of four award-winning books, including Beyond the Podium: Delivering Training and Performance to a Digital World and First Things Fast: A Handbook for Performance Analysis. Prior award-winning books are Training Needs Assessment, and A Handbook of Job Aids. Some of Allison recent articles are "Performance Support Tools: Delivering Value When and Where Needed," "Moving Your Class Online," "Confessions of a Web Dropout," and "Training and Organizational Development, Siblings Separated at Birth." She has conducted research and published articles on needs analysis, learner engagement, and persistence in online learning. Her client list includes IBM, HP, the Getty Conservation Institute, Fidelity Investments, Deloitte Consulting, BP, the IRS, Amgen, Royal Bank of Scotland, the US Army, Transportation Security Administration, and several e-learning start-ups.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This excellent book on when and how to develop job aids, January 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Handbook of Job Aids (Hardcover)

This book is an excellent overview of how to approach job aids. It takes you step-by-step through the needs analysis to determine if a job aid is appropriate. The stories of job aid successes and failures make great examples. When you follow the book you'll be on the way to designing and developing appropriate job aids.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Training Is Not the Only Solution, November 1, 2001

By 

Kenneth Myers (Naperville, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Handbook of Job Aids (Hardcover)

Training takes many forms and not all training requires a formal classroom or complex computer simulations. For some performance requirements, a job aid is the most efficient and accurate way to obtain the human performance you require. Allison Rossett and Jeannette Gautier-Downes have created a clear and easy-to-follow guide to job aids. This instructionally-sound approach breaks job aids down into meaningful categories (information, procedural and coaching) and presents numerous examples that demonstrate just how easy it is to create a just-in-time solution to your performance problem. Using the very job aid approach they teach, these authors guide you through every aspect of job aid creation using examples from a variety of content areas. You will be guided to 1) select content appropriate for job aids and 2) avoid selecting inappropriate content.

Dr. Rossett is on the faculty at San Diego State University. She has created a site that is a companion to this book. (...) This site contains more examples and exercises designed to hone your job aid creation skills.

1.0 out of 5 stars Dated, March 11, 2009

By 

Tanya Owens (mystery, usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Handbook of Job Aids (Hardcover)

Allison Rossett is by far one of the most influential writers and speakers in Instructional Design. Her work is highly regarded. However, aside from the glossy cover this book was outdated before it was released. The practical advice in the first paragraph is valuable, but the examples are dated.