248 Academy of Management Learning & Education
fraught with difficulties for both the purveyor of
performance feedback and the recipient(s) of it,
Cardy gives us an entire chapter that presents
concepts and theory regarding topics such as at-
tribution, defensiveness, and emotional reactions,
followed by exercises and tasks that enable under-
standing and application.
Anyone who has been a manager or executive
has probably experienced the reactions of an em-
ployee who is not entirely receptive of feedback
regarding his or her performance. Some employees
become extremely defensive and may question the
data and information sources used, the criteria
applied, or the value and importance of the very
performance (behavioral or outcome-based) exam-
ined. An employee may look for some means to
discredit the bases for the feedback. Some employ-
ees become upset or angry, and the focus may shift
to the person instead of the performance. Cardy
helps us to visualize a variety of situations in
which the reactions or denials of the employee
may derail the feedback activity, and he presents
us with ideas, concepts, and tasks to not only sen-
sitize us to the potential problems that may occur
but also to give us tools and advice to enable us to
help our employees, as well as ourselves (as eval-
uators), focus on performance for positive changes
in results.
The final chapter of the book, “Improving Perfor-
mance,” is not the strongest, and this may owe to
the idea that we can only deal in generalities
when both person factors and system factors are
highly dependent on the context in which we view
the performance. And, if the diagnosis, evaluation,
and feedback elements of the process are well
crafted and managed, the improvement aspect
may be self-evident. The discussion on motivation
is very general and reports on two basic tools, goal
setting and the expectancy model. On the other
hand, the material on system factors that influ-
ences performance is more directly presented.
My overall opinion of the book is clearly positive.
It serves the needs of faculty who desire to include
a hands-on segment of performance management
in a course; it can help a new or experienced su-
pervisor or manager gain perspective, skill, and
tools for assisting employees to be successful at
work; and the book offers trainers and facilitators
much information to include session plans, tasks
and exercises, and visual material (slides). In gen-
eral, the exercises and tasks go well beyond a
mere correspondence with important concepts and
theories. That is, they extend the concepts. For
example, job analysis as a tool is introduced in
chapter 2. Then, one of the attendant tasks for
readers is to carefully consider both roles and val-
June
ues as alternative performance frameworks to the
standard list of job duties. As mentioned earlier,
some of the exercises and tasks are quite complex.
For some of the exercises, it would be helpful if
more detailed “how-to” examples were offered,
and it would help if the desired outputs of some of
the exercises were modeled. For example, what
does a multifactor BARS look like?
Finally, the foundation of the information and
approach Cardy takes is one of sensitivity to the
human needs of employees and managers alike,
attendant to the whole performance assessment–
performance management effort. The diagnosis,
evaluation, feedback, and change aspects can be
fraught with difficulties if managers and employ-
ees do not understand the bases for decisions, if
criteria are not understood nor agreed with, and if
there are disconnects along the chain of events of
the performance management process. Cardy
wants to get everyone on the same page, ideally.
He gives us tools and practices to achieve these
ends.
Blended eLearning: Integrating Knowl-
edge, Performance Support, and OnLine
Learning, by Larry Bielawski and David
Metcalf. Amherst, MA: HRD Press Inc.,
2003. 355 pages, soft cover.
Reviewed by Ram Subramanian, Grand Valley State
University.
John Chambers, the CEO of Cisco Systems and
widely touted as the spokesperson of the technol-
ogy revolution, proclaimed in 2000 that electronic
learning would be the “key driver of corporate prof-
its and a knowledge-based global economy” (p.
xiii). For corporations, electronic learning or
“eLearning” would help train a large number of
employees in a cost-effective way with minimum
disruption from everyday work. While eLearning
was predicted to be a $23.112 billion business by
2004, it is quite obvious that it has not turned out to
be the panacea that was expected. Bielawski and
Metcalf argue that eLearning’s potential has not
been realized because of a host of problems rang-
ing from incompatible systems to the enormity of
implementing such systems.
Both authors work for RWD Technologies, a com-
pany that has been in the eLearning space since
1988. The authors’ basic premise is that the effec-
tiveness of eLearning can be substantially en-
hanced by conventional training methodologies
2006 Book and Resource Reviews
that include meetings and seminars, instructor-led
training that covers specialized topics, and struc-
tured on-the-job training. Thus, the concept of
“blended e-Learning.”
The model of blended eLearning that forms the
backbone of the book consists of three elements:
learning, which is broadly defined to include
classroom, workplace, or Web-based modes; per-
formance support, various systems that serve as
job aides; and, knowledge management, practices
that run the gamut from lessons learned databases
to best-practices repositories. The 14 chapters in
the book are interspersed with numerous vignettes
featuring the experiences in blended eLearning of
companies such as Honeywell, Northrop Grum-
man, and 3Com.
The opening chapter succinctly describes vari-
ous terms and concepts used in the field of eLearn-
ing. It lays the groundwork for the rest of the book
by dwelling on the benefits of eLearning and by
introducing the reader to the concept of learning
and how people learn. Knowledge management
systems, a key underpinning of blended eLearn-
ing, are thoroughly explored in chapter 3. Knowl-
edge management systems are critical because it
is here “that content is contributed, leveraged, and
stored so that it can be re-purposed in a variety of
ways to support learning, performance, and devel-
opment activities” (p. 44). Best practices from
Northrop Grumman, a company at the forefront of
knowledge management, are described to distin-
guish between tacit and explicit knowledge and
how both should be handled. The authors reiterate
the importance of creating a knowledge manage-
ment strategy to ensure that individual initiatives
are not sporadic but are part of a consistent whole.
A classic quote mentioned in the chapter is worth
recalling. Jerry Junkins, former chairman, presi-
dent, and CEO of Texas Instruments, was quoted
as saying, “If we only knew what we know at TI!”
This seemingly facetious quote tellingly brings
home the importance of knowledge management
and how firms constantly have to reinvent the
wheel because of their failure to document earlier
practices.
The design of effective instructional systems
needs to take in various theories on how people
learn. An effective ISD helps unleash the full ben-
efits of blended eLearning. This concept is ex-
plored in detail in one of the early chapters. RWD
Technologies’ ISD model, called the Total Perfor-
mance Support Model, is used to underscore the
importance of learning-theory link in setting up
such systems. The model has several pathways to
learn, with each pathway linked to a specific
learning theory. Thus a pathway such as “Tell Me”
249
uses a different learning methodology (where con-
cepts are introduced and reinforced) than the one
titled “Let Me,” where the participant learns by
doing.
Learning content management systems (LCMS)
provide the “foundation technology for creating,
managing, and reusing learning content (or learn-
ing objects) across courses, curricula, and even an
enterprise-wide eLearning supply chain” (p. 187). It
is the infrastructure that enables accessibility and
allows the organization, distribution, and reuse of
instructional material created for learning. Need-
less to say, this is a key component of blended
eLearning, and often the source of frustration for
many organizations. Best practices using various
vendor products are used to underscore the impor-
tant attributes of good LCMS.
The book offers a one-stop avenue to set up an
effective eLearning system. There is adequate de-
tail to please the technologically oriented, yet it
offers the big-picture look at this unique method of
learning that is increasingly favored by organiza-
tions. In addition, the authors make every effort to
link various concepts with theory—something that
the purist would acknowledge and appreciate.
There are, however, two shortcomings. While
these are not egregious, they nevertheless make it
hard on the reader. The first is the extensive use of
technology-oriented jargon. While the technology
domain does contain a plethora of terms, the lay
reader may be overwhelmed by their frequency
and ubiquity. The second shortcoming is in the
organization of the book. The transition between
chapters is weak, and the reader is left typically
unprepared for what follows in the subsequent
chapter.
To get the most out of eLearning, an organization
has to approach it systematically. The current book
is of tremendous help in this regard.
Sticky Knowledge: Barriers to Knowing in
the Firm, by Gabriel Szulanski. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage, 2003. 140 pages, hard
cover.
Reviewed by S. C. Voelpel, International University Bre-
men/Harvard Business School and C. K. Streb, Interna-
tional University Bremen.
In the last 10 years of knowledge management
science, the works of authors such as Nonaka (1994)
and Leonard (1995) can be regarded as the most
prominent pioneering contributions to the field of
organization learning. In this context it is remark-