The Human Resource Practices Development (HRPD) team has reconvened and will discuss the next phase of its work with the Reengineering Steering Committee later this month.
HRPD was created in 1996 as the Human Resource Practices Design team to evaluate MIT's human resources policies and to make recommendations on how they could be improved. The Steering Committee asked members to come up with a plan for hiring, evaluating, developing and rewarding employees "to meet the needs of the changing work environments across the Institute."
Joan F. Rice, vice president for human resources and the team's sponsor, presented the design team's initial report to the Academic Council in December. The Council suggested that team members meet with the five School councils for suggestions and guidance before going ahead with recommended changes. Based on these discussions, the team completed its design report and will present a work plan to the Steering Committee.
Steven Wade Neiterman has joined the former design team members--Patricia Brady, Melissa Damon, Margaret Ann Gray, Alyce Johnson, Peter Narbonne and Barbara Peacock-Coady--to move the project forward. Cindy Vallino will be HRPD's liaison to the Personnel Office and will also help implement new practices in Personnel.
"Moving from `design' into `development' activities, our team's HRPD acronym fortunately still fits," said Ms. Brady, team captain. The design team would not have been able to complete its task without the important information gathered from the community through interviews, "speak-up" sessions and focus groups during the fall, she added. These outreach efforts involved more than 10 percent of the employees on campus.
The development team will continue to inform and seek input from the MIT community as it develops new human resource practices. For more information, see the team's Web page at
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on April 3, 1997.
