Performance Technology in Action

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1. Can HPT ever be management's partner on an ongoing basis?

There is no doubt that HPT must be a partner to management on an ongoing basis. For starters, the field although quite young has really helped organizations get a handle on managing organizational output.
Gould (2008) says it very well:

"The human performance technology field aims to ensure that the knowledge, skills, motivation and environmental support necessary for employees to complete their work successfully is available through a systems approach. Human Performance Technology is important to the world's economic future because practitioners, such as organizational consultants, strive to provide organizations with solutions to their performance problems. An effective human performance technologist will use a systematic approach to improve the productivity and competence of the workforce so that organizations are able to compete in a global economy" (para 1).

Effectively, for as long as organizations need to get work done, they will need HPT. Organizations are constantly changing, which impacts the way work gets done, changes in job roles and responsibilities, new knowledge and training, etc... And, these changes if not properly analyzed, managed and implemented could impact overall organizational performance. Because organizational performance is so linked to individual performance it is critical that management sees the link between organizational sustainability and human performance technology.

References:
Gould, M. (2008). Organizational Consulting. Organizational Consulting -- Research Starters Business, 1-13

2. Can HPT be the partner that management cannot do without, management's must-have partner, the go-to partner to continuously identify or help solve issues of work performance as they emerge?

HPT can be that partner that management relies on for performance strategies, and in many ways it already is. I think the problem that currently exists is that in some organizations HPT has not yet managed to fully communicate its value to the organization. Many HPT teams are still struggling with the "training department" label by which they have traditionally been known, where training is used mostly as a "Band-Aid" to "fix" performance issues when they arise. HPT practitioners know that training isn't always the answer ...