SBIR-STTR Award

With the end of the Cold War, the U.S. Army began facing the challenge of defending the United States in a radically altered world. This new world requires soldiers to possess an expanded skill set including the ability to manage and leverage social relationships, use personal and institutional influence in productive ways, and form cooperative relationships that maximize benefits for the Army and United States. Clearly, social skills are important for the Army's success. Helping soldiers develop the social skills necessary for successful job performance represents a unique challenge for the Army. Effective social skill assessment and training procedures largely do not exist in the Army. When a soldier is deficient in social skills, no tools exist to identify the specific interpersonal skills in which a soldier is deficient, to assess the level of deficiency, to provide targeted training, or to assess the success of training and the proficiency of soldiers trained in the use of social skills. Phase I will develop an interpersonal performance assessment system by identifying those aspects of interpersonal performance which are necessary for successful performance for a target MOS, developing a system and standards for assessing interpersonal performance, and evaluating the interpersonal assessment system. The ability to interact effectively with others and use one's social environment to meet organizational goals is important for almost all jobs. The procedures developed in this SBIR for assessing and training interpersonal performance will be widely applicable across the military, as well as within other public and private sector organizations

With the end of the Cold War, the U.S. Army began facing the challenge of defending the United States in a radically altered world. This new world requires soldiers to possess an expanded skill set including the ability to manage and leverage social relationships, use personal and institutional influence in productive ways, and form cooperative relationships that maximize benefits for the Army and United States. Clearly, social skills are important for the Army's success. Helping soldiers develop the social skills necessary for successful job performance represents a unique challenge for the Army. Effective social skill assessment and training procedures largely do not exist in the Army. When a soldier is deficient in social skills, no tools exist to identify the specific interpersonal skills in which a soldier is deficient, to assess the level of deficiency, to provide targeted training, or to assess the success of training and the proficiency of soldiers trained in the use of social skills. Phase II will develop an accelerated, distributed, commander-controlled interpersonal performance development system which is grounded in the principals of social cognition.

Keywords:
Interpersonal Skill Training Development