Roger Kaufman

Roger Kaufman, Ph.D. is an influential figure in the history of the educational technology (see also Instructional design) and performance improvement fields as well as strategic thinking and planning for public- and private-sector organizations. Regarded as one of the founding figures of the field, he is referred to as the father of needs assessment. While needs assessment is such common practice today that many new practitioners may not be able to envision a time when it was not part of the standard process, his work in this area established one of the foundational concepts that sets professional practice apart. The core tenets of his work are reflected in the professional standards for certifying performance technologists, such as the emphasis on system thinking and planning and sound evaluation of outcomes. Over his 40 years of work Kaufman developed what he considers to be his essential work - the Mega Planning model, a framework for adding measurable value to society. In 2014, the International Society for Performance Improvement created an honorary award named the Roger Kaufman Award for Societal Impact honoring the work of individuals or groups who apply this systemic performance assessment and planning process with clear impact on societal outcomes. Kaufman currently works with a variety of organizations around the globe implementing the Mega Planning model for strategic organizational planning, including educational institutions, government organizations, and corporations.

Kaufman was born and raised in Washington D.C. The son of a mathematical physicist/electrical engineer, Kaufman credits his father's influence for how he has approached his work. In a recent interview with Stephanie Moore, Kaufman explained how there are both two kinds of calculus - differential and integral. First we learn to differentiate, then we learn but don't always apply integration. This began to drive him to look for how everything integrates, "how it all goes together," which led him to develop his Mega model and the Organizational Elements Model (OEM) that links three levels of results with two levels of resources and methods. Kaufman's bachelor's degree from George Washington University in Psychology, Sociology and Statistics. He completed a Master's at Johns Hopkins University in Psychology and Industrial Engineering. This foundation in both psychology and industrial engineering, along with his emphasis on statistics and social sciences, played a significant role the development his Mega planning model for measurable societal value added as a strategic planning model for organizations. Kaufman completed his doctorate in Communications at New York University. He previously spent time at University of California, Berkeley completing additional doctoral work in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.

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