This article introduces a strategic argument and examples, in subsequent articles in this special issue, about sociocultural research opportunities for HPT practitioners and scholars. The authors take the view that recent criticisms of Instructional Systems Design have merit when considered from an organizational performance point of view. We see the problem as historic overuse of one theoretical perspective at a microlevel of theory and application. We argue that adding recent sociocultural perspectives and expanding the levels of theory to include groups and complex organizational structures will offer an opportunity for more rigorous and diverse research agenda and create new insights for problem solving in practice. (Contains 3 figures and 6 notes.)