Showing papers on "Performance management published in 2004"

Tie and Network Correlates of Individual Performance in Knowledge-Intensive Work

Abstract: We argue that individual performance in knowledge-intensive work is associated with properties of both networks and ties. Relationships crossing organizational boundaries, physical barriers, or hie...

Correlating instrumentation data to system states: a building block for automated diagnosis and control

Abstract: This paper studies the use of statistical induction techniques as a basis for automated performance diagnosis and performance management. The goal of the work is to develop and evaluate tools for offline and online analysis of system metrics gathered from instrumentation in Internet server platforms. We use a promising class of probabilistic models (Tree-Augmented Bayesian Networks or TANs) to identify combinations of system-level metrics and threshold values that correlate with high-level performance states--compliance with Service Level Objectives (SLOs) for average-case response time--in a three-tier Web service under a variety of conditions. Experimental results from a testbed show that TAN models involving small subsets of metrics capture patterns of performance behavior in a way that is accurate and yields insights into the causes of observed performance effects. TANs are extremely efficient to represent and evaluate, and they have interpretability properties that make them excellent candidates for automated diagnosis and control. We explore the use of TAN models for offline forensic diagnosis, and in a limited online setting for performance forecasting with stable workloads.

Motivating employees for environmental improvement

Abstract: This paper presents a theoretical framework for environmental performance by looking at the crucial employer and employee factors affecting environmental performance. The model focuses on the integration between top management commitment, employee empowerment, rewards, feedback and review, and environmental performance. Suggestions for managers on implementing core concepts from the model, in addition to the challenges they may encounter are discussed throughout the article.

Importance‐performance analysis: a useful tool for directing continuous quality improvement in higher education

Abstract: This paper addresses the issue of service quality evaluation within the higher education sector and stresses the need to develop measures that are both psychometrically and practically sound. The paper argues that recent debate surrounding the development of such measures has been too strongly geared toward their psychometric performance, with little regard for their practical value. While the paper supports the need to develop valid, reliable and replicable measures of service quality, it is suggested that educators must not lose sight of the original purpose for which these measures were designed, i.e. their practical value in informing continuous quality improvement efforts. It critiques the use of disconfirmation models and reports on a study of students’ perceptions of quality using importance‐performance analysis (IPA). The technique allows specific failings in the quality of support issues to be identified and their importance to a quality improvement programme assessed.

Performance measurement: from philosophy to practice

Abstract: Even though remarkable progress has been made over recent years in the design of performance measurement frameworks and systems, many companies are still primarily relying on traditional financial performance measures. This paper presents an overview of the more common, more modern approaches to performance measurement and attempts to identify whether they have in fact addressed the limitations of traditional ways of measuring performance. The paper suggests that the modern frameworks have indeed addressed the underlying conceptual issues, but have rarely addressed the practicalities of measurement in ways that render them meaningful to practitioners. What is needed is further work to explore how these conceptual frameworks can be translated and tailored to fulfil the unique measurement needs of a specific company, especially at the operational level.

Performance Management: A model and research agenda

Abstract: textPerformance Management deals with the challenge organizations face in defining, measuring and stimulating employee performance with the ultimate goal to improve organizational performance. Thus, Performance Management involves multiple levels of analysis and is clearly linked to the topics studied in strategic HRM as well as performance appraisal. This paper presents a model for Performance Management combining insights from strategic HRM and I/O psychology. The model incorporates multi-level elements, and adds to previous models by explicitly incorporating employee perceptions, the role of direct supervisors and possible reversed causality. Challenges for future research are also presented.

Testing How Management Matters in an Era of Government by Performance Management

Abstract: Public administration finds itself in an era of government by performance management, which is reflected in the widespread assumption that management is a key determinant of performance, and that it is reasonable to expect managers to measurably improve organizational effectiveness. This article joins a growing literature in seeking to conceptualize and empirically test how external environmental influences and internal management factors combine to create performance, relying on data from the 2002–2003 National Administrative Studies Project (NASP-II) survey of state government health and human services officials. We categorize managerial efforts to facilitate organizational performance as determined either through their interactions with the organizational environment, or through employing workable levers to change internal organizational culture, structure, and technology. Among the external environmental variables we find that the support of elected officials and the influence of the public and media have a positive impact on effectiveness. Among internal management choices, the ability to create a developmental organizational culture, establish a focus on results through goal clarity, and decentralize decision-making authority are all positively associated with organizational effectiveness. AN ERA OF GOVERNMENT BY PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT Frederick Mosher’s Democracy and the Public Service (1982) characterizes the history of public administration in the United States as falling into different eras. He portrays the twentieth century as dominated by two phases: government by the efficient (1906–1937), This is a revised version of a paper originally presented at the National Public Management Research Conference, October 9–11, 2003, at Georgetown University. The authors would like to thank Pamela Herd, Patrick Wolf, and three anonymous reviewers for insightful suggestions on revising the article. Data analyzed in this article were collected under the auspices of the National Administrative Studies Project (NASP-II), a project supported in part by the Forum for Policy Research and Public Service at Rutgers University and under a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to the Center for State Health Policy, also at Rutgers University. Naturally, this support does not necessarily imply an endorsement of analyses and opinions in the article. Address correspondence to Donald P. Moynihan at dmoynihan@bushschool.tamu.edu. doi:10.1093/jopart/mui016 Advance Access publication on December 16, 2004 Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Vol. 15, no. 3 a 2005 Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Inc.; all rights reserved. JPART 15:421–439

Using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to improve human performance: An application of multiple criteria decision making problem

Abstract: In the global economy, the modern commercial and industrial organization needs to develop better methods of assessing the performance of the human resource than simply using performance measures such as efficiency or effectiveness. As organizations seek more aggressive ways to cut costs and to increase global competitiveness, the importance of establishing and sustaining high levels of employee performance increases. The main purpose of this paper is to solve the human performance improvement problem by employing Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. Decision makers (DMs) often deal with problems that involve multiple criteria. At given moments in time, companies will display characteristics that make certain factors; key factors in their competences. In this paper, we present a model, which illustrates the relations and importance between human performance improvement and the style of management. In using the AHP to model this problem, we developed a hierarchic structure to represent the problem of human performance management and made pairwise comparisons. In this paper, the AHP is suggested as a tool for implementing a multiple criteria performance improvement scheme. The AHP was used for the purpose of structuring and clarifying the relations and importance between human performance improvement and the style of management. The study found that in terms of company culture, participation, human capability, and attitudes the best management style in improving human performance is management by values.

Introduction to special topic forum: The future of work motivation theory.

Abstract: The topic of employee motivation plays a central role in the field of management—both practically and theoretically. Managers see motivation as an integral part of the performance equation at all levels, while organizational researchers see it as a fundamental building block in the development of useful theories of effective management practice. Indeed, the topic of motivation permeates many of the subfields that compose the study of management, including leadership, teams, performance management, managerial ethics, decision making, and organizational change. It is not surprising, therefore, that this topic has received so much attention over the past several decades in both research journals and management periodicals. Whereas several recent articles have examined how far we have come in researching work motivation, this special forum focuses on where we are going. That is, we ask the questions: What is the future of work motivation theories? What are the critical questions that must be addressed if progress in the field is to be made? What is the future research agenda? How can we extend or modify current models of work motivation so they continue to be relevant in the future? And where are entirely new models of motivation needed to further our understanding of employee behavior and job performance in contemporary organizations? To understand where the field is going, however, we must first understand where it has been. This introduction represents an overview of the field of work motivation from a theoretical standpoint and lays the foundation for the articles that follow. The term motivation derives from the Latin word for movement (movere.) Building on this concept, Atkinson defines motivation as “the contemporary (immediate) influence on direction, vigor, and persistence of action” (1964: 2), while Vroom defines it as “a process governing choice made by persons . . . among alternative forms of voluntary activity” (1964: 6). Campbell and Pritchard suggest that

The knowledge value chain: how intellectual capital impacts on business performance

Abstract: This theoretical paper explores the fundamental issue of how knowledge management initiatives impact business performance. Reflecting on the management literature in the fields of knowledge management and performance management enabled the deduction of four basic assumptions, representing the links of a conceptual cause-and-effect framework – the knowledge value chain. Drawing on the resource-based view and the competence-based view of the firm, the paper identifies strategic, managerial, and operational dimensions of knowledge management. The review of performance management frameworks discusses the role of knowledge management in those models. These reflections allow linking knowledge management with core competencies, strategic processes, business performance, and finally, with value creation.

Competency-Based Human Resource Management

Abstract: Trying to match people to job descriptions is a hopeless task that leads to employee dissatisfaction and poor performance. This book urges organizations to apply a new model of performance management in which the HR department selects, trains and develops employees by matching their talents to their work. No more "force fitting" the employee into a "job box" where the individual may not, and usually does not, possess the full compliment of competencies for successful job performance. Dubois and Rothwell provide a step-by-step plan to reengineer the HR function to focus on competencies. These competencies become the benchmark for all HR activities, resulting in enhanced employee satisfaction and significant gains in productivity.

Performance management in the public sector: fact or fiction?

Abstract: Since New Labour came to power in the UK in 1997, there has been a drive to improve the effectiveness of public services through the use of private sector principles. From, the Modernising Government White Paper to the development of the Public Services Productivity Panel who, produced a raft of White Papers tackling health, social services, welfare and criminal justice. This paper, through the analysis of two studies, will reflect on some of the general literature on public sector performance management and the findings and recommendations of the Public Services Productivity Panel in order to attempt to answer whether performance management in the public sector is currently fact or fiction? In other words the paper will aim to develop and answer, to a certain extent, if it really possible to raise productivity and performance within public sector organisations through developing performance management systems based on private sector experience.

Environmental management accounting: roadblocks on the way to the green and pleasant land

Abstract: Environmental management accounting (EMA) is concerned with the accounting information needs of managers in relation to corporate activities that affect the environment as well as environment-related impacts on the corporation. It is an area of practice and research that has developed rapidly in the last ten years. This paper briefly considers some of the main conceptual and practical problems encountered in environmental management accounting and challenges and opportunities for the future. It concludes with a call for further case based research studies into investment appraisal, costing and performance management aspects of environmental management accounting. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Expatriate failure: time to abandon the concept?

Abstract: This article reviews the established understanding of the concept of expatriate failure, discusses its associated problems and presents a more sophisticated and comprehensive understanding of the concept. The article argues that it might well be time to abandon the concept of expatriate failure altogether and instead draw on the general human resource literature to analyse problems related to turnover and performance management in an expatriate context..

Corporate Performance Management

Abstract: Focuses on the changes in performance measurement, following research conducted with executives in a number of leading European companies. Found that there is a growing trend towards managing performance improvement through focusing on the underlying drivers of performance, whether improvements in the processes or the underlying resources that give these processes capability. The past obsession with pure financial performance is decreasing and there may be a recognition that there is a trade off between hitting today’s financial results and sustaining the capabilities and competences that allow companies to compete effectively in the future.

Structure, speed and salience: performance measurement in the supply chain

Abstract: The supply chain presents many challenges for management and for the design of performance measurement systems. It is possibly one of the final structural areas of business in which significant savings are to be made, and it is becoming an increasingly important strategic tool as trade becomes global in perspective. To assess the problems faced in the supply chain, this paper begins with an overview of where we are in terms of the development of performance measurement theory. It then highlights two key issues that the supply chain raises in measuring performance in an intra‐organisation scenario before identifying no fewer than nine preconditions necessary for effective and dynamic performance measurement within supply chains.

Managing appropriately in power regimes: relationship and performance management in 12 supply chain cases

Abstract: This paper reports the findings of a two‐year EPSRC funded research project into relationship and performance strategies in power regimes. The findings from 12 very different industrial and service sector cases studies demonstrate that there is a correlation between the ability to improve the performance of suppliers and the power circumstances that exist between the buyers and suppliers. Buyers appear to be able to achieve improved performance from suppliers in situations of buyer dominance or interdependence. The research also demonstrates that whatever the objective power circumstance managers often subjectively misperceive the appropriate sourcing choices available to them. As a result business relationships can be aligned, but they are often misaligned. Furthermore, misaligned relationships may be “remediable” but they may not.

A competency‐based performance model for construction project managers

Abstract: The role of competency‐based performance management is growing in significance in many industries and sectors. Unlike functional competences, which measure performance against predetermined minimum occupational standards, competency‐based systems are founded on the key behavioural competencies that underlie superior levels of performance. In order to identify the key behaviours leading to performance excellence amongst construction project managers, in‐depth behavioural event interviews were used in which managers were asked to recount critical management incidents, decisions and actions from which their behavioural competencies could be identified. By delineating the sample according to their performance against a range of role‐based criteria, the competencies defining superior management performance were determined. Statistical techniques were then used to develop a model that can be used to predict likely employee performance, which was subsequently validated on a second criterion sample. The research ...

Strategic positioning of HRM in knowledge‐based organizations

Abstract: With knowledge management as the strategic intent and learning to learn as the strategic weapon, the current management focus is on how to leverage knowledge faster and better than competitors. Research demonstrates that it is the cultural mindset of the people in the organisation that primarily defines success in knowledge intensive organisations. This article highlights the importance of people management in the knowledge economy, explores major challenges to human resource management (HRM) in managing knowledge workers, and identifies some key HR strategies for effective people‐centric partnership in knowledge management, namely, trusting HR philosophy, institutionalising learning to learn, and fine tuning HR systems in recruitment, retainment, performance and reward management of intellectual capital in a multi‐national context. This article reflects the key themes from the author's recent book, Managing People in the New Economy, published by Sage.

Managing people and performance: an evidence based framework applied to health service organizations

Abstract: People and their performance are key to an organization's effectiveness. This review describes an evidence-based framework of the links between some key organizational influences and staff performance, health and well-being. This preliminary framework integrates management and psychological approaches, with the aim of assisting future explanation, prediction and organizational change. Health care is taken as the focus of this review, as there are concerns internationally about health care effectiveness. The framework considers empirical evidence for links between the following organizational levels: 1. Context (organizational culture and inter-group relations; resources, including staffing; physical environment) 2. People management (HRM practices and strategies; job design, workload and teamwork; employee involvement and control over work; leadership and support) 3. Psychological consequences for employees (health and stress; satisfaction and commitment; knowledge, skills and motivation) 4. Employee behaviour (absenteeism and turnover; task and contextual performance; errors and near misses) 5. Organizational performance; patient care. This review contributes to an evidence base for policies and practices of people management and performance management. Its usefulness will depend on future empirical research, using appropriate research designs, sufficient study power and measures that are reliable and valid.

The value of intercultural competence for performance of multicultural teams

Abstract: Managers working in multinational companies carry out their organizational goals through multicultural teams. Performance of multicultural teams can be examined from an intercultural communication perspective. Executives, managers, management consultants, and educators interested in improving multicultural team performance need to know about intercultural competence and how it affects team performance. This article provides a working definition of high‐performance multicultural teams and outlines the challenges multicultural teams face. These definitions along with extensive interview data and detailed self‐reports of American and Russian managers working in multicultural teams emphasize the high importance of intercultural competence in improving the performance of these teams. This article also serves to highlight the characteristics of high‐performance multicultural teams, the common challenges of multicultural teams, and the sources of these challenges.

Performance Measurement and Improvement: an Assessment of the State of the Art

Abstract: This article attempts to show the frontier of government performance measurement. First, it introduces the sophisticated and effective strategies that public agencies have utilized for performance measurement within a comprehensive approach to productivity improvement. Multiple measures have been developed to improve a variety of management functions such as goal-setting and resource allocation. The article then outlines the cutting edge of performance measurement. Based on a number of case studies throughout the United States, this article discusses the state of the art in three performance areas: citizen-driven government performance, use of citizen surveys and performance reporting. Finally, the article concludes that the essential question in the future is how government can move to full adoption and implementation of citizen-driven, data-driven decision-making.

Managing Performance in the Public Sector: Concepts Considerations and Challenges

Abstract: One of the critical functions of public management is efficient, economic and effective use of resources to provide value-for-money service delivery to citizens. Performance management in the public service is an attempt to balance an institutional centredness with a citizen orientation and it incorporates issues such as productivity (outputs over inputs), quality, accountability and policy outcomes. Measuring performance in the public sector is not a simple task because various qualitative and sometimes, unquantifiable variables have to be considered. These qualitative aspects - such as the general welfare of a community - are complex and intangible and hence make performance improvement and productivity measurement extremely difficult. The improvement of performance embraces far more than calculable or quantitative criteria to determine how many resources have been expended to achieve specified objectives. Performance improvement should become a way of evaluating the entire institutional context within which services and/or products are provided.

Performance Management: Finding the Missing Pieces (to Close the Intelligence Gap)

Abstract: About the Author. About the Web Site. Preface. 1. Why the Need for Performance Management as a System? PART ONE: Performance Management Process. 2. Integrating a Suite of Proven Methodologies. 3. Support from Fact-Based Data and Information Technology. PART TWO: Strategy Maps and Balanced Scorecards: The Link between Strategy and Successful Execution by Operations. 4. Measurement Problems and Solutions. 5. Strategy Maps and Scorecards as a Solution. 6. Strategic Objectives' Drive Gears: Cascading Measures. 7. A Recipe for Implementation. 8. The Human Side of Collaboration. 9. Fact-Based Management Accounting Data. 10. Scorecards and Strategy Maps: Enablers for Performance Management. PART THREE: Leveraging Financial Analytical Facts and Truths. 11. If Activity-Based Management Is the Answer, What Is the Question? 12. Activity-Based Management Model Design and Principles: Key to Success. 13. Operational (Local) Activity-Based Management for Continuous Improvement. 14. Strategic Activity-Based Management for Customer and Channel Profitability Analysis. 15. Predictive Costing, Predictive Accounting, and Budgeting. 16. Activity-Based Management Supports Performance Management. PART FOUR: Integrating Performance Management with Core Solutions. 17. Customer Intelligence and Customer Relationship Management. 18. Supplier Intelligence: Managing Economic Profit across the Value Chain. 19. Process Intelligence with Six Sigma Quality and Lean Thinking. 20. Shareholder Intelligence: Return on Whose Investment? 21. Employee Intelligence: Human Capital Management. PART FIVE: Performance Management, Business Intelligence, and Technology. 22. Data Management and Mining with Performance Management. 23. Final Thoughts: Linking Customers to Shareholders. Index.

Policing the police service: A case study of the rise of "new public management" within an Australian police service

Abstract: Recently public interest in the police service in Australia has emanated from extensive media coverage and from rising public accountability expectations In light of this, the current paper explores how far the accounting, accountability and performance management systems within “new public management” ideals have evolved within the Australian police services More specifically, it explores the accountability framework, information for performance evaluation and public sector reform implications for an Australian state police service as a whole, and an individual police station, in particular The findings suggest that the police service in Australia has a rigid accountability structure and is continuously subject to performance evaluations Further, it has been found that there is considerable rise of “new public management” ideals within the police services in Australia It was apparent that the reforms in the police service had a dual purpose – legitimizing the police service to the electorate and ordinary citizens, while encouraging efficiencies of resource use

Healthcare facilities management: state of the art review

Abstract: Following increases in national demands on healthcare facilities and services, healthcare facilities management (FM) has gradually matured to become an established research and development topic. This paper reviews the state of the art in the main domains related to healthcare FM and defines the central themes in the development of a healthcare FM model. FM, maintenance management and performance management are reviewed in a wider context, and the main domains of healthcare FM are discussed. The five salient topics included in healthcare FM are maintenance management, performance management, risk management, supply services management, and development. These five core domains are interrelated, and can be integrated using information and communications technology, which provides the desired environment required for the challenging decision making and development prevalent in healthcare FM.

Performance measurement for stakeholders: the case of Scottish local authorities

Abstract: With continuing pressures for transparency, accountability and value for money, measuring the performance of public sector organisations is attracting increasing academic and management attention. However, little attention appears to have been paid to the performance information needs of stakeholders. This paper describes work with a number of Scottish local authority services to develop an information portfolio that would meet the performance measurement needs of diverse stakeholders. Overall, the approach was found to be useful, allowing services to identify the key stakeholders with an interest in their service's performance, the judgements about performance that each group wanted to make and the key information that stakeholders would need.