Performance Measurement and Evaluation

Increasingly, managers are assuming direct responsibility for the assessment of organizational performance, as well as contributing to that performance itself. This book provides a theoretical and practical guide to the issues involved in the measurement and assessment of organizational performance. It is a multidisciplinary volume of key readings which recognize the many and complex factors involved in performance assessment. Part 1 provides a critical framework for interpreting organizational performance, with an emphasis on management control. Part 2 reviews several comprehensive approaches to performance measurement and includes sector-specific examples relating the organization to its technological, economic, political and social contexts. Part 3 examines strategic performance in a range of economic sectors, emphasizing the importance of measurement for both policy and practice. Throughout the text, the unquestioned assumptions made in the use of performance measures are assessed and the difficulty of analyzing strategic performance is examined in detail. This text should be useful reading for students and teachers of management and business studies, particularly in the areas of management control, organizational behaviour, systems and operations management. It should also be useful for practising managers who have responsibility for evaluating organizational performance.