Abstract: BACKGROUND: In Viet Nam, most of the public health staff (84%) currently works in rural areas, where 80% of the people live. To provide good quality health care services, it is important to develop strategies influencing staff motivation for better performance. METHOD: An exploratory qualitative research was carried out among health workers in two provinces in North Viet Nam so as to identify entry points for developing strategies that improve staff performance in rural areas. The study aimed to determine the major motivating factors and it is the first in Viet Nam that looks at health workers' job perception and motivation. Apart from health workers, managers at national and at provincial level were interviewed as well as some community representatives. RESULTS: The study showed that motivation is influenced by both financial and non-financial incentives. The main motivating factors for health workers were appreciation by managers, colleagues and the community, a stable job and income and training. The main discouraging factors were related to low salaries and difficult working conditions. CONCLUSION: Activities associated with appreciation such as performance management are currently not optimally implemented, as health workers perceive supervision as control, selection for training as unclear and unequal, and performance appraisal as not useful. The kind of non-financial incentives identified should be taken into consideration when developing HRM strategies. Areas for further studies are identified.

Abstract: Business performance measurement (BPM) is a fast evolving and diverse research field which features highly on the agenda of academics and practitioners from functions including general management, accounting, operations research, marketing, and human resources. Utilizing a citation analysis this paper identifies the following challenges for the field of BPM. The balanced scorecard seems to be the most influential and dominant concept in the field. Researchers are encouraged to further test and discuss its theoretical foundation and research methodology. The second challenge is to create a cohesive body of knowledge in the field of BPM.

Abstract: In order to improve performance at the operational level, more and more firms are developing explicit linkages with suppliers and with customers. While the question of “what beneficial impact do linkages with suppliers and with customers have for a firm” has been addressed in numerous studies, the equally important question of “why” this beneficial impact arises deserves further discourse and explication. This paper borrows and applies the Resource‐Based View of the Firm, a theoretical perspective prevalent in the strategic management literature, to develop a conceptual framework to describe, explain, and predict the advantages of a firm's linkages with entities in its supply chain on its internal operations. The proposed framework can be used to justify decisions to develop, strengthen, and protect relationships with suppliers on the upstream side and with customers on the downstream side. The framework can also be used to evaluate practices implemented to link a firm to its suppliers and customers and to provide a decision roadmap for firms to better understand how to maximize operational performance benefits from these supply chain linkages.

Abstract: This article analyzes whether and how private-sector notions of performance management apply to nonprofit organizations. To this end the author shows that each concept of performance management used in the private sector is based on a specific economic theory of the firm and its environment. Before transferring concepts and tools derived from a certain model of the firm and its environment to nonprofit organizations, one must determine whether the assumptions underlying this model are also adequate for nonprofit organizations. Otherwise, one must first adjust those assumptions and analyze whether the derived concepts and tools are still meaningful in the new context; if not, one must determine how to modify them accordingly. The analysis elaborates on the differences between for-profit and nonprofit organizations that are important for applying performance management concepts. Moreover, the author discusses the practical implications for the use of balanced scorecards in nonprofits.

Abstract: This text is an introduction to complexity theory and its application to public services management. In a clear and comprehensible manner it: argues that the complexity of the public policy process limits the usefulness of the 'new public management' approach; challenges management techniques used in key areas of the public sector, such as performance management, staff development leadership, strategic management and the use of IT; and proposes alternative approaches that are based on a correct understanding of the disorder in the policy process. The difficult concepts of complexity theory are presented in an accessible manner that explains the central concepts in this new approach to social science. The relevance of emerging theories like knowledge management, emotional intelligence and risk management, are also explored. It is for public service managers and professional in all areas, MBA and postgraduate students in public service management and public policy, undergraduate students in applied social science, policy and politics.

Abstract: Demographic changes and increasing cultural diversity in the workforce, globalization, the rapid advance of technological improvements, and the Internet are three broad changes that have combined to alter dramatically the characteristics, beliefs, and attitudes of workers over the past several decades. In addition, seamless webs of communications media enable virtual teams and various forms of telework arrangements to function effectively. Work anytime, anyplace is now a reality, as work and organizations have become global, with an emphasis on speed. This has led progressive organizations to develop new strategies for attracting and retaining talent. The chapter reviews a number of such strategies, and concludes that to be beneficiaries, rather than victims of such changes, organizations need to reexamine their human resource management systems—recruitment, staffing, performance management, training and development, compensation and reward systems—to ensure that they are attracting the kind of talent and encouraging the kinds of behavior that are consistent with their overall strategy. Likewise, individuals need to reexamine their assumptions and skill sets in order to retain their marketability. This implies commitment to lifelong learning and skill development, viewing diversity as an opportunity, and maintaining networks of contacts to tap for job leads as the need arises. Keywords: diversity; globalization; Internet; modular organizations; psychological contract; technology; telework

Abstract: Organisations devote time and effort to the development of strategic performance measurement (SPM) systems. Many articles have been written on how to design and implement this type of system. However, few studies have addressed the issue of why some organisations are better able to “manage through measures” than others. Why do some organisations struggle to ensure that action follows measurement, whilst others systematically use their metrics to inform their decision‐making processes, and their subsequently actions? Specifically, it is unclear what critical factors play a role in enabling organisations to effectively use their SPM system. To gain an understanding of these factors, 24 practitioners were interviewed. This paper presents the analysed evidence from those interviews and its implications for practice.

Abstract: This paper is organized around a model of job performance in which personality and ability constructs (KSASOs) are seen as leading to procedural and declarative knowledge and motivation which, in turn, lead to task proficiency and contextual and adaptive behavior. These latter individual performance variables are thought to have implications for a set of distal variables, many of which can be conceptualized as organizational level constructs (e.g., social responsibility and litigation). Our sense is that job analyses are means of developing performance models. Some important and relatively new developments in this area include the job information tool known as O*NET. Adding distal variables to a performance model means that we must consider levels of analysis issues. Literature on applicant reactions to selection procedures and the implications of those reactions is discussed as is the notion that withdrawal behavior is a general concern that includes tardiness, absenteeism, counterproductive behavior, and turnover. Still other new developments include the use of technology in measurement, use of our procedures in other cultures, and the critical consideration of time in our analyses of the relationship of various variables with individual differences. Finally, the notion that performance itself is multidimensional is being addressed as a result of recent theorizing about its nature. Keywords: adaptive performance; contextual behavior; customer satisfaction; individual differences; knowledge; performance; test reactions; withdrawal behavior

Abstract: This paper examines the role behavioral factors play in the successful implementation and use of performance management systems that are based on critical success factors, key performance indicators and the balanced scorecard. Case study research was performed which identified 18 individual behavioral factors to be important. The research also showed that the use stage in a systems implementation project has to be performed well in order to assure a regularly used performance management system.

Abstract: This study analyses the relationship between human resource management systems and firm performance, using the Miles and Snow’s typology (1984). The hypotheses set forth to this respect are tested ...

Abstract: In a computer system with a DBMS running thereon, management of the performance of a storage apparatus is executed by using a performance indicator provided by a user job so as to simplify the management of the performance. For this reason, a management server employed in the computer system monitors an operating state of each system element, a response time onto a job and other information. A method for estimating a processing time is given to the management server, which issues a setting modification command based on an estimated processing time.

Abstract: 1. Digitization and Accounting Change SECTION 1: THE TRANSFORMATION OF ACCOUNTING AND MANAGEMENT CONTROLS 2. Dis-Integration through Integration: The Emergence of Accounting Information Networks 3. Management Accounting for the Extended Enterprise: Performance Management for Strategic Alliances and Networked Partners 4. Technology-driven Integration, Automation and Standardization of Business Processes: Implications for Accounting 5. Expenditures on Competitor Analysis and Information Security: A Management Accounting Perspective 6. The Changing Role of Management Accounting and Control Systems: Accounting for Knowledge Across Control Domains SECTION 2: REFLECTIONS ON ORGANIZATIONAL SHIFTS 7. Management Accounting Inscriptions and the Post-Industrial Experience of Organizational Control 8. Operations, Purchase and Sales in Hyperreality: Implications for Management Control from the Perspective of Institutional Sociology 9. Not-for-Profit - For Sale: Management Control in and of an Internet Start-up Company 10. Management Accounting in the New Economy: The Rationale for Irrational Control SECTION 3: RESHAPING ACCOUNTING 11. Management Control and E-Logistics 12. Internet Based Information Systems in the Not-for-Profit Sector 13. Paradoxes of Management and Control in a New Economy Firm 14. Management Accounting and the Knowledge Production Process

Abstract: As competition motivates firms to exploit their core competencies, outsourcing takes on greater significance. Increased reliance on supplier capabilities and technologies, however, increases the impact that supplier selection and assessment can have on the buying firm and in particular, its performance. While prior studies of supply management provide considerable evidence of the criteria used by firms to select and assess suppliers, they provide little insight into the relationships between selection and assessment and the buying firm's performance. This research describes an empirical study of attitudes towards supplier selection and assessment of American and European companies and their impact on business performance. Results illustrate that while both American and European managers consider objective selection and assessment criteria such as cost and price to be more important than subjective criteria such as supplier commitment, it is the more subjective criteria that have a greater impact on firm performance. Moreover, while for American companies there are strong relationships between attitudes towards supply management and performance, similar relationships do not appear to hold for European companies.

Abstract: A Program Performance Management (PPM) system enforces consistency in feedback and coaching to employees across the organization lower attrition through improved morale and job satisfaction. Employees are empowered because they can review their status and thus feel that they have more control over their ratings. Consistency in performance data is maintained across an enterprise. Management insights are gained by comparisons made across projects, programs, and Business Units on standardized measures, thereby enabling accountability at all levels. Integration of quantitative information and qualitative assessments of Customer Management System (CMS) agents performance is summarized and plotted in an intuitive fashion, with feedback acknowledgements and reviews tracked for management. Team leaders have a scorecard interface to efficiently supervise their team members. Agents have access to a dashboard that provides up to date and intuitive indications of their performance and that of their fellow team members.

Abstract: During the last two decades the public sector has come under increasing pressure to improve performance and demonstrate greater transparency and accountability. This pressure has resulted in public sector organisations facing shifts in ways of operating. Various corporate change strategies have been adopted by different public sector agencies, many of these cloning managerial practices from the private sector. These changes in public sector organisations have enormous significance for regional economic and social development. While there is a growing body of knowledge dealing with the management of corporate change there are still significant gaps in understanding the process. While there is much written on public versus private corporate change, there is little distinguishing between change in different types of public sector organisations. This paper analyses change management processes and seeks to determine whether a hybrid model of “new public management” delivers more favourable outcomes than a model focused on cost reduction and private sector prejudice for the bottom line.

Abstract: Using data from a government-wide survey administered by the US General Accounting Office, we examine some of the factors influencing the development, use, and perceived benefits of results-oriented performance measures in government activities We find that organizational factors such as top management commitment to the use of performance information, decision-making authority, and training in performance measurement techniques have a significant positive influence on measurement system development and use We also find that technical issues, such as information system problems and difficulties selecting and interpreting appropriate performance metrics in hard-to-measure activities, play an important role in system implementation and use The extent of performance measurement and accountability are positively associated with greater use of performance information for various purposes However, we find relatively little evidence that the perceived benefits from recent mandated performance measurement initiatives in the US government increase with greater measurement and accountability Finally, we provide exploratory evidence that some of the technical and organizational factors can interact to influence measurement system implementation and outcomes, often in a complex manner

Abstract: The balanced scorecard (BSC) initially developed by Kaplan and Norton, is a performance management system that enables businesses to drive strategies based on measurement and follow-up. In recent y...

Abstract: This paper is about moving from performance measurement to performance management. It was presented at the 2003 Operational Research Society conference.

Abstract: Even though the balanced scorecard (BSC) has become a highly popular performance management tool, usage in local public sector National Health Service (NHS) organisations is still rare. This paper conditionally outlines some grounds in supporting such usage. In particular underlying conceptual concerns with the BSC system and its implementation pitfalls require full consideration. This paper then outlines some factors to be taken into account for “successful” BSC implementation in a NHS multi‐agency setting. These findings emerged from a series of focus groups that took place with contributors drawn from all the key organisations within the Bradford Health Action Zone. Finally, this paper argues that if key criteria are met, successful implementation of the BSC may then proceed. However, “blind” BSC implementation without consideration of these factors may result in potential “failure”.

Abstract: The balanced scorecard (BSC) is a management tool that helps to align behavior of all employees to the organization’s strategy. Research suggests that about half of large US firms have already adopted the BSC and many more are considering implementation. Organization‐wide implementation of a BSC requires IT support and numerous software vendors have taken the opportunity to build software solutions to support a BSC implementation. The problem executives face today is that there are over two‐dozen application‐providers to choose from, each of them claiming that their solution offers unique and important features. Selecting the wrong solution can undermine the entire BSC development effort and the credibility of the performance management system. This article addresses the issue of BSC software by (1) explaining why organizations might need software to support their implementation and (2) by developing a framework to assist organizations in this important decision process.

Abstract: Computer systems are becoming extremely complex. Complexity stems from the large number and heterogeneity of a system's hardware and software components, from the multi-layered architecture used in the system's design, and from the unpredictable nature of the workloads, especially in Web-based systems. Because of these reasons, performance management of complex systems is difficult and expensive when carried out by human beings. A new approach, called self-managing computer systems, is to build into the systems the mechanisms required to self-adjust configuration parameters so that the Quality of Service requirements of the system are constantly met. In this paper, we describe an approach in which analytic performance models are combined with combinatorial search techniques to de sign controllers that run periodically (e.g., every few minutes) to determine the best possible configuration for the system given its workload. We first illustrate and motivate the ideas using a simulated multithreaded server. Then, we provide experimental results , obtained by using the techniques described here, to an actual Web server subject to a workload generated by SURGE.

Abstract: Does high performance human resource management deliver superior organisational performance and if so, how would this come about? Do these practices make a difference to employee work performance and cooperation? Could all companies, regardless of their context, benefit from these HR practices and what factors are associated with the take-up of high performance human resource management? In this study each of these questions is examined using a matched establishment survey in two European countries, Ireland and the Netherlands. Firstly, it tackles the question of whether high performance HR management effects are exerted at several levels of the company. Particular consideration is given to the relationships among the practices, drawing out the implications of this inter-play for mobilising employee performance. Secondly, the study explicates the role played by the company's business strategy as a condition under which improvements made by high performance HR management at the employee level can be translated into improvements at the production and corporate levels. Thirdly, the study discriminates between factors that facilitate or inhibit the diffusion of high performance human resource management practices. Finally, there is a discussion of the role played by the socio-economic and cultural contexts of the countries in which companies implement high performance human resource management.

Abstract: While the concept of a balanced scorecard (BSC) has been extensively documented, there is limited research on the application of the balanced scorecard in a public sector environment and in New Zealand. This article examines how the BSC is being used as a performance management system, a strategic management system and to discharge external reporting obligations in three New Zealand public sector organisations. The findings are relevant to both the academic community and managers by highlighting how the BSC has been adapted to reflect the unique characteristics of public sector organisations.

Abstract: This work describes performance budgeting as the integration of the components of performance management - planning, performance measurement, benchmarking, and evaluation - into the framework of state and local government budgeting.

Abstract: Chapter 1: A Broad View of Human Capital Chapter 2: The Human Capital Crisis in the Federal Government Chapter 3: Developing a Human Capital Strategy Chapter 4: The Four Pillars of Human Capital Chapter 5: Knowledge Management: The Key Pillar in a Human Capital Strategy Chapter 6: Pillar Two: Performance Management through a Knowledge Management Lens Chapter 7: Competency Management: A Necessary Pillar in a Human Capital Strategy Chapter 8: Change Management: The Forgotten Pillar Chapter 9: Establishing Strategic Partnerships for Human Capital Chapter 10: Strategic Management of Human Capital: The Future Case Study: An Operational Study of Knowledge Management GAO Report: Human Capital: Practices That Empowered and Involved Employees

Abstract: A performance management system is disclosed. The performance manage system includes a host system in communication with a client system. The host system includes a database server and an application server. The database server is configured to receive workplace performance information from one or more sources. The application server is configured to receive a query from the client system to provide workplace performance information, transmit a request to the database server to provide workplace performance information, receive workplace performance information transmitted from the database server, generate an HTML document that includes workplace performance information, and transmit the HTML document to the client system.

Abstract: This paper focuses on the relationship between the importance of innovation for organizations and their human resources policy. Drawing on survey findings, we examine the coherence of organizations' utilization of HR recruitment, training and performance management policies to support and enhance firms' innovation performance. Through a social-psychological perspective, we situate our findings in two diverse areas: the psychological literature, exploring the measurement of innovation, and second, with regard to the internal (with each other) and external (with broader organizational objectives) integration of distinct HR policy elements. Our surveyed organizations indicate that, whilst attaching importance to innovation, they fail to consistently translate this importance into coherent HR policies. Typically, HR policy rewarded non-managerial employees for innovation, whilst managerial staff were expected to do so as a matter of course. This inconsistency is one source of resistance which blocks the generation of new ideas, and their implementation, organization-wide.