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Over the past 15 years, the work of staff at the University of Arizona (UA) Libraries has transformed significantly to meet the evolving needs of library users, the changing profession, and the economic climate. To keep pace with these changes, the UA Libraries have gradually shifted to a new, competency-based hiring and performance management model. This article will describe the process of moving to a competency-based model both for librarians and classified staff at the University of Arizona. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A substantial body of literature holds that industrial policies work best when their beneficiaries are subject to demanding performance standards. By conditioning access to their low-cost loans and lucrative markets on foreign sales and local content, for example, East Asian officials forced their manufacturers to improve quality, cut costs, and develop linkages to allied industries – that generated jobs and foreign exchange revenues of their own – in the so-called miracle years. But the politics of performance standards are themselves unclear. Why are they more common in some countries than others? Are they more likely to be imposed by autocratic than democratic regimes? And, if so, why? I address these questions by examining cross-national data on export and local content requirements in the auto industry in 1980; find that they all but presupposed autocracy in labour-surplus – but not labour-scarce – countries; explore the interactions of political regimes, productive assets, and performance standards in South Korea in particular; and discuss their theoretical and methodological implications. The results not only imply that efforts to build new comparative advantages over the long run by means of performance standards that put existing comparative advantages at risk in the short run are unlikely to succeed in labour-surplus democracies but, in so doing, speak to the merits of ‘middle-N’ methods and typologies that try to reconcile the at times competing goals of generality and historical detail in cross-national research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores the challenge of setting performance standards in a non-Western context. The study is centered on standard-setting practice in the national learning assessments of Trinidad and Tobago. Quantitative and qualitative data from annual evaluations between 2005 and 2009 were compiled, analyzed, and deconstructed. In the mixed methods research design, data were integrated under an evaluation framework for validating performance standards. The quantitative data included panelists’ judgments across standard-setting rounds and methods. The qualitative data included both retrospective comments from open-ended surveys and real-time data from reflective diaries. Findings for procedural and internal validity were mixed, but the evidence for external validity suggested that the final outcomes were reasonable and defensible. Nevertheless, the real-time qualitative data from the reflective diaries highlighted several cognitive challenges experienced by panelists that may have impinged on procedural and internal validity. Additional unique hindrances were lack of resources and wide variation in achievement scores. Ensuring a sustainable system of performance standards requires attention to these deficits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigated the impact of an antecedent intervention in the form of a daily posted schedule on the interobserver agreement (IOA) assessment of educational goals implemented within a classroom at a private school serving individuals with disabilities. During baseline, the percentage of academic goals with interobserver agreement was low and stable (M = 5%). Teacher performance improved during the intervention (M = 92%). A reversal replicated this effect and performance maintained during 6-week, 6-month, and 1-year follow-up probes. Results suggest a daily posted schedule can effectively increase interobserver agreement assessment by direct-care teaching staff. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Performance appraisal systems are often considered primarily in their role as criterion measures for validation studies. Even when they are considered in other organizational roles, there has traditionally been a strong focus on improving the accuracy of the appraisals. The present article argues that the proper focus of performance appraisal is to change employees' behavior on the job—both task performance behavior and contextual performance. Specifically, appraisals are best considered as part of a larger performance management system, where the entire focus is on improving performance. Such a focus has important implications for how concerned we are about perceived accuracy and fairness. Furthermore, when viewed in this way, it is clear that we must consider how to leverage individual level performance up to the level of the firm, since improving firm performance is critical to any organization's strategic goals. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article presents findings from a study of first tier managers (FTMs) within further education. While studies of managerial resistance are rare, this research highlights a range of resistant behaviours employed by first tier managers as they struggle to meet demands from students, their teams and the organisation. Resistance here is considered on a continuum from overt acts such as principled dissent to covert acts such as cutting corners and cognitive escape. While first tier managers primarily resisted acts of surveillance, performativity and managerialism, resistance was also found to be pragmatic, a means to cope with too much work and too little time. However, first tier managers also resisted the managerial identity that was implicit in their role. The article concludes that resistance, rather than being detrimental to the organisation, could potentially be seen as an act of participation rather than separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) research and practice may be characterized as either behavior focused or results focused. These two approaches stem from different origins and have different characteristics. The behavior-focused approach stems from applied behavior analysis (ABA) methods and emphasizes direct observation of and intervention on target behaviors of employees. In contrast, the behavioral systems approach encourages a shift from focusing on behavior exclusively toward focusing more on business results. A systems-oriented, results-focused approach toward Organizational Behavior Management is suggested as a means of making the field more relevant to the concerns of the business world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to illustrate how to conduct a Behavioral Systems Analysis (BSA) to aid in the design of targeted performance improvement interventions. BSA is a continuous process of analyzing the right variables to the right extent to aid in planning and managing performance at the organization, process, and job levels. BSA helps to build alignment among activities within an organization to better provide value-adding products or services to the organization's consumers, which ultimately determines its survival. This paper provides an overview of the BSA approach, a Behavioral Systems Analysis Questionnaire (BSAQ) to guide the performance analyst, and an example of the BSAQ applied to an organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study replicated and refined research on the effects of escalation of commitment in performance ratings. We utilized experimental manipulations in a laboratory setting to determine whether positive escalation or negative escalation (or both) could be responsible for the effect. In one session, participants (N = 210) were assigned to the perspective of the potential employee's supervisor and chose 1 of 2 candidates for a sales position. In a second session, participants rated the performance of (a) the individual they selected; (b) the individual they rejected; or (c) a third individual, whose preselection information they never viewed. Results replicated previous findings, such that ratings were biased upward when participants rated the performance of the salesperson they had originally selected. Results were not biased downward when individuals rated the performance of the salesperson they had rejected, however. Thus, our results suggest that positive escalation, and not negative escalation, was the cause of the bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tests the general idea that people in different organizational positions can have different perspectives on what performance means in a particular job and that these different perspectives are reflected in their implicit trait policies (ITPs) about performance in that job. We test the hypothesis that prison inmates harbor ITPs about the importance of agreeableness and conscientiousness in correctional officers' performance that are different from the ITPs harbored by officers and supervisors. Our results show that critical incidents of officers' performance that are generated by inmates emphasize agreeableness more and conscientiousness less than critical incidents generated by officers and supervisors. Our results also show that inmates' ratings of the effectiveness of officers' behavior described in critical incidents are more strongly associated with the agreeableness of the behavior and less strongly associated with the conscientiousness of the behavior than are officers' and supervisors' ratings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the past two decades schools and teachers in New Zealand and elsewhere have been the subject of and subjected to intense public scrutiny of their performance and professional activities. In effect, policy solutions have cast teacher and school performance as a 'problem' to be solved/resolved via the intervention of the State. Consequently, the policy remedy has been the introduction of audit mechanisms such as systems of performance management to define, regulate and control teaching and teachers. That is, the State has directly intervened in the professional work and activities of teachers based on the flawed assumption that teachers cannot be trusted and therefore require the intervention of the State and its agencies to ensure their performance is aligned with organisational objectives. And while one of the hallmarks of a profession and professional practice is adherence to a set of prescribed standards, performance management has rendered teachers accountable to the State, not professional peers. And, as this article outlines, this has served to de-professionalise teaching and teachers' work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As residential programs face increasing accountability, measuring performance takes on added importance. This paper presents several frameworks for understanding what quality is and how it can be measured in a residential treatment setting. To assess performance, quality indicators and standards must be created. Two contributions to measuring program quality are presented and reviewed. Recommendations are made regarding future directions in developing quality measures. Research advancements in measuring performance must be guided by practitioners and other stakeholders. Research-practice collaborations will be pivotal in moving quality residential care forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We look at some of the theoretical and methodological issues underlying international university ranking systems and, in particular, their conceptual connection with the idea of excellence. We then turn to a critical examination of the two best-known international university ranking systems - the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) World University Rankings and the Shanghai Jiao Tong Academic Ranking of World Universities. We assess the various criteria used by the two systems and argue that the Jiao Tong system, although far from perfect, is a better indicator of university excellence. Based on our assessments of these two systems, we suggest how an ideal international university ranking system might look, concluding with some comments on the uses of ranking systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance feedback is one of the most widely used tools in organizational settings. To date, little research has been conducted focusing on comparisons of the differential effects of the sources, frequency, or media used for feedback on both the quality and quantity of performance. This research investigated the effects of different feedback sources for performance (peer vs. supervisor) on quality and quantity (separate and combined) of typing performance. The source of feedback did not differentially influence performance, although this result may have been due to a failure to establish a clear distinction between the two roles. Feedback, compared to no feedback, increased the targeted typing performance significantly. Feedback for accuracy of performance yielded the largest overall results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intentional dynamics is a modeling framework that provides methods and measures with which to evaluate and predict goal-directed behavior. The authors introduce the framework by showing how it can be used to solve two general problems in the design of human–machine interaction as they are encountered by designers of driving assistance systems. The first problem the authors treat is that of path planning on tasks in which multiple goals have to be satisfied, necessitating the evaluation of performance relative to conflicting criteria. The second problem is that of design selection in which designers need to assess the effectiveness of competing designs in improving performance relative to such criteria. The authors close with a small empirical study testing the predictive validity of the approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Routine quality evaluation is providing evidence of significant variations in key indicators of quality between services, and also between individual practitioners. This paper offers reflections, primarily from a service management perspective, on the process and implications of introducing a standardized system for quality and outcome measurement (CORE) into psychological therapy services. In the context of a predominant framework of external, non-managerial supervision of clinical work, the role of the service manager in ensuring competent, safe and accountable practice is discussed and potential tensions identified. The stages of implementation, together with attendant challenges and pitfalls, are outlined as part of a process of organizational change. The critical importance of winning practitioners’ ‘hearts and minds’ and also ensuring data completeness and quality are highlighted as essential pre-requisites for ensuring practitioner commitment and subsequent utility of outcome measurement data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the problems of incorporating performance management techniques into a transitional administration. Critical factors for the success of pay-for-performance are identified, which form the basis for the Estonian case study. It has been demonstrated that although the common problems of pay-for-performance in Western countries are also present in the Estonian context, they are supplemented by specific issues related to transitional administrations of Central European Countries (CEE) such as poor policy analysis, deficient accountability and co-ordination mechanisms, insufficient management experience and underestimation of democratic values, which altogether make the development of ambitious performance management tools in CEE even more questionable than in the West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the social and human dimensions of standard-setting for test scores. Creation of performance standards; Forums for long-term deliberations about public education; Importance of moral obligations to provide rigorous and caring education for U.S. children.

Recent policy developments are requiring local education authorities (LEAs) in Wales to undertake a more significant role in improving the Welsh education service. This article reports some of the outcomes of a Welsh Assembly government-funded initiative that addressed aspects of the development of the capacity of LEAs in Wales to fulfil this enhanced role. It describes the education context in Wales, analyses how LEAs are using performance management methods to build their capacity, and explores the development of a process that has been designed to enable LEA staff to plan their professional development to match their present and future responsibilities, their career development needs and the requirements of their LEA. The article describes the principles that underpinned the development of the process and the supporting resources. It draws attention to issues that need to be addressed if LEAs in Wales are to develop further so they can fully undertake their intended role [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]