Measuring performance is a necessary management practice if action is to result in desired outcomes. An important objective of the New Zealand public sector reforms that started in the late 1980s, was to focus the attention of public servants on clear specified results rather than bureaucratic procedures. Based on an implicit assumption that all public sector organisations are of a production nature, the reforms promised greater efficiency within the public sector by holding managers accountable for results while providing them with greater freedom to allocate resources. Consequently, outputs became key performance measures to enhance the accountability structure and to improve efficiency of the public organizations. The development of performance measurements to date appears inadequate in that the most important component of results outcomes is overlooked from the measurement. Currently government departments in New Zealand are implementing the early stage of the Management for Outcomes initiative, with an aim of ensuring all public service departments adopt a more strategic and outcome-focused approach to management and reporting. This thesis studied the latest developments in using outputs as performance measures in two public organisations. The findings demonstrates that outputs do not indicate performance for a procedural or a coping organisation as output information may not be relevant, meaningful or useful. However the most significant risk is that just as in the past, reliance on outputs will continue to lead to the fragmentation of public services and the ineffective delivery of services that the Management for Outcomes initiative aims to overcome.

In Australia, the measurement of safety performance in the construction industry has mostly been in response to statutory requirements. Consequently, the measures and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) used by the industry have invariably focused on outcomes rather than processes. Most of the outcome indicators have tended to give their feedback well after the event therefore failing to identify any weaknesses within the safety management processes. In order to overcome these limitations, two hospital construction projects in New South Wales were selected for an in-depth study and research analysis. The aim of the research was to understand the relationship between management process intervention and management process outcomes for safety in the construction industry. Initially a literature review identifying international practices in performance measurement for safety in construction was conducted so as to review existing safety management processes in partnership with the construction industry representatives. A framework for measuring the performance of safety management processes and related outcomes was developed to stimulate improvement on both projects through the comparison of the performance of the safety management systems and outcomes. This framework was then implemented and established to monitor the performance of the key safety management processes. The successful implementation of the performance measurement framework and the feedback to both stakeholders and subcontractors acted as a good communication tool in creating awareness among subcontractors. It also helped to reduce repetitive hazards, resulting in improved safety outcomes. A statistical analysis found that relatively few injuries were explained by the identified safety hazards. This highlighted the need to look for hazards that were specifically relate to injury occurrence. The research findings identified a method for improving the existing hazard identification process. It is anticipated that such improvements can help to better correlate hazard management processes with the project outcomes for safety in future projects.

In Australia, the measurement of safety performance in the construction industry has mostly been in response to statutory requirements. Consequently, the measures and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) used by the industry have invariably focused on outcomes rather than processes. Most of the outcome indicators have tended to give their feedback well after the event therefore failing to identify any weaknesses within the safety management processes. In order to overcome these limitations, two hospital construction projects in New South Wales were selected for an in-depth study and research analysis. The aim of the research was to understand the relationship between management process intervention and management process outcomes for safety in the construction industry. Initially a literature review identifying international practices in performance measurement for safety in construction was conducted so as to review existing safety management processes in partnership with the construction industry representatives. A framework for measuring the performance of safety management processes and related outcomes was developed to stimulate improvement on both projects through the comparison of the performance of the safety management systems and outcomes. This framework was then implemented and established to monitor the performance of the key safety management processes. The successful implementation of the performance measurement framework and the feedback to both stakeholders and subcontractors acted as a good communication tool in creating awareness among subcontractors. It also helped to reduce repetitive hazards, resulting in improved safety outcomes. A statistical analysis found that relatively few injuries were explained by the identified safety hazards. This highlighted the need to look for hazards that were specifically relate to injury occurrence. The research findings identified a method for improving the existing hazard identification process. It is anticipated that such improvements can help to better correlate hazard management processes with the project outcomes for safety in future projects.

No description available.

The civil engineering industry in South Africa has seen a steady decline in the number of professionals during the last few decades, however it is expected that the government and private sectors are to spend over R200 billion on infrastructure in the next few years. This increases the demand on civil consulting engineering firms to achieve greater productivity, with reduced time and human resources, which has had a profound effect on the quality of service delivered to clients. These firms need to gain a competitive advantage by consistently providing Service Excellence, which is superior to their competitors. One way of achieving this is by benchmarking firms against their competitors. In this research paper the Service Quality and Service Recovery procedures of Company X in Port Elizabeth were benchmarked against its competitors using a customised form of the recognised SERVQUAL research instrument - the SERVPERF questionnaire. The results proved to be invaluable because the survey revealed insightful information which can be used to their strategic benefit. Civil consulting engineering firms need to be aware that Service Excellence is an imperative in the service industry, but do not necessarily have to be perfect. Firms simply need to outperform their competitors to be rated as market leaders. Strategies to improve the Service Quality and Service Recovery of the firm under review are suggested and this work concludes with suggestions for future research projects, which may be beneficial to the researcher, the civil engineering industry and the economy of South Africa.

Pressure on companies to show evidence of compliance with sustainable requirements is increasing. Performance measurement systems (PMSs) assist managers in making such choices that optimize sustainability within supply chain operations. At the same time, companies’ supply base is growing globally and incurring an increase in one of the most visible parts of a supply chain's environmental impact - transportation. The difficulty lies in obtaining standardized data of sustainable impact by transportation. Thereby, ability to show compliance by measuring and evaluating the sustainable performance of transportation is problematic. This report thus addresses the issue of data availability and quality and its impact on ability to measure and evaluate performance in transportation. Further, the objective is to investigate what critical aspects to consider in order to manage environmental performance in a measurement system of logistics. A case study at Company X, a globally dispersed company within the manufacturing industry has been conducted in order to bring clarity to the questions posed. A framework of founding steps in the development of a PMS with the inclusion of environmental sustainable aspects has been developed from previous research to assess the findings against. The analysis carried out show evidence of availability and quality of data heavily hindering development of Sustainable Performance Measurement Systems (SPMS) by inclusion of environmental aspects. The fundamental aspects in need of consideration are summarized by; commitment and technical support, data availability, management of data and design of measurements. Further there lies a critical factor within management of measurements. This study contributes to practitioners with guidance from developed framework to assess critical factors. The theoretical contribution lies within the investigation of obstacles in need of consideration in development of SPMS, a present under-research area, especially in an industry context. Keywords: Sustainable Performance Measurement, Sustainable Performance Measurement Systems

Performance measurement (PM) systems are commonly known for both their potential to enable significant improvement in organizational performance and success as well as the difficulty of actually obtaining these results. A review of the literature suggests that most applications of PM systems prove to be less effective than the design suggests or, in some cases, may fail to be institutionalized. While there have been many recent advancements in this area, the focus from researchers has been primarily on the design and use of these systems. More recent research suggests that the problem with these systems may be the execution and implementation of the system rather than the design. In response, researchers have investigated both enablers and barriers (more generally referred to as success factors) for PM systems. They generally assert that being aware of these factors and attempting to mitigate their effects increases the likelihood of system success and enables practitioners to realize the full potential benefit from these systems. While significant research has been conducted in this area, review of the literature suggests that there is little consistency among the studies with no consensus among researchers concerning terminology or definitions of factors. Analysis of the published literature suggests that this area is at a relatively early stage of maturity with many significant opportunities for further advancement of the research area. In this work, the existing published literature was synthesized and a comprehensive set of 29 potential success factors was identified, along with corresponding definitions. In addition, five distinct dimensions of PM implementation success were identified from the literature synthesis. These literature review results were used to design a survey questionnaire to assess actual organizational practice in an empirical field study. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted to refine the constructs corresponding to potential success factors and implementation success outcomes. The resulting final variables were investigated using regression analysis to identify the factors most strongly associated with each dimension of implementation success. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this research programme was to propose a new structure for judo coaching. Judo coaching predominantly uses traditional methods emphasising progression through belts rather than success in competition as the measure of achievement. The research programme examined this issue in four stages involving seven studies. Stage 1 involved a qualitative examination of five elite coaches on what constitutes an effective coach, leading to the initial development of a 39-item judo coaching scale. Given the importance of demonstrating measures are valid, stage 2 investigated the validity of the scale among judo players and coaches. Factor analytic studies on data from 260 (130 coaches and 130 players) yielded a 7-factor solution; 1) Coaching is about winning, 2) Attitudes to coaching at different levels, 3) Attitudes to judo structure, 4) Relationships with players, 5) Presentational issues, 6) Technical knowledge link to coach level, and 7) Coach-player interactions. Multisample confirmatory factor analysis found support for the invariance of the model between coaches and players, thereby showing that relationships are consistent between different groups. Stage 3 used a multi-method approach, combining quantitative and qualitative methods. Responses to the judo coaching scale indicated perceptions of coach effectiveness vary as a function of being a player or a coach, and by level of participation (elite-v-non-elite). Qualitative results emphasise the importance of emotional control, an aspect not focused on in the interviews completed in stage 1. Stage 4 of the research investigated relationships between judo coaching scale scores and emotional intelligence. The study also investigated levels of emotional intelligence between elite and club coaches. High emotional intelligence is associated is proposed to be indicative of being able to manage the emotional states of other people and so should be a desirable quality in coaches. Results show significant relationship between judo coaching scale score and emotional intelligence factors, with further analysis showing that elite coaches reported higher emotional intelligence scores than club coaches. Based on the findings from the studies completed above, a revised judo coaching structure is presented. An elite structure should be based on players having specific performance targets including technical and tactical skills, psychological, and physiological, aligning judo more closely with the structure used in other Olympic sports. Coaches should also be given targets related to developing emotional control among players and instilling players with a self-belief to attain performance targets related to the above. Effective integration and usage of such personnel is required including developing and inculcating sport science knowledge into the practice of elite coaches, and then modifying this knowledge for use in the club system. It is hoped that findings from this research stimulates discussion, and action in the British Judo Association to revise the current system, which could lead to better judo coaching, better players, and ultimately enhanced Olympic success at London 2012.

No description available.

Thesis (M.M. (Finance & Investment))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2013. / Unit trust investment looks cosy and attractive from the surface, but a detailed understanding of unit trust and its performance can be daunting. Having discussed the evolution of mutual funds in the US and other industrial and financially sound countries; it is concerning that not much has been done in terms of research works on the South Africa unit trust industry’s performance. Several studies have been aimed at investigating the investment in mutual funds relative to mutual fund returns, but an extensive study on the performance of active unit trusts against their bench-marking index is still lacking. This study contributes to the debate by conducting a detailed study of the performances of mutual funds in the last two decades and also what the global investment fund witnessed over this period, with particular interest in the South African market. Another contribution of this study was to provide reasons for the slow growth of investment funds in South Africa; this study attempts to ascribe reasons as to why this has been so. This study used three different performance measures (namely: the nominal returns, Sharpe Ratios and CAPM Alphas) to test the possibility of superior performance by the market or the funds. In order to carry out this detailed analysis of the performance of unit trusts, these performance tests were applied individually to the net returns obtained from a sample of 64 South African domestic general equity unit trusts, covering the 20-year period from January 1st 1992 to December 31st 2011. This 20-year period was further divided into 7 different periods of four 5-year periods, two 10-year periods and the whole 20-year period. This was done to avoid survivorship bias. In all of the periods, strong evidence of superior performance by the domestic general equity unit trust over the market could not be found. Furthermore, several reasons were deduced form the study as to investment funds continue to experience slow growth. Some of the reasons include the following: cost of index fund, investor’s sentiments, and commissions amongst others. Finally, having said all these, outperformance, perhaps may not be the main objective of unit trusts. The findings of this study may not have provided strong evidence of outperformance, it however reveal that there is a need for unit trusts to evaluate the costs and benefits involved in their trading activities in order to provide investors with maximum possible returns for the level of risk they take.