Managing Performance Improvement

From TQM to Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard, there appears to be no end to the 'revolutionary' approaches proposed to improve business performance. However, on closer inspection, most new performance improvement approaches offer few differences from their predecessors. This thought-provoking book provides a critical perspective on the management of performance improvement initiatives by relating major theories to practical examples from a wide range of organizations. Baxter and MacLeod analyze ideas on performance improvement and discuss how these concepts might not make any impact on organizations, using cases as diverse as telecommunications, cement manufacturing, a major airport, and an economic development organization. In their critique of popular performance improvement 'innovations', the authors highlight the possible damage to organizations they can cause. In response to prevailing performance improvement practices, the authors put forth the concept of repair as a way to rescue these efforts. Working from the authors’ extensive research, they present alternative perspectives on improvement that shifts forward the stagnant debates on these processes. Offering a needed alternative perspective and real insights into the process of implementing performance improvements, this book will prove invaluable to advanced students and MBAs studying quality, performance improvement, operations management, and HRM.

Here is an effective, step-by-step plan for improving performance on a large-scale and getting the results and payoffs you desire. If you have a group, a group of groups or an entire organization that needs an intervention, you'll find this book invaluable. Implementation and Management of Performance Improvement Plans begins in the middle – in the implementation phase of performance improvement plans rather than the design or planning phases. This is because, according to the author, implementation is where something useful happens ... or doesn't. Performance improvement aimed at individuals and groups is different. Here you'll learn about common basic misconceptions and errors other leaders make when shifting focus from individual to group and how not to go down the same road. Covered in this cutting-edge resource are six key topic areas: How to approach improvement in a systematic way and "do it right"; How to bring the entire organization into an alignment that adds value over time and keep it there; How project management stitches everything together – from planning through implementation to value added; How to ensure every group being targeted by the plan is fully aware of what is intended and how it applies to them; How to achieve the "holy grail" of performance improvement – measurable improvements and the measurable increase of commitment.

Increasing global competition, combined with shrinking budgets, are forcing managers to find new ways of operating. To compete successfully, companies must now use technology and resources (particularly human resources) to their full potential. Much of the research in the area of performance management has suggested that, while it has great potential to contribute dramatically to the bottom line, it rarely works. The third edition of Managing Performance Improvement looks at why performance systems fail, and explores the tools and techniques to overcome this failure. This best selling text provides practical, specific advice to managers and students enabling them to plan for, and then manage, performance improvement.

Lead work projects from beginning to end . . . and make humanperformance technology happen! Copublished with the International Society for PerformanceImprovement (ISPI) Project teams are growing rapidly as performance improvementsolutions become more complex. Project management methods arebecoming necessary to successfully coordinate these large teams.Develop the skills you need to effectively manage your budget,time, and the quality of work on human performance technologyprojects. All the essential aspects of project development areaddressed, and the process is broken down into three main areas:preparing, planning, and implementing. You'll develop the skills to: * Define projects * Accelerate project development * Obtain sponsorship * Act as a consultant * Plan infrastructures * Create work breakdown structures * Identify depAndency relationships * Manage resources and optimize the plans * Analyze risks and plan for contingencies * Estimate schedules . . . and more! Learn what needs to be done after you finish a project to ensuresuccess. Don't just squeak by with mediocre management. Mediocremanagement can stifle the development of great ideas. Ideas willget projects started. But you won't achieve superior resultswithout effective management. Implement Fuller's project management process today and getresults!

Project Management for Performance Improvement Teams (or, PM4PITs, for short) provides practical guidance based on innovative concepts for project teams -- especially Performance Improvement Teams (PITs)—and their Project Managers on how to successfully complete individual projects and programs using an ingenious and scalable framework based on an innovative foundation fusing together elements of Project Management, Innovation Management, and Continual Improvement. This book lays out how Project and Program Managers and their teams can "do those right projects the right way," one project at a time. It details what continual improvement, change, and innovation are, why they are so important, and how they apply to performance improvement—both incremental and transformative. The authors examine the four types of work and workforce management in organizations, Strategic, Operations, Projects, and Crises, using four common comparative variables: Proactive/Preventive versus Reactive/Corrective, Temporary/Unique versus Ongoing/Repetitive, Innovative versus Maintaining the Status Quo, and Schedule Focus: Fiscal Year versus Short Term versus Long Term. These comparisons set the stage for the uniqueness of the third type: Projects (and Programs) that are fundamentally change-driven.

From TQM to Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard, there appears to be no end to the 'revolutionary' approaches proposed to improve business performance. However, on closer inspection, most new performance improvement approaches offer few differences from their predecessors. This thought-provoking book provides a critical perspective on the management of performance improvement initiatives by relating major theories to practical examples from a wide range of organizations. Baxter and MacLeod analyze ideas on performance improvement and discuss how these concepts might not make any impact on organizations, using cases as diverse as telecommunications, cement manufacturing, a major airport, and an economic development organization. In their critique of popular performance improvement 'innovations', the authors highlight the possible damage to organizations they can cause. In response to prevailing performance improvement practices, the authors put forth the concept of repair as a way to rescue these efforts. Working from the authors’ extensive research, they present alternative perspectives on improvement that shifts forward the stagnant debates on these processes. Offering a needed alternative perspective and real insights into the process of implementing performance improvements, this book will prove invaluable to advanced students and MBAs studying quality, performance improvement, operations management, and HRM.

Provides practical, specific advice for readers and managers on how to plan and manage performance. Topics covered range from setting goals for the organisation, establishing key performance indicators and operational plans to setting standards and ways of monitoring, analysing and improving performance.

Healthcare Organizations offer significant opportunities for change and improvement in their overall performance. Hospitals and clinics are generally large, complex, and inefficient, and need serious development in process workflow and management systems, which will ultimately lead to better patient and financial outcomes. The National Academy of Medicine has stated that hospital systems are broken, and that they must begin by "... improving hospital efficiency and patient flow, and using operational management methods and information technologies." In fact, costs and quality are two of the important aspects of the "triple aim" in healthcare. One area that offers significant potential for improvement is through the application of performance improvement methods to patient and process flows. Performance improvement has a significant impact on a hospital’s over financial and strategic performance. Performance improvement involves the deployment of quantitative and scientific methods to model and influence the functioning of organizations. Performance improvement professionals are tasked with managing a variety of activities, such as deploying new information technologies, serving as project managers for construction events, re-engineering departmental process workflow, eliminating bottlenecks, and improving the flow and movement of patients between resource-intensive clinical areas. All of these are high risk, and require use of advanced, sophisticated methods to improve efficiency and quality, while minimizing disruptions from change. This updated edition is a comprehensive and concise guide to performance improvement in healthcare. It describes the management engineering principles focused on designing optimal management and information systems and processes. Case studies and examples are integrated throughout all chapters.