Goal-oriented Performance Research Articles

Effective Performance Climate for State-Owned Enterprises: A Case Study of BEI’s Performance Management System

Using BEI’s performance management system as a case study, this study investigates the creation of an efficient performance environment within the context of a state-owned enterprise in China. The company utilizes goal orientation and skills, competence, and knowledge orientation as primary components, underlining the importance of tracking and managing the performance process. This optimizes the application of performance outcomes, transforming employees' generalized knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) into specific KSAs. This ensures a consistent performance climate with the strategy and thus improves organizational performance. Additionally, technical term abbreviations are explained upon first use. Focusing on KSAs and creating a performance climate that aligns with the strategy is necessary to improve organizational performance. This study outlines the implementation of a goal-oriented performance appraisal process and a corresponding performance appraisal system based on KSAs. Through a case study of BEI's performance management system, the research demonstrates its beneficial effect on corporate performance and thoroughly investigates its characteristic features, including legitimacy, effectiveness, relevance, fairness, and content environment. The study outlines the practical and enlightening effects of implementing an appropriate performance climate that aligns with Chinese state-owned enterprises’ cultural values. It also emphasizes the need for diverse organizations and industries to perform climate models that cater to their unique needs.

Effects of Gandharva Veda Music on Mood States, Health, and Brain Functioning

Background and Objectives: This paper explores effects of Gandharva Veda music--traditional North Indian music-- on emotional and physical well-being. Hypothesis: Gandharva Veda music balances the mind and body. Materials and Methods: A professional Gandharvan performed 16 live and two online concerts.  Mood states were assessed with the Profile of Mood states (POMS) at the live concerts, emotional and physiological balance were assessed during the online concerts using a traditional Ayurveda diagnostic technique called “pulse diagnosis,” and the EEG of a single Gandharvan was recorded while she played a raga. Results: In the first study (n=1,800), Gandharva Veda music led to significant decreases of negative emotions and significant increases of positive emotions. In the second study, 78 Ayurveda students reported significantly higher levels of vibrant health and significant lowers level of physiological blockages after the ragas. In the last study, high theta1 and alpha1 coherence patterns were seen both during  meditation practice and when the Gandharvan played the ragas, along with higher 12 – 50 Hz coherence during the ragas. Discussion: The responses on the POMS and pulse reading support the prediction that Gandharva Veda music creates a healthy influence for the listener. Also, the coexistence of higher alpha1 coherence, a marker of inner silence, and higher 12-50 Hz coherence, a marker of goal-oriented performance suggests that playing Gandharva Veda music may culture inner silence as the performer plays complex musical passages. Conclusion: Future research is warranted to explore the application of Gandharva Veda music across a wider population of healthy and clinical patients.

Soft HRM practices and its effect on employees goal oriented performance in manufacturing sector, Thiruvananthapuram

The objective of the soft HRM to plan strategically for the long-term goals of the organization. It ensures that two-way communication between employers and employees. Soft HRM approach sees employees as worthy competencies capable of continuous development and sector a long-term commitment. Thus, this research aimed to analyse the employee’s perception about soft HRM practices and its effect on goal-oriented performance the employees in manufacturing sector, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Descriptive research type and interpretation research philosophy have been applied. Self-administrative questionnaire is prepared by the researcher to collect primary data from the sample respondents. The questionnaire constructed with five point likert scale. Further the questionnaire is circulated among 226 sample respondents through convenience sampling methods out 226 questionnaire 210 sample respondents properly filled and returned to the researcher. The response rate is excellent. After collecting the data, the data are analysed with appropriate statistical tools like descriptive statistics, correlation and regression test in order to answer the research objectives. The results revealed that the manufacturing sector mostly used soft HRM practices to their employees for their better job performance.

Quantitative performance assessment of Asian stellar cities by a DEA cascade system: a capability interpretation

Asia hosts several mega-cities with great economic power, which are often in a mutual competitive relationship. Despite smart specialisation and heterogeneity on national and global markets, they are often in pursuit of the highest possible socio-economic outcome so as to outperform their peers in this dynamic region. The present study seeks to present an operational comparative framework for judging the complex performance of several (12) large urban agglomerations in Asia. In the framework of this paper, these cities are called ‘stellar cities’. Two particular research challenges are addressed: (i) the development and application of a new Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach, culminating—after a cascade of sequential analytical steps—in an Autoconfiguration Target Model which serves as a quantitative statistical tool for evaluating the (relative) multidimensional goal-oriented performance of the cities concerned; and (ii) a new functional interpretation of the DEA slack space for the possible improvement of inefficiently operating cities on the basis of Amartya Sen’s capability theory. In the paper, we use an extensive database on 12 Asian stellar cities, extracted from the annual Global Power City Index (GPCI) system which contains more than 60 urban performance indicators, which has been constructed by the Institute of Urban Strategies (Tokyo). We find that the performance ranking of these Asian mega-cities shows the ‘winners’, but also a high variability, with several positive and negative outliers. We conclude that there is clearly scope (‘capability’) for further improvement of the efficiency of most Asian cities in various specific policy domains, as shown by the DEA results.

Integrating conformance and performance for the evaluation of urban planning implementation from a goal-oriented perspective

Urban planning implementation evaluation (UPIE) is an important tool for the supervision and inspection of the outcomes, processes and effectiveness of planning implementation. Conformance-based evaluation refers to the exploration of the degree of coincidence between actual situations and planning contents. Decision-centred performance evaluation focuses on exploring the role and purpose of plans in the implementation process. Although consensus has been reached on conformance and decision-centred performance evaluation, goal-oriented performance evaluation needs further development. Therefore, the integrated theoretical framework of UPIE, which emphasizes social effectiveness, has been constructed with goal-oriented performance in mind. It is suggested that performance-based evaluation that focuses on social effectiveness reveals the gap between actual situations and planning goals and can be established by the degree of realization of planning goals. Meanwhile, it has put forward a service-capabilities-based evaluation methodology which relies on the spatial matching between service supply and user group demands. Taking the Urban Master Plan of Xi’an (2008–2020) as an example, the results of UPIE show that this blueprint needs further revisions and adjustments. Through a goal-oriented methodology, the integrated theoretical framework can attract more attention to social effectiveness.

GRTr: Generative-Retrieval Transformers for Data-Efficient Dialogue Domain Adaptation

Domain adaptation has recently become a key problem in dialogue systems research. Deep learning, while being the preferred technique for modeling such systems, works best given massive training data. However, in real-world scenarios, such resources are rarely available for new domains, and the ability to train with a few dialogue examples can be considered essential. Pre-training on large data sources and adapting to the target data has become the standard method for few-shot problems within the deep learning framework. In this paper, we present grt r, a hybrid generative-retrieval model based on the large-scale general-purpose language model GPT[2] fine-tuned to the multi-domain m eta lwo z dataset. In addition to robust and diverse response generation provided by the GPT[2], our model is able to estimate generation confidence, and is equipped with retrieval logic as a fallback for the cases when the estimate is low. grt r is the winning entry at the fast domain adaptation task of DSTC-8 in human evaluation ( $>$ 4% improvement over the 2nd place system). It also attains superior performance to a series of baselines on automated metrics on m eta lwo z and m ulti woz , a multi-domain dataset of goal-oriented dialogues. In this paper, we also conduct a study of grt r's performance in the setup of limited adaptation data, evaluating the model's overall response prediction performance on m eta lwo z and goal-oriented performance on m ulti woz .

Boxing training in patients with stroke causes improvement of upper extremity, balance, and cognitive functions but should it be applied as virtual or real?

ABSTRACT Background: Upper extremity hemiparesis is one of the most common post-stroke disabilities requiring rehabilitation. Objective: To compare the effects of virtual and real boxing training in addition to neurodevelopmental treatment on the upper extremity, balance, and cognitive functions in hemiparetic stroke patients. Methods: Forty hemiparetic stroke patients were assigned to either real boxing group-RBG (n=20) or virtual boxing group-VBG (n=20), for a total of 24 sessions (3 sessions/week for 8 weeks). The primary outcome was upper extremity motor ability (Wolf Motor Function Test-WMFT). The secondary outcomes were arm-hand dexterity (Manual Dexterity Test-MMDT), goal-oriented performance (Video Boxing Analysis-VBA), balance functions (Fullerton Advanced Balance Scale-FAB-T), and cognitive functions (Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination-Revised-ACE-R). Results: There was small treatment effect on ACE-R, small-medium effect for WFMT and MMDT and large effect on bilateral punching time [VBA (Cohen’s d- VBG=0.83; RBG=0.95)] and balance [FAB-T (Cohen’s d - VBG=0.89; RBG=0.82)] after treatment in both groups. No significant differences were found for training effects between the groups for upper extremity functions [WMFT (p=0.799; Cohen’s d=-0.07), MMDT-PT (p=0.327; Cohen’s d=-0.10), MMDT-THTPT (p=0.779; Cohen’s d=-0.17) and VBA bilateral punch number (p=0.068; Cohen's d=0.15)], balance functions [FAB-T (p=0.602; Cohen’s d=-0.19)] and cognitive functions [ACE-R total (p=0.947, Cohen’s d=0.09)]. Conclusion: The study showed that virtual and real boxing training methods, in addition to neurodevelopmental treatment, are effective in improving upper extremity, balance, and cognitive functions in patients with hemiparetic stroke. The training effects were higher on bilateral punching time and balance functions for both groups. There was no superiority of either approach.

Own the Finish Line: Goal-Oriented Managers and Performance

We use long-distance running as a quasi-natural experiment and study whether endurance activities affect fund managers' trading behavior. We find that funds with a larger share of marathon runner managers are less prone to the disposition effect. A higher representation of runner managers also predicts larger risk-adjusted excess returns. To account for endogeneity, we use the annual number of marathon events in funds’ states as an instrument for the proportion of runner managers and find a consistent outcome. Overall, these results provide behavioral evidence for the disposition effect among fund managers.

To err is (perfectly) human: behavioural and neural correlates of error processing and perfectionism

The attitude towards one’s own imperfection strongly varies between individuals. Here, we investigated variations in error-related activity depending on two sub-traits of perfectionism, Personal Standard Perfectionism (PSP) and Evaluative Concern Perfectionism (ECP) in a large scale functional magnetic resonance imaging study (N = 75) using a digit-flanker task. Participants with higher PSP scores showed both more post-error slowing and more neural activity in the medial-frontal gyrus including anterior cingulate cortex after errors. Interestingly, high-EC perfectionists with low PSP showed no post-error slowing and the highest activity in the middle frontal gyrus, whereas high-EC perfectionists with high PSP showed the lowest activity in this brain area and more post-error slowing. Our findings are in line with the hypothesis that perfectionists with high concerns but low standards avoid performance monitoring to avoid the worry-inducing nature of detecting personal failure and the anticipation of poor evaluation by others. However, the stronger goal-oriented performance motivation of perfectionists with high concerns and high standards may have led to less avoidance of error processing and a more intense involvement with the imperfect behaviour, which is essential for improving future performance.

Achieving Sustainable First Door-to-Balloon Times of 90 Minutes for Regional Transfer ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction

A network approach to transfer ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients can achieve durable first door-to-balloon times (1st D2B) for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) within 90 min. Nationally, a minority of STEMI patients from referral centers obtain 1st D2B in <2 h and even fewer in <90 min. Included were transfer STEMI patients from 9 network hospitals treated in 2007 compared with 2008 to 2011 after installing the following initiatives: 1) established hospital referral system; 2) goal-oriented performance protocols; 3) expedited transport by ground or air; 4) first hospital activation of the PCI hospital catheterization laboratory; and 5) outreach coordinator and patient-level web-based feedback to the referring hospital. A total of 101 STEMI patients transported in 2007 were compared with 442 STEMI patients transferred after starting these initiatives for STEMI from 2008 to 2011, with the median door-in to door-out time decreased from 44 to 35 min (p < 0.0001), the median 1st D2B decreasing from 109.5 to 88.0 min (p < 0.0001), and the percentage under 90 min increased from 22.8% to 55.9% (p < 0.0001). Overall, throughout the study period (2007 to 2011), the transport times remained consistent (median 36.5 vs. 36.0 min, p = 0.98), whereas the PCI hospital D2B decreased from 20.0 to 16.0 min (p < 0.0001). Length of stay and in-hospital mortality remained low at 3.0 days and under 4%, respectively. A system-wide network program can achieve sustained (over 4 years) 1st D2B times of <90 min.

The role of auditory transient and deviance processing in distraction of task performance: a combined behavioral and event-related brain potential study

Distraction of goal-oriented performance by a sudden change in the auditory environment is an everyday life experience. Different types of changes can be distracting, including a sudden onset of a transient sound and a slight deviation of otherwise regular auditory background stimulation. With regard to deviance detection, it is assumed that slight changes in a continuous sequence of auditory stimuli are detected by a predictive coding mechanisms and it has been demonstrated that this mechanism is capable of distracting ongoing task performance. In contrast, it is open whether transient detection—which does not rely on predictive coding mechanisms—can trigger behavioral distraction, too. In the present study, the effect of rare auditory changes on visual task performance is tested in an auditory-visual cross-modal distraction paradigm. The rare changes are either embedded within a continuous standard stimulation (triggering deviance detection) or are presented within an otherwise silent situation (triggering transient detection). In the event-related brain potentials, deviants elicited the mismatch negativity (MMN) while transients elicited an enhanced N1 component, mirroring pre-attentive change detection in both conditions but on the basis of different neuro-cognitive processes. These sensory components are followed by attention related ERP components including the P3a and the reorienting negativity (RON). This demonstrates that both types of changes trigger switches of attention. Finally, distraction of task performance is observable, too, but the impact of deviants is higher compared to transients. These findings suggest different routes of distraction allowing for the automatic processing of a wide range of potentially relevant changes in the environment as a pre-requisite for adaptive behavior.

Ecological gait dynamics: stability, variability and optimal design

Variability–stability relationships are the very foundation of flexible biological movements. For footwear design, stability is best defined as pattern stability at the level of segmental relationships with regard to goal-oriented performance. Footwear design should seek to optimize the variation in segmental relationships while maintaining the overall locomotion pattern, providing a system that is both adaptable to upcoming events and stable to unanticipated perturbations. As footwear is designed for a variety of uses other than forward, continuous running on a flat terrain, an examination of the fundamental assumptions and applicability of traditional gait dynamics is necessary. Expanding evaluation of gait dynamics to non-forward, non-continuous motion across different terrains would seem appropriate, given the ubiquity of these movements in everyday life. Optimizing footwear design for different tasks requires trade-offs between design and material selection and a principled scientific approach to understanding these trade-offs is required. Evaluation of these non-traditional gait dynamics and incorporation of goal-oriented performance requires consideration of the behavioural consequences of design and perception–action coupling. Understanding variability–stability relationships remains at the center of any attempt to understand footwear performance and design implications in these expanded gait dynamics. The basis for changing historical perspectives on variability–stability relationships is discussed with regard to maintaining and changing coordinative patterns, information–movement relationships, injury prevention, and optimizing performance through footwear design. A principled approach to building a footwear performance space from empirical data is provided, and it is suggested that such an approach offers objective metrics for making appropriate trades in footwear design to optimize performance across categories of intended use.

Reading your Counterpart: The Benefit of Emotion Recognition Accuracy for Effectiveness in Negotiation

Using meta-analysis, we find a consistent positive correlation between emotion recognition accuracy (ERA) and goal-oriented performance. However, this existing research relies primarily on subjective perceptions of performance. The current study tested the impact of ERA on objective performance in a mixed-motive buyer-seller negotiation exercise. Greater recognition of posed facial expressions predicted better objective outcomes for participants from Singapore playing the role of seller, both in terms of creating value and claiming a greater share for themselves. The present study is distinct from past research on the effects of individual differences on negotiation outcomes in that it uses a performance-based test rather than self-reported measure. These results add to evidence for the predictive validity of emotion recognition measures on practical outcomes.

Reading Your Counterpart: The Benefit of Emotion Recognition Accuracy for Effectiveness in Negotiation

Using meta-analysis, we find a consistent positive correlation between emotion recognition accuracy (ERA) and goal-oriented performance. However, this existing research relies primarily on subjective perceptions of performance. The current study tested the impact of ERA on objective performance in a mixed-motive buyer-seller negotiation exercise. Greater recognition of posed facial expressions predicted better objective outcomes for participants from Singapore playing the role of seller, both in terms of creating value and claiming a greater share for themselves. The present study is distinct from past research on the effects of individual differences on negotiation outcomes in that it uses a performance-based test rather than self-reported measure. These results add to evidence for the predictive validity of emotion recognition measures on practical outcomes.

Can Us-Type Court Management Approaches Work In Civil Law Systems? Experiences From The Balkans And Beyond

The benefit of applying modern management approaches to court operations to ensuring access to justice, timely and transparent dispositions, and increased public trust in courts is recognized in many countries. In the USA, the art of applying modern management techniques to court operations has evolved over the past 30 years into a now solidly established profession. Since the underlying principles and techniques of modern court management, such as case flow management, goal-oriented performance measures, workload assessments, customer surveys, etc., are derived from general management concepts they are not tied to a particular legal system or framework and can be successfully applied in non-US systems if they are properly adjusted. Interested in the positive results of court management in the USA, researchers and practitioners in several European countries have been looking at the applicability of the approaches used in the USA to improve their own ability to manage court processes more efficiently. Since court management has become a main staple of reforming court operations in the USA, it is not surprising that US-funded development assistance in the Balkan states and other countries often involves transferring court management US-style into the newly evolving democracies as part of rule of law or commercial sector development assistance. These projects frequently introduce, among others, case flow management techniques that sometimes seem to be in conflict with underlying legal principles or procedural laws, and often defy the local legal culture. The US-funded assistance programs are often introduced parallel to efforts funded by European and other donors, which may take and suggest different approaches to the host country. As a result, confusion and insecurity about which approaches are appropriate for a particular country can arise and impede much needed reforms or lead to legislative and regulatory changes that do not mesh well or even conflict with other parts of the legal framework. This article reviews the role of US-based court management approaches in recent court reform efforts under way in Serbia, Bosnia, and Croatia and, in light of lessons learned there and in other countries, assesses the reform processes applied and their status. It also outlines how these court management approaches fit into non-US court systems, how they can be adjusted according to individual country needs and what the main obstacles are that such reform efforts generally face.

Perceptual Effects of Participative, Goal-Oriented Performance Appraisal: A Field Study in Public Agencies

A participatory, goal-oriented performance appraisal (PGPA) program was implemented in six departments of a state government. In a departure from the standard but questionable practice in the field, we examined the perceptual, rather than attitudinal or behavioral, impact of the program. We found that public employee perceptions were not responsive to PGPA. Consistent with the social cognition perspective of the article, the results suggest that perceptual effectiveness of a performance appraisal program should be established before its attitudinal or behavioral impact is examined. The results also underscore the difficulties of moving participatory, goal-oriented programs from laboratory settings to the field. Performance appraisal has been the subject of considerable research for many years. Performance appraisal serves the two major functions of evaluation and development (Meyer, Kay, and French 1965; Cummings and Schwab 1978; Wexley 1979). As evaluators, managers assess the performance of their employees for the purpose of determining pay increases, promotions, transfers, termination, and other employment-related decisions. The developmental function of performance appraisals focuses on providing feedback for the purpose of counseling and developing productive employees. Deficiencies of the traditional, traits-based performance appraisal have long been recognized (Haynes 1978; Reinhart 1985). In response to the failure of the traditional approaches, participative, goal-oriented performance appraisal alternatives have been recommended (Brown 1987; Edwards 1983; McConkie 1979). A rich literature examines employee responsiveness to participation in decision making and to goal setting (Casio 1987; An earlier version of this article was presented at the 1991 meeting of the Academy of Management, Miami Beach. J-PART, 5(1995):3:331-343 33 1IJournal of Public Administration Research and Theory This content downloaded from 157.55.39.157 on Mon, 01 Aug 2016 04:03:51 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Perceptual Effects of Performance Appraisal Chang and Lorenzi 1983; Earley and Kanfer 1985; Erez, Earley, and Hulin 1985; Erez 1986; Herrick 1990; Larson 1984; Latham and Steele 1983; Locke and Schweiger 1979; Pritchard, Roth, and Jones 1988; Wagner 1994; and Wooten 1981). Very little of that literature, however, is in the context of performance appraisal. In addition to fulfilling its developmental and evaluative functions, we do not know if participative, goal-oriented performance appraisal (PGPA) generates positive employee responses. The purpose of our study is to examine the impact of a particular PGPA program in public agencies. The literature has been almost exclusively concerned with the impact of performance appraisal on employee attitudes and behavior (Wagner 1994). The implicit assumption is that external stimuli such as performance appraisal are linked directly to employee attitudes (e.g., satisfaction) and behaviors (e.g., performance). Exhibit 1A presents the operative model of this popular line of research. Yet, there is growing evidence of an intermediate, cognitive linkage between external stimuli and employee responses (Moussavi and Evans 1993), shown in exhibit 1B. As Daft and Weick (1984) argue, response is contingent upon interpretation. From a social cognition perspective, the individual's interpretation or perception of the external stimuli shapes his/her attitudinal responses (Ilgen and Knowlton 1983) as well as behavioral responses (Thomas and McDaniel 1991). Within the performance appraisal context, therefore, a revised stimuli-response model emerges (see exhibit 1C). We contend that in order to understand the impact of performance appraisal on such response variables as satisfaction or performance one first must examine the intermediate linkage between performance appraisal and employee interpretation. Our interest here goes beyond performance appraisal in general. We are interested specifically in participative, goal oriented performance appraisal. Our intent is to examine the impact of such programs in public agencies. In line with our social cognition foundation, laid out in exhibit 1C, we examine the appraisal-interpretation relationship. Sufficient evidence, both conceptual (Daft and Weick 1984; Moussavi and Evans 1993) and empirical (Ilgen and Knowlton 1983; Thomas and McDaniel 1991), suggests that questions about the effectiveness a performance appraisal program has on employee responses should be asked only after a significant linkage has been established between the features of such a program and the employees' interpretations of their work environment. 3321J-PART, July 1995 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.157 on Mon, 01 Aug 2016 04:03:51 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Perceptual Effects of Performance Appraisal Exhibit 1 Stimuli-Response Linkage A. THE OPERATIVE PERFORMANCE APPRAiSAL MODEL Performance Employee appraisal ~attitudes and behavior B. GENERAL SOCIAL COGNITION MODEL tEximlal Interpretation Response C. THE REViSED PERFORMANCE APPRAiSAL MODEL External Interpretation Response Stimuli Performance Employee Employee appraisal perceptions attitudes intervention (satisfaction) and behavior

IMPACT OF PARTICIPATIVE, GOAL-ORIENTED PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL ON PUBLIC EMPLOYEE PERCEPTIONS.

A participatory, goal-oriented performance appraisal (PGPA) program was implemented in a state government. Contrary to the predictions of the literature, the employees' perceptions were not responsive to PGPA. The results underscore the difficulties of moving participatory, goal-oriented programs from laboratory settings to the field.