Use Of Performance Evaluation Research Articles

Enhancing Faculty Satisfaction and Performance in Higher Education: The Transformative Role of HR and Technology Integration

Abstract This study investigates the role of Human Resources (HR) strategies and technology integration in enhancing faculty satisfaction and performance at Kuwait's private higher education institutions (HEIs) amidst perceived institutional challenges. It investigates three key factors: technology use in performance evaluation, human resources' role in adapting to global educational shifts, and faculty views on institutional challenges. By surveying 60 faculty members and employing statistical techniques to investigate the relationships between these variables and faculty satisfaction, significant correlations were found between faculty satisfaction, technology integration, and HR's strategic initiatives. Statistical analysis revealed no significant impact of perceived institutional challenges on faculty satisfaction; this unexpected result suggests that faculty satisfaction within the examined HEIs may be more directly influenced by proactive technology and HR strategies than by the challenges these institutions face. Ultimately, the research proposes a new paradigm for HR in the educational sector, emphasizing the necessity of a dynamic and strategic HR function to achieve sustainable excellence and create an environment where faculty members feel valued, supported, and motivated. This approach is essential for navigating the challenges of a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) world, suggesting further research to investigate additional factors influencing faculty satisfaction and to refine the proposed model.

Assessing Confidence and Certainty of Students in an Undergraduate Linear Algebra Course

Knowledge assessments in undergraduate STEM education commonly evaluate response correctness to determine learner proficiency. However, simultaneous evaluation of learner metacognition more accurately assesses the multiple dimensions of knowledge and has been shown to increase assessment validity and reliability. Motivation for researching these multidimensional methods has primarily been to identify guesswork and misinformation by evaluating the alignment of response correctness with the learner’s certainty that their provided response is correct. Learner confidence before assessment, however, has not been thoroughly investigated either alone or in conjunction with certainty for use in performance evaluation, especially at the undergraduate level. The objective of this study is to investigate the efficacy for assessing pre-assessment confidence and post-response certainty in relation to response correctness for students in an undergraduate linear algebra course. Due to the subjective nature of self-reflection, certainty was found to be more aligned with correctness than confidence. Though confidence and certainty levels were reported with similar overall averages, 32% of students demonstrated misaligned confidence and certainty. This study demonstrates the usefulness of a novel assessment method and presents insights that may inform teaching methods, improve examination structure, and identify concerning student behaviors early for corrective intervention.

Sustainability assessment with structural equation modeling in fresh food supply chain management

The aim of this study is to determine the dimensions that affect the sustainability performance of the fresh vegetable and fruit supply chain and to determine the performance that occurs along the chain line. In this study conducted for the fresh fruit and vegetable sector, it is desirable to measure each dimension by finding the performance indices of sustainable supply chain management. Dimensions of this study include supply chain management, resource management, food safety, packaging, and waste management. For these five dimensions gathered from the literature and expert opinions, 26 sub-criteria are determined for use in performance evaluation. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) methods are used together to calculate the performance index of each dimension and then to obtain a final fresh vegetable and fruit supply chain performance score. This study has been performed in Turkey. Turkey, between the countries of the world, is located in the top 5 in the fruit and vegetable production. The performance of the five different dimensions is calculated. In this performance assessment, supply chain management dimension is calculated as the highest performance with a score of 91.22%. The lowest performance index score as 66.77% is the waste management dimension. The final sustainable fresh fruit and vegetable supply chain performance score is calculated as 79.96%. In addition to the limited performance evaluation studies in the sustainable supply chain, the fact that this study deals with the food chain, modeling and creating a final performance demonstrates the innovative aspect of the study. Attention is also drawn to the parameters that need to be addressed for more sustainable food.

The practices of performance management and low performers in the US Federal Government

PurposeAddressing low performers has been an important issue for government. The purpose of this paper is to examine what practices of performance management are effective in reducing the proportion of low performers in the US federal government.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted the binary logit regression analysis and multinomial regression analysis.FindingsAnalyzing the Merit Principle Survey 2016, the authors found that the dismissal of low performing employees and the formal performance improvement plan (PIP) is the most effective in reducing the proportion of low performers. To the contrary, the within-grade-increase did not have a significant influence on the proportion of low performers. Moreover, using the performance appraisal for the purpose of reassigning employees to the position that better match employees’ talent increased the number of low performers in work units.Research limitations/implicationsResearch limitations are as follows. First, the performance measure for this study was the percentage of employees rated as unsuccessful. Second, the pseudo-R2 indicated that the proposed model explained only the small, albeit significant, portion of the total variance in employee performance. Lastly, this study used a cross-sectional research design that may impede the validity of inference of causalities.Practical implicationsAccording to a recent news article (Rein, 2018), Trump signed an executive order that limits the stable benefits associated with government employment such as, limiting pay associated with union work and negotiating more stringent union contracts. These measures are largely aimed at eliminating low performing employees rather than attempting to improve their performances through carefully designed training programs. Although removing low performers may be an option, the results indicate that providing assistance in order to develop employee knowledge and skills through the PIP have a comparable impact on reducing low performers.Originality/valueThese findings imply that the use of performance evaluation for developmental or sanctioning purpose is more effective than reassignment or incentive purpose.

A novel approach for sensor based sorting performance determination

Sensor-based sorters execute an “accept-reject” task to selectively remove the target particles from a material stream. Depending on the intended use, defining the separation performance of a Sensor-based sorting (SBS) operation has critical importance on evaluation of the output product qualities. SBS systems are dominated by line-scan sensors, within which image acquisition via machine vision is practicable as the material is sensed during transportation on a belt or during free fall. Current favorable tools for performance evaluation use numerous parameters such as particle size, throughput, mass % to be rejected, accurate identification of the particles, and even particle shape to determine efficiency, performance, and accuracy of the sorting process in mining/mineral processing industry. However, performance of the operation is also affected by mechanical and physical factors along with the correct identification of materials. Hence, it is necessary to ensure and monitor that all accurately identified particles are reported to the correct product stream, either accept or reject. The aim of this study is to investigate the performance of a real-time Near-infrared (NIR)-sorter with a novel perspective, and compare the results with favorable and known previous approaches. Within the experimental studies, accept and reject products of an industrial scale NIR-sorter used for borate sorting were collected, and sieved to three distinct size fractions. Images of individual particles were acquired with and without optical filters, and boron contents were analyzed, respectively. Resulting data was used to determine the material specific partition coefficients of the sorting operation for different particle size classes. Combined overall and actual separations reported fairly average figures of 0.105 Ep (Ecart probability) and 0.730 RV50 (cut-reflectance value) for the separation. Evaluation of the overall findings showed that presented approach execute reliable performance figures applicable to ore sorting applications.

Análisis de la carrera docente en la educación primaria en México: Entre el credencialismo y la meritocracia

Este artículo tiene como propósito responder a las siguientes preguntas: ¿en México qué desarrollo ha tenido la carrera docente en educación primaria entre 1930 y 2017?, ¿cuáles son los cambios que se han presentado en la carrera en relación con el contexto histórico-político?, y ¿cuáles han sido los elementos y los criterios que han dirigido tal regulación docente? Se realizó un análisis de leyes, reglamentos y normas en relación con la carrera docente. Entre los principales resultados se encontró que este país ha seguido tres enfoques de carrera. El primero es el credencialista, como consecuencia del desarrollo del naciente sistema educativo y de los pactos políticos entre el sindicato de maestros y el Estado. El segundo es el enfoque transitorio, que incorporó elementos de la meritocracia en una estructura legal credencialista. El tercero es, el meritocrático, que destaca por el uso de evaluaciones de desempeño para la gestión de la carrera docente, para lo que se crearon nuevas instancias con el fin de desplazar al sindicato de los procesos de regulación. Se observa que las particularidades del sistema educativo, así como el contexto histórico-político marcan trayectos singulares de la carrera docente mexicana.

Performance Gaps, Peer Effects, and Comparative Behaviour: Empirical Evidence from Swedish Local Government

AbstractCentralized inspections face scepticism among local public managers, and voluntary evaluations have become a popular complement. This study uses the Swedish local government benchmarking programme (Kommunens Kvalitet i Korthet) to investigate what correlates with partaking in a benchmarking exercise empirically. This study finds evidence for temporal and spatial clustering: participants cluster geographically at an early stage of the exercise, new entrants tended to attach to existing clusters of participants rather than forming new clusters themselves. From event history analyses this study also finds that the proportion of participants among direct neighbours increases the conditional probability of entering the exercise. This suggests that public managers and local councils mimic the behaviour from nearby councils when it comes to the use of performance evaluations.

Presence of bacteria and bacteriophages in full-scale trickling filters and an aerated constructed wetland

Aerated Constructed Wetlands are a state-of-the-art design that provides a different physical and chemical environment (compared to traditional passive wetland designs) for the wastewater treatment processes and, thus, may have different pathogen removal characteristics. In order to establish the fate of bacterial and viral indicators, a field study was carried out at a Sewage Treatment Works (STW) in the UK (serving 20,000 pe). The STW consists of primary and secondary sedimentation tanks and trickling filters (TF) as the biological stage. A large (1,160 m2) pilot aerated Vertical Flow Constructed Wetland (AVFCW) was constructed at the STW as tertiary stage receiving ¼ of the total flow rate, i.e., 1250 m3/day. Effluent quality of the AVFCW complied with national and international standards for environmental discharge and reuse. For the first time, two sets of bacterial (Faecal coliforms, E.coli and intestinal enterococci) and viral indicators (Somatic coliphages, F-RNA specific bacteriophages and human-specific B. fragilis GB124 phages) were simultaneously investigated in an AVFCW and TF. High elimination rates were detected (up to 3.7 and 2.2 log reduction for bacteria indicators and phages, respectively) and strong correlations between the two sets were found. The superior efficiency of the aerated Constructed Wetlands in microbiological contamination removal compared to passive wetland systems was established for the first time, which may have implications for process selection for wastewater reuse. This field study therefore provides new evidence on the fate of bacteriophages and a first indication of their potential use for performance evaluation in TF and aerated Constructed Wetlands. It also demonstrates that the combination of TF with aerated constructed wetlands could be a novel and effective treatment scheme for new STW or for the upgrade of existing STW.

Concurrent effects of inertial and kinematic soil-structure interactions on strength-ductility-period relationship

As a key stage of performance-based seismic design of structures, strength-ductility-period relationship is used to determine either inelastic strength or ductility ratio of the structure with a specific fundamental vibration period. On the other hand, period, strength, and ductility demands of structures are significantly affected by inertial and kinematic soil-structure interactions. Hence, this study addresses strength-ductility-period relationship of structures with embedded foundations subjected to non-pulse earthquakes. To achieve this goal, a soil-foundation-structure interaction system well suited for parametric study was used: the soil beneath the rigid foundation was considered as a half-space, the foundation was modelled using a stack of discretised embedded disks, and the structure was modelled as an equivalent single-degree-of-freedom oscillator. A number of soil-foundation-structure interaction systems defined according to key interaction dimensionless parameters were analysed subjected to a suit of 40 non-pulse ground motions. The results show that ductility ratio spectra are significantly influenced by inertial and kinematic interaction effects. It is also found that equal displacement rule can be either valid or invalid under different soil-foundation-structure interaction effects. Further, a practice-oriented mathematical expression was recommended for ductility ratio of soil-foundation-structure interaction systems, which can find use in performance evaluation of existing structures with embedded foundation.

Performance Budgeting and Medium-Term Expenditure Frameworks: A Comparison in OECD Central Governments

Previous literature indicates that the success of performance budgeting (PB) requires budget flexibility and the implementation of medium-term expenditure frameworks (MTEFs). This study focuses on the interlinkages between PB, MTEFs and budget flexibility in 34 OECD central governments. Most countries have adopted a medium-term perspective in the budget process, but budget flexibility is limited. The findings show that MTEFs, when implemented in the past, are positively associated with PB implementation. Countries which present a higher use of performance evaluations apply more intensified monitoring and public disclosure of organizational performance if ministries/agencies do not meet performance targets.

Saints or Sinners: Public Evaluations of Post-Apartheid South African Presidents

This study investigates the nature of public evaluations of the presidents of post-apartheid South Africa. It consists of multivariate analyses which tests competing theories. Using IDASA (Institute for Democracy in South Africa) and Afrobarometer data from 1997, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2015, the article tests identity, performance evaluation and cognitive awareness theories to determine which factors predict approval levels of the president. Findings indicate that South Africans are more likely to make use of performance evaluation when ascribing support than to use their cognitive awareness of current affairs. There is an indication that South Africans who share an identity with the president are more likely to approve of the president -- especially in recent years. However, South Africans are rational people who are more likely to base their approval of the president on how the government performs and how they perceive the economy.

External validation of SAPS 3 and MPM0-III scores in 48,816 patients from 72 Brazilian ICUs

BackgroundThe performance of severity-of-illness scores varies in different scenarios and must be validated prior of being used in a specific settings and geographic regions. Moreover, models’ calibration may deteriorate overtime and performance of such instruments should be reassessed regularly. Therefore, we aimed at to validate the SAPS 3 in a large contemporary cohort of patients admitted to Brazilian ICUs. In addition, we also compared the performance of the SAPS 3 with the MPM0-III.MethodsThis is a retrospective cohort study in which 48,816 (medical admissions = 67.9%) adult patients are admitted to 72 Brazilian ICUs during 2013. We evaluated models’ discrimination using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). We applied the calibration belt to evaluate the agreement between observed and expected mortality rates (calibration).ResultsMean SAPS 3 score was 44.3 ± 15.4 points. ICU and hospital mortality rates were 11.0 and 16.5%. We estimated predicted mortality using both standard (SE) and Central and South American (CSA) customized equations. Predicted mortality rates were 16.4 ± 19.3% (SAPS 3-SE), 21.7 ± 23.2% (SAPS 3-CSA) and 14.3 ± 14.0% (MPM0-III). Standardized mortality ratios (SMR) obtained for each model were: 1.00 (95% CI, 0.98–0.102) for the SAPS 3-SE, 0.75 (0.74–0.77) for the SAPS 3-CSA and 1.15 (1.13–1.18) for the MPM0-III. Discrimination was better for SAPS 3 models (AUROC = 0.85) than for MPM0-III (AUROC = 0.80) (p < 0.001). We applied the calibration belt to evaluate the agreement between observed and expected mortality rates (calibration): the SAPS 3-CSA overestimated mortality throughout all risk classes while the MPM0-III underestimated it uniformly. The SAPS 3-SE did not show relevant deviations from ideal calibration.ConclusionsIn a large contemporary database, the SAPS 3-SE was accurate in predicting outcomes, supporting its use for performance evaluation and benchmarking in Brazilian ICUs.

Performance evaluation in management accounting: apliccation of process Proknow-C for knowledge generation

This research aimed to analyze the characteristics of international scientific research about the literature fragment on the use of Performance Evaluation (PE) in Management Accounting for the knowledge generation and identifying gaps and future research possibilities. To this end, this research with qualitative approach used ProKnow-C tool for selecting the Bibliographical Portfolio (PB) and analysis of the characteristics of its publications. The research resulted in sixteen articles aligned to the subject, who composed the PB and had these results: the journal Transformations in Business and Economics is the one with the highest number of publications portfolio; of the 21 authors, of the articles of the PB, the author Mostaque Md Hussain has largest number of publications, four; the contingency theory was the most used by the authors as the foundation of the Performance Evaluation and; several studies have used the Performance Evaluation path towards becoming the metrics most dynamic. Based on the literature study, the following research gaps were identified: lack of research that focus on the agency theory and the theory of stakeholders and lack of research focusing on the PE path extended to the stakeholders. To promote advances in the field, there is a need for studies that encompass the interests of stakeholders for the use of performance appraisal system, so that they are enlarged the information to be generated by this system.

Evaluating energy performance in non-domestic buildings: A review

Evaluation methods can be used to determine what constitutes good energy performance in a building. With an increasing focus on energy use of buildings worldwide, this evaluation assumes a fundamental importance. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the available methods for analysing, classifying, benchmarking, rating and evaluating energy performance in non-domestic buildings.Methodologies are grouped in five categories: engineering calculations, simulation, statistical methods, machine learning and other methods. Techniques for evaluating buildings are described, their principal applications are shown and limitations are identified. The use of performance evaluation in energy efficiency programmes and standards is mapped.There is a need to further develop interactions between the main modelling techniques to produce simple, robust and validated models. Also, evaluation techniques must be developed to consider comfort or service provision in the buildings as a factor in energy performance.

The effects of total quality management on the business performance: An application in the province of Kütahya

Abstract The quality and the satisfaction of the employees for increasing productivity, their motivation and rewarding, the use of performance evaluation and performance measurement techniques, elimination of errors and mistakes in the organization, concentrating on team work, benefitting from the experience of successful organizations, making the strategic planning and such like targets underline at the sense of Total Quality Management (TQM). With this study, the correlation of TQM components with the organization performance have been examined individually in order to understand the effects of the executives, employee, customers and processes on the business performance at the TQM. The correlation of TQM with the business performance was analysed by means of data based on conducting a questionnaire. According to regression analysis results which was carried out to present the performance features of organizations concerning TQM criteria (education, leadership, continuous improvement, internal customer and external customer), it was observed that the criteria related with leadership and education have a stronger correlation with the performance. Accordingly organizations should give the necessary education and training about the quality to their employees and support the improvement under the leadership of the top management.

Advancing the use of performance evaluation in health care.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for health care performance evaluation that enables decision makers to identify areas indicative of corrective actions. The framework should provide information on strategic pro-/regress in an operational context that justifies the need for organizational adjustments. The study adopts qualitative methods for constructing the framework, subsequently implementing the framework in a Danish magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) unit. Workshops and interviews form the basis of the qualitative construction phase, and two internal and five external databases are used for a quantitative data collection. By aggregating performance outcomes, collective measures of performance are achieved. This enables easy and intuitive identification of areas not strategically aligned. In general, the framework has proven helpful in an MRI unit, where operational decision makers have been struggling with extensive amounts of performance information. The implementation of the framework in a single case in a public and highly political environment restricts the generalizing potential. The authors acknowledge that there may be more suitable approaches in organizations with different settings. The strength of the framework lies in the identification of performance problems prior to decision making. The quality of decisions is directly related to the individual decision maker. The only function of the framework is to support these decisions. The study demonstrates a more refined and transparent use of performance reporting by combining strategic weight assignment and performance aggregation in hierarchies. In this way, the framework accentuates performance as a function of strategic progress or regress, thus assisting decision makers in exerting operational effort in pursuit of strategic alignment.

CEO Personality and the Use of Performance Evaluations in Small Firms

This paper analyzes from an upper echelons perspective whether and how the personal characteristics of a CEO influence the way he or she evaluates the performance of middle managers. Building on previous literature, we draw attention to a specific personality trait, the CEO’s locus of control – i.e. the individual belief to have a great degree of control over personal fate. We focus on relatively small firms as they are often dominated by an “omnipresent” CEO who directly exerts control over middle managers and the impact of CEO personality on performance evaluation practices should be most visible here. We show that CEOs with a more internal locus of control are more likely to make use of subjective performance evaluations (SPEs) supporting the thought that they are more confident to make subjective judgments. Objective performance evaluations (OPEs), however, are rather influenced by the context in which the firm operates and by the context (or background) of the CEO himself such as his demographic characteristics. Those CEOs who hold shares within the company use less OPEs while those who have a higher education level use more of it. Demographic characteristics only indirectly influence the use of SPE. Being an owner intensifies the relationship between personality and the use of SPEs and the higher the education level the weaker the relation between LOC and SPE.

A influência da avaliação de desempenho para o desenvolvimento profissional dos colaboradores: um estudo de multicasos na Amazônia

A avaliação de desempenho é considerada como um esforço para identificar as competências e habilidades do trabalhador ou de uma equipe de trabalho na consecução dos objetivos organizacionais. O objetivo desse estudo foi descobrir de que maneira a avaliação de desempenho influencia o desenvolvimento profissional dos colaboradores, como também suas influências no processo decisório dos gestores. Realizou-se, assim, um estudo de multicasos no Sistema “S” de Boa Vista-RR, de carater qualiquantitativo em seis instituições, composta de entrevistas semi-estruturadas com os gestores e questionário com 160 respondentes. A partir dessa análise foi elaborado um modelo analítico de avaliação de desempenho no Sistema “S”, a partir do qual os resultados foram discutidos, podendo ser expandível a outros tipos de organização. A pesquisa demonstrou que: 1) na organização em que o ciclo de desenvolvimento e a avaliação de desempenho é baixo, existe a predominância da gestão tradicional de RH sem Sistema de Avaliação de Desempenho - SAD. 2) na empresa que apresenta ciclo de desenvolvimento alto, com menos influência da avaliação de desempenho, o SAD está em fase de consolidaçã. 3) verificou-se que em algumas instituições, há alto nível do ciclo de desenvolvimento, com forte influência da avaliação de desempenho, neste caso o SAD é a base da gestão de pessoas. 4) quando a organização se caracteriza por apresentar baixo ciclo de desenvolvimento, com a utilização da avaliação de desempenho, considera-se que o SAD é utilizado apenas como burocracia.

The influence of independent self-construal on rater self-efficacy in performance appraisal

This paper extends current knowledge on the use of performance evaluations in organizations by investigating the influence of self-construal on rater self-efficacy. Results from a survey completed by 105 experienced managers indicate that independent self-construal is related to various dimensions of rater self-efficacy. Moreover, experience with appraisals was found to moderate these relationships. The implications of these findings for the research and the practice of performance appraisal are discussed.

Incentive Contracting and Value Relevance of Earnings and Cash Flows

ABSTRACTAccounting performance measures such as earnings and cash flows are useful for both valuation and performance evaluation purposes. However, little evidence exists on whether there is any association between these two roles. In this study, we provide large sample empirical evidence that the value relevance of earnings explains a significant amount of the cross‐sectional variation in the pay‐sensitivity of earnings and the incremental value relevance of cash flows explains variation in the marginal pay‐sensitivity of cash flows. We document that while both value relevance and compensation weight on earnings decline from the subperiod of 1993 to 1997 to the subperiod of 1998 to 2003, both value relevance and compensation weight on cash flows increase from the earlier subperiod to the later subperiod. Overall, our results provide additional evidence that value relevance of a performance measure plays a significant role in its use for performance evaluation.