The current book introduces the methodology of data envelopment analysis (DEA). DEA uses mathematical programming techniques and models to evaluate the performance of peer units (e.g., bank branches, hospitals and schools) in terms of multiple performance measures or metrics. These multiple performance measures are classified or coined as DEA inputs and DEA outputs. Although DEA has a strong link to production theory in economics, the tool is also used for benchmarking in operations management, where a set of measures is selected to benchmark the performance of manufacturing and service operations. In the circumstance of benchmarking, the efficient DMUs, as defined by DEA, may not necessarily form a "production frontier", but rather lead to a "best-practice frontier". DEA's empirical orientation and absence of a priori assumptions have resulted in its use in a number of studies involving efficient or best-practice frontier estimation in the nonprofit, regulated, and private sectors. DEA applications involve a wide range of contexts, such as education, health care, banking, armed forces, auditing, market research, retail outlets, organization effectiveness, transportation, public housing, and manufacturing. DEA is a balanced benchmarking tool that will help organizations to examine their assumptions about their productivity and performance. The book provides students, researchers, and practitioners with a solid understanding of the methodology, its uses and potentials in business analytics.

Improving Performance in Service Organizations guides professionals through the application of lean concepts and methods in the service sector. Agencies can use this innovative approach to analyze operations and determine ways to eliminate activities that are wasteful and add no value to the services delivered. Service organizations that undergo a lean transformation optimize the use of time and money associated with operations and ensure that scarce resources are allocated to the activities that produce the greatest value for clients served. Using a lean lens within the context of the organization's goals and mission taps into the latent energy and innovative ideas of personnel and releases resources trapped in a vicious cycle of wasted work efforts. By applying the lean concepts, methods, and tools introduced in this book and creating a culture of continuous improvement, service organizations can increase effectiveness and improve accountability for the funding they receive. This book is also well suited for academic courses in quality improvement/business operations management in business and/or social service programs.

This new edition continues to emphasize the use of data envelopment analysis (DEA) to create optimization-based benchmarks within hospitals, physician group practices, health maintenance organizations, nursing homes and other health care delivery organizations. Suitable for graduate students learning DEA applications in health care as well as for practicing administrators, it is divided into two sections covering methods and applications. Section I considers efficiency evaluations using DEA; returns to scale; weight restricted (multiplier) models; non-oriented or slack-based models, including in this edition two versions of non-controllable variable models and categorical variable models; longitudinal (panel) evaluations and the effectiveness dimension of performance evaluation. A new chapter then looks at new and advanced models of DEA, including super-efficiency, congestion DEA, network DEA, and dynamic network models. Mathematical formulations of various DEA models are placed in end-of-chapter appendices. Section II then looks at health care applications within particular settings, chapter-by-chapter, including hospitals, physician practices, nursing homes and health maintenance organizations (HMOs). Other chapters then explore home health care and home health agencies; dialysis centers, community mental health centers, community-based your services, organ procurement organizations, aging agencies and dental providers; DEA models to evaluate provider performance for specific treatments, including stroke, mechanical ventilation and perioperative services. A new chapter then examines international-country-based applications of DEA in health care in 16 different countries, along with OECD and multi-country studies. Most of the existing chapters in this section were expanded with recent applications. Included with the book is online access to a learning version of DEA Solver software, written by Professor Kaoru Tone, which can solve up to 50 DMUs for various DEA models listed in the User’s Guide at the end of the book.

"The book focuses on application of performance analysis tools, not the theory of performance management. This text is an effective learning tool for students in analytical technique courses in public administration and policy programs. With other texts, students may learn about a statistical concept and calculation, but still don't understand the managerial context where the statistical tool applies. Consequently, they often fail to understand the managerial importance of statistical tools they learn, and worse, fail to recognize the correct tool to use when a managerial issue rises. This book corrects this problem by providing a managerial context that bridges statistical concepts and the managerial reality. The managerial context is performance management, in which performance data are presented, monitored, and analyzed. It is in this performance management context that the usefulness and applicability of statistical tools are illuminated for the learner."--BOOK JACKET.

This is the digital version of the printed book (Copyright © 1996). Based on an award-winning doctoral thesis at Carnegie Mellon University, Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations presents a captivating analysis of the perils of performance measurement systems. In the book’s foreword, Peopleware authors Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister rave, “We believe this is a book that needs to be on the desk of just about anyone who manages anything.” Because people often react with unanticipated sophistication when they are being measured, measurement-based management systems can become dysfunctional, interfering with achievement of intended results. Fortunately, as the author shows, measurement dysfunction follows a pattern that can be identified and avoided. The author’s findings are bolstered by interviews with eight recognized experts in the use of measurement to manage computer software development: David N. Card, of Software Productivity Solutions; Tom DeMarco, of the Atlantic Systems Guild; Capers Jones, of Software Productivity Research; John Musa, of AT&T Bell Laboratories; Daniel J. Paulish, of Siemens Corporate Research; Lawrence H. Putnam, of Quantitative Software Management; E. O. Tilford, Sr., of Fissure; plus the anonymous Expert X. A practical model for analyzing measurement projects solidifies the text–don’t start without it!

With the increasing globalization and fast-paced technological advances in business today, service organizations must to respond to the changing business dynamic between employers and employees. The service industry has metamorphosed into a revolution not only in United States but in developed and developing countries also. Highly industrialized countries have become ‘service economies’, at least when measured in terms of share of the workforce employed in service industries. This new book, Employees and Employers in Service Organizations: Emerging Challenges and Opportunities, the first volume in the 21st Century Business Management book series, provides an in-depth exploration of recent concepts and trends in business management in the service industries. It looks at the changing expectations and loyalties of young workers and others and the challenges and opportunities presented for service employers. The book considers theory and research findings, providing a plethora of practical implications and applications for these new workplace behavior dynamics. Exploring the different perspectives and concepts from the book’s researchers and authors, Employees and Employers in Service Organizations: Emerging Challenges and Opportunities cover themes such as • work-life balance • spirituality in the workplace • emerging positive psychology concepts, such as psychological capital, knowledge management, and mindfulness • expectations, motivation, and behavior of different generations, such as Generation Y This informative volume will be valuable for faculty teaching courses in management and self-improvement for leaders and executives as well as for those in service industries.