Increasingly, managers are assuming direct responsibility for the assessment of organizational performance, as well as contributing to that performance itself. This book provides an invaluable theoretical and practical guide to the issues involved in the measurement and assessment of organizational performance. It is a multidisciplinary volume of key readings which recognize the many and complex factors involved in performance assessment.

Part One provides a critical framework for interpreting organizational performance, with an emphasis on management control. Part Two reviews several comprehensive approaches to performance measurement and includes sector-specific examples relating the organization to its technological, economic, political and social contexts. The third part examines strategic performance in a range of economic sectors, emphasizing the importance of measurement for both policy and practice.

The book is the Course Reader for The Open University course B889 Performance Measurement and Evaluation.