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Although few organizations would claim to have sophisticated and well integrated performance management programs up and running, during the last two years the concept of performance management has undergone a major transition. Up until the late 1990s, performance management as a concept was being nurtured in business schools and was predominantly concerned with the balanced scorecard. Other than for a few best of breed vendors, it was not something that the software industry got too involved with, as implementing wall‐to‐wall ERP and CRM solutions was far more lucrative. However, things have changed. Performance management has leapt out of its pram and started to scream around the nursery. Just like any toddler, it is making a lot of noise and at times can be very difficult to comprehend. Exactly how, when and in what order events happened is difficult to pin down, but its transformation is certainly manifest. This article discusses the rapid evolution of performance management; the competitive and regulatory pressures that are providing momentum to performance management and concludes by examining how companies are merging individual performance management methodologies into integrated solutions.

The term ‘obsolescence’ occurs frequently in the literature of librarianship and information science. In numerous papers we are told how most published literature becomes obsolete within a measurable time, and that an item receives half the uses it will ever receive (‘half‐life’) in a few years. ‘Obsolescence’ is however very rarely defined, and its validity, interest, and practical value are often assumed rather than explained. Before reviewing studies on ‘obsolescence’, therefore, it is necessary to look at the concept and to identify the reasons why it should be of interest.

The study examines health care inequities in viral load testing among hepatitis C (HCV) antibody-positive patients. The analysis predicts whether individual and census tract sociodemographic characteristics impact the likelihood of viral load testing.

This a study of 26,218 HCV antibody-positive patients in Orange County, California, from 2010 to 2020. The case data were matched with the 2017 American Community Survey to help understand the role of neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics in testing for viral load. Multivariable logistic regression was used to predict the probability of ever testing for HCV viral load.

Thirty-six percent of antibody-positive persons were never viral load tested. The results show inequalities in viral load testing by sociodemographic factors. The following groups were less likely to ever test for viral load than their counterparts: (1) individuals under 65 years old, (2) females, (3) residents of census tracts with lower levels of health insurance enrollment, (4) residents of census tracts with lower levels of government health insurance, and (5) residents of census tracts with a higher proportion of non-white residents.

This is a secondary database from public health department reports. Using census tract data raises the issue of the ecological fallacy. Detailed medical records were not available. The results of this study emphasize the social inequality in viral load testing for HCV. These groups are less likely to be treated and cured, and may spread the disease to others.

This chapter is unique as it combines routinely collected public health department data with census tract level data to examine social inequities associated with lower rates of HCV viral load testing.

ONE OF THE questions I get thrown at me at fairly frequent intervals by undiscerning friends is ‘Why don't you go on Mastermind/Brain of Britain/ etc? You're a librarian. You could do it easily.’

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a test in a policing context of a performance assessment tool that is based on a “public values” approach. The Capability, Importance, and Value (CIV) Tool allows police organizations to examine the roles their members carry out to determine whether they are being capably done, are important, and deliver value to stakeholders.

Five focus groups were conducted with front line officers from a large Canadian police service. The focus group process incorporated elements of Appreciative Inquiry and Structured Brainstorming.

Valuable information can be collected from front line police officers with the CIV Tool. Police organizations could use this information to improve performance while ensuring that the roles undertaken by their members align with broader organizational goals and objectives including providing value to stakeholders.

This study was designed as a limited test of the CIV Tool. More extensive testing is required with a larger sample that includes police investigators and members of other specialty units.

The CIV Tool can serve to augment existing police performance measurement strategies. It can help to identify which roles contribute to achieving organizational goals and which do not. Based on this information, ameliorative action can be taken.

A “public values” approach places emphasis on stakeholder needs and expectations. Addressing these directly can result in enhanced performance as well as greater police transparency, responsiveness, and accountability.

Ongoing police performance assessment based on a “public values” approach is uncommon in policing. Its use has important implications for police organizations and their stakeholders.

The Health and Safety at Work Act has been generally welcomed for its attempt to combat industry's death and injury toll. But Dr. Brenda Barrett and Dr. Richard Howells examine some vital contractual issues thrown up by the Act which pose problems for both employers and employees.

There are several stage‐based models of organisational development (OD) that provide a systematic overview of the developmental potential of organisations. This paper compares four such models – Ken Wilber's integral theory, the spiral dynamics model of Don Beck and Chris Cowan, Richard Barrett's corporate transformation model, and William Torbert's action inquiry model – with the aim of presenting an integrated account of the stages of OD.

Integral theory is used as the basis for considering the theoretical scope of these other models of OD. The integral framework is specifically designed to recognise the valid insights of other models of organisational change and, as such, is well suited for situating those insights in a comprehensive and coherent approach for mapping the developmental paths of organisations. The models considered represent some of the more innovative OD approaches.

From the comparative analysis an integral model for OD is described. The description includes a new definition of OD which is based on integral theory's core developmental principles.

The proposed framework provides a means for assessing the scope and specificity of other approaches to OD. It also provides criteria for distinguishing between those approaches that are concerned with incremental or continuous change and those that focus on transformative development.

The comparative analysis and resulting framework will assist practitioners and consultants in the OD field in developing a better understanding of the relationships between various stage‐based approaches to OD.

This paper provides a comprehensive framework that can assist in comparing and situating the many approaches to OD that are currently available.

It is crucial to be cognizant of institutional values and the wider higher education aspirations of the higher education institution where one works and ensure that they are aligned to one's own personal value and belief systems. ”Scholars at Risk” maintains that equal access, responsibility, autonomy of institutions, freedom of academics and community and social responsibility are core values of higher education that are informed by human rights and UNECSO instruments. Through academic freedom, there is ability to conduct one's teaching and research and disseminate opinions about work systems without internal controls. However, with institutional autonomy, organizations are able to govern efficiently and make decisions regarding social values, equity, access and academic freedom at the institution. Social responsibility and accountability is demonstrated through the ethical and professional standards adopted by the institution and through clear and transparent guidelines established regarding equitable access and support for students and staff that are merit-based and are inclusive of all sections of the population. This chapter will underscore the rationale for the alignment of institutional core values with individual academics and their personal value systems for optimized performance and success in academic careers.

More frequent re‐forecasting is becoming an important topic on corporate agendas and is seen by many to be the only way to keep financial performance on track at a time when revenues are becoming less predictable. The paper aims to investigate this topic.

For the past four years ALG Software has commissioned a study of the re‐forecasting practices in a sample of the top organisations in the UK by revenue. The objective of the study is to benchmark how frequently the UK's leading organisations currently re‐forecast and what their goals are for the future.

The results show that the majority of organisations remain dissatisfied with the frequency with which they re‐forecast and wish to re‐forecast more frequently. However, the findings also show that many organisations feel that they cannot re‐forecast as often or as quickly as they would like. In fact, evidence suggests that little, if any, progress has been made during the last four years since this survey was first commissioned. This is due to either the amount of time it takes operational line managers to re‐forecast their resource requirements, or the amount of time it takes the finance function to complete a round of re‐forecasting. The type of application used for budgeting and re‐forecasting appears to make little difference to the time it takes organisations to produce an annual budget or complete a re‐forecast. Central to this issue is the use of non‐financial or “operational” data that predicts future resource requirements, and the limitations of the budgeting systems that organisations currently employ. Regardless of the type of application used for budgeting or re‐forecasting, much of this modelling is still done off‐line on spreadsheets.

The paper is of value to finance managers considering choosing a new budgeting application who will need to ensure that the type of operational modelling of non‐financial driver data, currently done offline on spreadsheets by line managers, can be seamlessly integrated into the central budgeting model.