Evaluaton of organisational performance

There are numerous ways organisations collect data

An evaluation or assessment of an organisation's performance needs to be undertaken in order to ensure that the objectives of that organisation are being met. It does not matter whether the objectives are long, mid or short-term, there is no point in setting objectives if you do not intend to measure whether they have been successfully met. Such as assessment of performance will measure the effectiveness of the organisation. In addition, the way that the organisation employs and uses its resources to achieve these goals and objectives must be evaluated to see whether these resources are being used to their optimum capacity. Such an assessment of the organisation's performance will measure the efficiency of the organisation's operations. In addition to measuring the performance of the organisation as a whole, the performance of individual employees or teams of employees may be measured, as well as the performance of sections or departments of the organisation. Such evaluations will be carried out for different purposes. There are three stages to the evaluation of organisational performance. Firstly, we need to know WHAT it is we intend to measure the performance of, i.e. the indicators or the criteria. Secondly, we need to know HOW we intend to measure these indicators or criteria. Thirdly, we need to establish what we intend to do with the outcomes of the evaluation process. Organisations will look at their principal objectives, their core functions, and the key elements of their policies, then prioritise the key indicators or key result areas that they want to measure. Next, a specific criterion, measure or indicator will need to be established. These indicators will either be quantitative or qualitative in nature. Quantitative indicators are 'objective', as they measure aspects of performance that are quantifiable and are not subject to variation once they have been defined, e.g. the number of employees, the level of profit, the number of industrial accidents, the number of customer complaints. Qualitative indicators are, on the other hand, subjective in nature and vary according to who is providing the information, e.g. the level of customer satisfaction, the level of employee satisfaction, or the level of customer service. Organisations will select a number of key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the key objectives or elements of organisational policy. Next, the organisation must decide how the data will be collected, i.e. the method that will be used. A number of options exist - statistical research, survey, observation, questionnaire, and benchmarking. An organisation may use a variety of methods to collect the necessary data that needs to be analysed.