Improving Organizational Performance : A Practical Guidebook for the Human Services Field / by Gary V. Sluyter

Introduction	
Chapter 1 Why Performance Improvement?
	The nature of organizational performance and its link to quality management	philosophies; a definition of organizational performance; organizational assessment; a 	theoretical frame of reference.
Chapter 2 Who are Our Customers?
	The concept of customer as beneficiary of human service organizations; how to identify 	customer groups; special customer characteristics; when customer needs come into conflict.
Chapter 3 Identifying Customer Requirements.
	Discussion of the concept of customer requirements and how to identify them; technical and 	perceptual aspects of quality; the special nature of quality in human services organizations; 	dimensions of quality and customer report cards.
Chapter 4 Charting a Course for the Organization: The Vital Role of Leadership
	The vital role of leadership in organizational performance; the process of	developing 	organizational governing ideas; use of a strategic planning model.
Chapter 5 Leading Change in the Organizational Culture
	The nature of organizational culture; recent research findings; assessing organizational 	culture; the relationship of organizational culture and performance; changing culture to 	support performance improvement initiatives.
Chapter 6 Measuring Organizational Performance
	Development of organizational outcomes; performance measurement grid; linkeage with the 	governing ideas and strategic directions; deployment throughout the organization.
Chapter 7 Constructing the Infrastructure for Organizational Improvement
	The importance of an infrastructure for performance improvement; the Performance Council; 	performance improvement teams; the needed support structure including training and 	supervision.
Chapter 8 Case Study
	Complete case study of a specific organizational performance issue in a psychiatric facility; 	includes instructions and the application of various performance improvement processes and 	tools.
Chapter 9 Resources
	Annotated bibliography of readings in performance improvement and quality management, 	including references in thehuman services literature, as well as videotape resources, and a 	performance improvement tool kit.
Index