Measuring Effectiveness: Is NHS Personnel Getting It Right?

Aims to develop and validate a qualitative measure of personnel management effectiveness among NHS personnel for the Department of Health. Explores the influences of index scores and associations between qualitative and quantitative indicators. Qualitatively, the results of the analysis suggest that personnel effectiveness is related primarily to process rather than to input variables. Pinpoints three variables as key predictors of effectiveness: extent of policy formalization,efficiency of personnel, and degree of influence of the personnel department over major organizational decisions. Generally finds that improvements in personnel management effectiveness are likely to depend less on increased professionalization and resourcing of personnel than on the development of a closer partnership between personnel and line management.