October 4, 2001 | Read Time: 1 minute
Comparative Performance Measurement
by Scott P. Bryant, Harry P. Hatry, and Elaine Morley
More and more nonprofit groups are tracking the success of their efforts using “comparative performance measurement,” a strategy by which organizations collect data on their work and compare it to that of similar groups, write the authors of this new book.
Comparative performance measurement, known also as CPM, seeks to “improve the management and operations of a particular agency or function, to improve policy and resource-allocation decisions, and to communicate to the public what is being accomplished and what community needs should be addressed,” the authors write. CPM achieves those goals by looking at an organization’s performance in its different geographic and functional divisions, and then comparing the group’s overall performance against other groups with similar traits.
This book shows how CPM may be used and offers examples of such efforts by government agencies and charities. Other chapters cover how to determine the scope of a CPM project, how to prepare to collect data and examine it in measurable terms, how to collect the data, how to analyze the results, and how to report on them.
Scott P. Bryant is principal of Scott P. Bryant & Associates, a management consulting firm. Harry P. Hatry and Elaine Morley serve as director and senior research associate, respectively, at the Public Management Program at the Urban Institute.
Publisher: Urban Institute, Publication Sales Office, 2100 M Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037; (877) 847-7377; fax (202) 467-5775; http://www.uipress.org; 112 pages; $28; I.S.B.N. 0-87766-700-4.
