Defines various aspects of productivity and indicates appropriate ways of measuring them. The author explains how productivity ratios can be used to evaluate both the technical and allocative efficiency of economic systems. The use of productivity analysis in growth accounting is also examined. (Author/RM)

Presents 35 time-management techniques to help teachers efficiently organize their school duties, their paperwork, and their personal lives. (SJL)

The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis-St. Paul, produces 250,000 transcripts a year with five microfiche reader printers. (Author/MLF)

The transactions cost approach provides a framework for evaluating organizations on the basis of efficiency because it allows the identification of the conditions that give rise to the costs of mediating exchanges between individuals. The three basic mechanisms of mediation or control are markets, bureaucracies, and clans. (Author/IRT)

Describes the library renovation project of the MITRE Corporation's Washington Center Library in which limited space was stretched and made more efficient through the collaboration of library management, architect, and contractor. (Author/JD)

Rented remote computer terminals are being used in a pilot program that has reduced the amount of time school officials spend doing routine clerical duties. (Author/MLF)

Arguing that problems associated with the inter-relationships between money spent and educational effectiveness are not in surmountable, this paper addresses: setting goals and identifying measures of effectiveness; determining program effectiveness in relation to the goals of education; and determining cost effectiveness. Pennsylvania Department…

The results of running nine chemistry searches on SDC, BRS, and LRS indicated performance was not markedly different for general subject searches, but costs varied. (Author)

A model demonstrating how performance incentives may encourage cream skimming (selecting participants with a high likelihood of success) was applied to data from 16 Job Training Partnership Act training centers. Short-term performance measures were weakly and perversely related to long-term impacts, but efficiency gains/losses from skimming were…

Investigated efficiency of Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs). Calculated efficiency based on resources available and service units produced. Results demonstrated extent of inefficiency in agencies and how efficiency of individual AAAs can be improved relative to peer agencies. Analysis of organizational type, size, and rural-urban differences…

Describes a web-based project management (WBPM) for university construction projects and the two approaches for establishing this type of system. Also highlighted are how a WBPM can improve project delivery by reducing project lost time, system comparisons, and project cost savings generated by a WBPM. (GR)

A review of applications of motion study in developmental disabilities identifies two eras of research focus in the 1990s: (1) studies establishing the effectiveness and efficiency of tasks designed with motion study principles and (2) studies examining the interaction between motion study-based task designs and other variables such as choice,…

Discussion of organizational pain and the need for change focuses on situational analysis as a method for successful change implementation. Topics include the influence of pleasure as well as pain; determining departmental effectiveness; identifying barriers to efficiency; and developing an action plan for improvement. (LRW)

Shares experiences and lessons learned by chief information officers of large universities about enterprise resource planning (ERP). Specifically, provides a framework for approaching an ERP that could save universities millions of dollars. (EV)

This study explores two specific cases of institutional mergers in the field of higher education. The two cases took place in China in the 1990s. One of the cases might be labeled a vertical merger and the other a horizontal merger. The former simply implies a merger between higher education institutions with equal status and the same level of…