Advanced: Performance measurement in non-profit organizations

(a) The absence of the profit measure in Not for Profit (NFP)

organisations causes problems for the measurement of their efficiency and effectiveness.

You are required to expla1n:

(i) why the absence of the profit measure should be a cause of the problems referred to; (9 marks)

(ii) how these problems extend to activities within business entities which have a profit motive. Support your answer with examples. (4 marks)

(b) A public health clinic is the subject of a scheme to measure its efficiency and effectiveness. Amongst a number of factors, the 'quality of care provided' has been included as an aspect of the clinic's service to be measured. Three features of 'quality of care provided' have been listed:

Clinic's adherence to appointment times Patients' ability to contact the clinic and make appointments without difficulty The provision of a comprehensive patient health monitoring programme.

You are required to:

(i) suggest a set of quantitative measures which can be used to identify the effective level of achievement of each of the features listed; (9 marks)

(ii) indicate how these measures could be combined into a single ·quality of care' measure.