VTechWorks staff will be away for the Thanksgiving holiday beginning at noon on Wednesday, November 27, through Friday, November 29. We will resume normal operations on Monday, December 2. Thank you for your patience.

Browsing by Author "Letens, Geert"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    The defence performance measurement framework: Measuring the performance of defence organisations at the strategic level
    Soares, Joaquim; Letens, Geert; Vallet, Nathalie; Van Bockhaven, Wouter; Keathley-Herring, Heather; Van Aken, Eileen M. (2022)
    As the gap between strategic commitments and budgetary constraints continues to grow, defence organisations have introduced performance management initiatives to support decision-making and to improve governance. However, introducing managerial practices in public organisations, including defence, proves to be challenging. As performance management initiatives within defence suffer from an implementation gap, strategic benefits are not being harnessed. In our study, we first exploit the results of a Systematic Literature Review to better anchor the encountered challenges within literature. We then apply thematic analysis to a unique dataset from twelve NATO countries to propose a new defence-specific performance management framework for the strategic level. As the new framework preserves the benefits of existing initiatives while mitigating most recorded challenges, it is proposed as a new guide for designing and assessing defence performance management efforts. Thereby, professionals and scholars are provided with a powerful instrument to address the implementation gap. Moreover, the theoretical and empirical lens adopted ensures alignment between performance management initiatives, defence policy, defence strategy, and strategic objectives. Notably, policy goals and strategic “ends” are clearly connected to critical processes and resources. Thereby, the new framework better supports discussions with key defence stakeholders pertaining to the gap between commitments and constraints.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Empirical Investigation of Factors that Affect the Successful Implementation of Performance Measurement Systems
    Keathley, Heather R. (Virginia Tech, 2016-09-29)
    Performance measurement (PM) systems are commonly known for both their potential to enable significant improvement in organizational performance and success as well as the difficulty of actually obtaining these results. A review of the literature suggests that most applications of PM systems prove to be less effective than the design suggests or, in some cases, may fail to be institutionalized. While there have been many recent advancements in this area, the focus from researchers has been primarily on the design and use of these systems. More recent research suggests that the problem with these systems may be the execution and implementation of the system rather than the design. In response, researchers have investigated both enablers and barriers (more generally referred to as success factors) for PM systems. They generally assert that being aware of these factors and attempting to mitigate their effects increases the likelihood of system success and enables practitioners to realize the full potential benefit from these systems. While significant research has been conducted in this area, review of the literature suggests that there is little consistency among the studies with no consensus among researchers concerning terminology or definitions of factors. Analysis of the published literature suggests that this area is at a relatively early stage of maturity with many significant opportunities for further advancement of the research area. In this work, the existing published literature was synthesized and a comprehensive set of 29 potential success factors was identified, along with corresponding definitions. In addition, five distinct dimensions of PM implementation success were identified from the literature synthesis. These literature review results were used to design a survey questionnaire to assess actual organizational practice in an empirical field study. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted to refine the constructs corresponding to potential success factors and implementation success outcomes. The resulting final variables were investigated using regression analysis to identify the factors most strongly associated with each dimension of implementation success.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Relationship between Leadership and Characteristics of Learning Organizations in Deployed Military Units: An Exploratory Study
    Di Schiena, Raffaella; Letens, Geert; Van Aken, Eileen M.; Farris, Jennifer A. (MDPI, 2013-09-13)
    Previous research has shown that military units operating in the context of risky missions display the characteristics of a Learning Organization. The present work provides preliminary exploratory evidence about the association between Learning Organization characteristics and leadership styles used by military leaders in the field. Based on the literature, we hypothesized that higher Learning Organization characteristics would be associated with a more transformational style of leadership that inspires followers. With this purpose, the five characteristics of a Learning Organization as defined by Peter Senge (Systems Thinking, Team Learning, Shared Vision, Mental Models, and Personal Mastery) and leadership styles as defined by the multifactor leadership model of Bass and Avolio (Transformational, Transactional, and Passive-Avoidant), were measured among commanding officers who had recently served in a mission abroad. Associations with organizational outcomes (Extra-Effort, Effectiveness, and Satisfaction) were also investigated for both Learning Organization characteristics and leadership styles. The correlations showed that Learning Organization characteristics were highly related to Transformational leadership dimensions, and also with Transactional leadership based on Contingent Rewards; meanwhile no association was found with a Passive-Avoidant leadership. Organizational outcomes were also related to Transformational leadership, Contingent Rewards and to various characteristics of a Learning Organization. Implications of these results, as well as avenues for future research, are also discussed.