Measuring effectiveness in international financial crime prevention: Can we agree on a performance metric?

The attempts at carrying out terrorist attacks have become more prevalent. As a result, an increasing number of countries have become particularly vigilant against the means by which terrorists raise funds to finance their draconian acts against human life and property. Among the many counter-terrorism agencies in operation, governments have set up financial intelligence units (FIUs) within their borders for the purpose of tracking down terrorists’ funds. By investigating reported suspicious transactions, FIUs attempt to weed out financial criminals who use these illegal funds to finance terrorist activity. The prominent role played by FIUs means that their performance is always under the spotlight. By interviewing experts and conducting surveys of those associated with the fight against financial crime, this study investigated perceptions of FIU performance on a comparative basis between American and non-American FIUs. The target group of experts included financial institution personnel, civilian agents, law enforcement personnel, academicians, and consultants. Questions for the interview and surveys were based on the Kaplan and Norton’s Balanced Scorecard (BSC) methodology. One of the objectives of this study was to help determine the suitability of the BSC to this arena. While FIUs in this study have concentrated on performance by measuring outputs such as the number of suspicious transaction reports investigated, this study calls for a focus on outcomes involving all the parties responsible for financial criminal investigations. It is only through such an integrated approach that these various entities will be able to improve performance in solving financial crime. Experts in financial intelligence strongly believed that the quality and timeliness of intelligence was more important than keeping track of the number of suspicious transaction reports. Finally, this study concluded that the BSC could be appropriately applied to the arena of financial crime prevention even though the emphasis is markedly different from that in the private sector. While priority in the private sector is given to financial outcomes, in this arena employee growth and internal processes were perceived as most important in achieving a satisfactory outcome.

The effect of vision congruence on employee empowerment, commitment, satisfaction, and performance

Five models delineating the person-situation fit controversy were developed and tested. Hypotheses were tested to determine the linkages between vision congruence, empowerment, locus of control, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and employee performance. Vision was defined as a mental image of a possible and desirable future state of the organization.^ Data were collected from 213 employees in a major flower import company. Participants were from various organizational levels and ethnic backgrounds. The data collection procedure consisted of three parts. First, a profile analysis instrument was used which was developed employing a Q-sort based technique, to measure the vision congruence between the CEO and each employee. Second, employees completed a survey instrument which included scales measuring empowerment, locus of control, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and social desirability. Third, supervisor performance ratings were gathered from employee files. Data analysis consisted of using Kendall's tau to measure the correlation between CEO's and each employee's vision. Path analyses were conducted using the EQS structural equation program to test five theoretical models for goodness-of-fit. Regression analysis was employed to test whether locus of control acted as a moderator variable.^ The results showed that vision congruence is significantly related to job satisfaction and employee commitment, and perceived empowerment acts as an intervening variable affecting employee outcomes. The study also found that people with an internal locus of control were more likely to feel empowered than were those with external beliefs. Implications of these findings for both researchers and practitioners are discussed and suggestions for future research directions are provided. ^

Adult education directors' perceptions of performance indicators for adult education programs in the state of Florida

Current demands for accountability in education emphasize outcome-based program evaluation and tie program funding to individual student performance. As has been the case for elementary and secondary programs, demands for accountability have increased pressure on adult educators to show evidence of the benefits of their programs in order to justify their financial support. In Florida, recent legislation fundamentally changes the delivery of adult education in the state by establishing a performance-based funding system that is based on outcomes related to the retention, completion, and employment of program participants.^ A performance-based funding system requires an evaluation process that stresses outcome indicators over indicators that focus on program context or process. Although the state has adopted indicators of program quality to evaluate its adult education programs, these indicators focus mostly on program processes rather than student outcomes. In addition, the indicators are not specifically tied to workforce development outcomes, a priority to federal and local funding agents.^ Improving the accountability of adult education programs and defining the role of these programs in Florida's Workforce Development System has become a priority to policy makers across the state. Another priority has been to involve adult education practitioners in every step of this process.^ This study was conducted in order to determine what performance indicators, as judged by the directors and supervisors of adult education programs in the state of Florida, are important and feasible in measuring the quality and effectiveness of these programs. The results of the study indicated that, both statewide and by region, the respondents consistently gave the highest ratings on both importance and feasibility to the indicators of Program Context, which reflect the needs, composition, and structure of the programs, and to the indicators of Educational Gain, which reflect learner progress in the attainment of basic skills and competencies. In turn, the respondents gave the lowest ratings on both importance and feasibility to the indicators in the areas of Return on State's Investment, Efficiency, Retention, and Workforce Training. In general, the indicators that received high ratings for importance also received high ratings for feasibility. ^

Strategic Human Resources Management Performance Metrics for Unit-Level Managers: An Exploratory Study of U.S Casual Restaurants

Many restaurant organizations have committed a substantial amount of effort to studying the relationship between a firm’s performance and its effort to develop an effective human resources management reward-and-retention system. These studies have produced various metrics for determining the efficacy of restaurant management and human resources management systems. This paper explores the best metrics to use when calculating the overall unit performance of casual restaurant managers. These metrics were identified through an exploratory qualitative case study method that included interviews with executives and a Delphi study. Experts proposed several diverse metrics for measuring management value and performance. These factors seem to represent all stakeholders’interest.

The effects of semantic and syntactic instruction on user performance and satisfaction in search user interface design

The design of interfaces to facilitate user search has become critical for search engines, ecommercesites, and intranets. This study investigated the use of targeted instructional hints to improve search by measuring the quantitative effects of users' performance and satisfaction. The effects of syntactic, semantic and exemplar search hints on user behavior were evaluated in an empirical investigation using naturalistic scenarios. Combining the three search hint components, each with two levels of intensity, in a factorial design generated eight search engine interfaces. Eighty participants participated in the study and each completed six realistic search tasks. Results revealed that the inclusion of search hints improved user effectiveness, efficiency and confidence when using the search interfaces, but with complex interactions that require specific guidelines for search interface designers. These design guidelines will allow search designers to create more effective interfaces for a variety of searchapplications.