October 1995

Linking Individual and Organizational Performance

"What are we getting for our tax dollars?" That's what taxpayers worldwide are asking their governments. It is no different in this country. John Koskinen, Deputy Director for Management of the Office of Management and Budget, cited this universal question as he highlighted the need to tie individual performance appraisal to organizational program measurement. Speaking at OPM's National Performance Management Conference, Mr. Koskinen talked about the implications of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), which directs Federal agencies to set program goals focused on results, service quality, and customer satisfaction and to measure progress toward meeting those goals.

In measuring Government programs, the focus to date has been on program processes and inputs. No one has asked why specific programs are important and what their impact and results have been. GPRA gets agencies to ask these questions and then set program goals accordingly. It provides an "umbrella" under which agencies can develop a unified perspective on all of their activities. GPRA initiates a dialog valuable to management a dialog which should occur because it is part of good management, not just because it is required by law.

To assure progress toward the accomplishment of organizational goals, agencies must communicate those goals to their employees and then link the measurement of individual accomplishments to the measurement of overall agency program performance. If individual measures are not linked to organizational goals, then organizational progress will not happen, even if individual standards are surpassed. In setting program goals and individual measures, Mr. Koskinen advocated two-way conversations with input from top management and line employees. This helps to achieve greater understanding among employees of how their jobs tie into broad organizational goals and accomplishments.