Program/Project Management Resource List #67

Revised Sept. 2012

Provided by the NASA Headquarters Library

Organizations exist in order to bring together the efforts of many people towards a common goal, whether it is shoemaking, distributing donated coats to lower-income children, or exploring the depths of outer space. It is relatively easy to measure the effectiveness of some organizations (for instance, the number of coats delivered per donated dollar and number of coats delivered versus the number of children), but not for others.

For instance, can one really compare the performance of Fermilab to that of Bell Labs or Wallops Flight Facility in a meaningful way, even though they are all at the top of their respective research fields? This webpage will help the reader to discover methods of rating the organizational effectiveness and performance of research and development organizations. For additional information on this topic, you may want to visit our webpages on The Benchmarking Process, Corporate Culture, Managing Scientists and Engineers, or Quality Management. If you would like to know how an R & D organization can justify its expenditures by pointing to the dollars and cents it pours into our national economy, please visit our webpage on Measuring Return on Investment for Government Programs and Agencies. If you would like to know how to measure the performance of an individual project, as opposed to an entire organization, please visit our webpages on Earned Value Management or Project Risk Management.

The following is a select bibliography of pertinent materials accessible to the patrons of the NASA HQ Library. All items are available at the Headquarters Library, except as noted. NASA Headquarters employees and contractors: Call x0168 or email Library@hq.nasa.gov for information on borrowing or in-library use of any of these items. Members of the public: Contact your local library for the availability of these items. NASA Headquarters employees can request additional materials or research on this topic. The Library welcomes your comments or suggestions about this webpage.

Books

Coryn, Chris L.S., and Michael Scriven (eds.). Reforming the Evaluation of Research. Vancouver, B.C.: Jossey-Bass and American Evaluation Association, 2008. ISBN: 9780470382455

Q180.55 .E9 R44 2008 BOOKSTACKS

 

European Expert Group on Cost Control and Management Issues of Global Research Infrastructures. Cost control and management issues of global research infrastructures. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2010.

Q172.5 .E9 C678 2010 BOOKSTACKS

Available online at http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/pdf/cost_control.pdf.

 

Geisler, Eliezer. The Metrics of Science and Technology. Westport, CT: Quorum Books, 2000. ISBN: 1567202136

Q175.5 .G43 2000 BOOKSTACKS

 

Gelès, Claude, et al. Managing Science: Management for R & D Laboratories. New York, NY: Wiley, 2000. ISBN: 0471185086

Q180.57 .M358 2000 PPM-STACKS

 

Niven, Paul R. Balanced Scorecard Step-by-step for Government and Nonprofit Agencies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2003. ISBN: 0471423289

JF1525 .T67 N58 2003 BOOKSTACKS

SATERN has a subsequent edition.

 

United States. Government Accountability Office. Federal Research Opportunities Exist to Improve the Management and Oversight of Federally Funded Research and Development Centers. Washington, DC: U.S. Govt. Accountability Office, 2008.

Q180 .U5 G684 2008 BOOKSTACKS

Available online at http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-15.

E-books

The e-books listed below are available to NASA civil servants and contractors through the Books 24×7 service of SATERN.

 

Carton, Robert B. and Charles W. Hofer. Measuring Organizational Performance: Metrics for Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management Research. Edward Elgar Publishing: 2006. ISBN: 9781845426200

 

Lawler, Edward E., III, and Christopher G. Worley. Built to Change: How to Achieve Sustained Organizational Effectiveness. Jossey-Bass, 2006. ISBN: 9780787980610

 

Nath, Pradosh, and N. Mrinalini. Organization of R & D: An Evaluation of Best Practices. Palgrave MacMillan: 2002. ISBN: 9780333998069

 

Spitzer, Dean R. Transforming Performance Measurement: Rethinking the Way We Measure and Drive Organizational Success. AMACOM: 2007. ISBN: 9780814408919

 

The e-books listed below are available to the general public through the National Academies Press.

 

Committee on Evaluating the Efficiency of Research and Development Programs at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Evaluating Research Efficiency in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2008. ISBN: 9780309116848

 

NASA Astrophysics Performance Assessment Committee. A Performance Assessment of NASA's Astrophysics Program, 2007. ISBN: 9780309104906

Articles and Reports

Basili, Victor R., and Marvin V. Zelowitz. The Use of Empirical Studies in the Development of High End Computing Applications. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, VA, Dec. 2009.

(ADA511351: (Jan. 13, 2010) DTIC)

 

De Luca, Luigi M., Gianmario Verona, and Salvio Vicari. "Market Orientation and R&D Effectiveness in High-Technology Firms: An Empirical Investigation in the Biotechnology Industry", Journal of Product Innovation Management, vol. XXVII (2010), p. 299–320.

Available online at http://www.cbs.dk/content/download/72712/995115/file/Market_Orientation_and_R&D_Effectivenes_in_High-technology_Firm_an_Empirical_Investigation_in_the_Biotechnology_Industry.pdf.

 

Finger, G. Wayne. "Spaceport Performance Measures", in: AIAA SpaceOps 2010, Huntsville, AL, April 25-30, 2010.

(20100039456: (April 25, 2010) NTRS)

 

Gilruth, Peter T., et al. "Measuring performance: Moving NASA Earth science products into the mainstream user community", Space Politics, vol. XXII, no. 3 (Aug. 2006), p. 165-175.

 

Jordan, Gretchen B., et. al. Description of the Sandia National Laboratories Science, Technology & Engineering Metrics Process. Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, April 1, 2010.

(984166: (Aug. 5, 2010) Dept. of Energy Information Bridge)

 

Jordan, Gretchen B., L. Devon Streit, and J. Stephen Binkley. "Assessing and Improving the Effectiveness of National Research Laboratories.", IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, vol. L, no. 2 (2003), p. 228-236.

Available online at http://www.bsos.umd.edu/socy/centerforinnovation/PDF/Jordan%20et%20al%202003.pdf.

 

Larrabee, Christopher L. Inefficient by Design: A Model for Leader Assessment of Organizational Efficiency. Army Command and Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KS, May 2001

(ADA485699: (May 22, 2008) DTIC)

 

Marr, Bernard. "Measuring and benchmarking intellectual capital", Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. XI, no. 6 (2004), p.559-570.

Available online at http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/dinamic-content/research/cbp/2004,%20Measuring%20and%20benchmarking%20IC%20%28Marr,%20BaIJ%29.pdf.

 

Osama, Athar. Multi-Attribute Strategy and Performance Architectures in R & D: The Case of The Balanced Scorecard. Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, March 1, 2006.

(ADA488439: (Nov. 12, 2008) DTIC)

 

Sterk, Steve, and Stephan Chesley. "Civil Service Workforce Market Supply and the Effect on Cost Estimating Relationship (CERS) That May Affect the Productivity Factors for Future NASA Missions", in: ISPA/SCEA 2008 Joint International Conference, Noordwijk, Netherlands, May 12-14, 2008.

(20080042977: (Nov. 11, 2008) NTRS)

Internet Resources

Industrial Research Institute. 2012 [Sept. 6, 2012].

http://www.iriweb.org/

 

International Association for Management of Technology. Aug. 31, 2012 [Sept. 6, 2012].

http://www.iamot.com/

 

Wilson, Jim. Independent Program Assessment Office. June 4, 2012 [Sept. 6, 2012].

http://www.nasa.gov/offices/ipce/ipao/index.html