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The operations research method of data envelopment analysis (DEA) shows promise for assessing radiotherapy treatment plan quality. The purpose of this paper is to consider the technical requirements for using DEA for plan assessment.

In total, 41 prostate treatment plans were retrospectively analysed using the DEA method. The authors investigate the impact of DEA weight restrictions with reference to the ability to differentiate plan performance at a level of clinical significance. Patient geometry influences plan quality and the authors compare differing approaches for managing patient geometry within the DEA method.

The input-oriented DEA method is the method of choice when performing plan analysis using the key undesirable plan metrics as the DEA inputs. When considering multiple inputs, it is necessary to constrain the DEA input weights in order to identify potential plan improvements at a level of clinical significance. All tested approaches for the consideration of patient geometry yielded consistent results.

This work is based on prostate plans and individual recommendations would therefore need to be validated for other treatment sites. Notwithstanding, the method that requires both optimised DEA weights according to clinical significance and appropriate accounting for patient geometric factors is universally applicable.

DEA can potentially be used during treatment plan development to guide the planning process or alternatively used retrospectively for treatment plan quality audit.

DEA is independent of the planning system platform and therefore has the potential to be used for multi-institutional quality audit.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first published examination of the optimal approach in the use of DEA for radiotherapy treatment plan assessment.

Paying too much for funding or failing to obtain adequate returns for lending and interest-bearing assets because of inappropriate mix is just as much a source of inefficiency in banking as overutilisation of input resources. The purpose of this research is to examine bank performance in terms of both technical and allocative efficiency.

This paper uses an extensive quarterly data set from New Zealand (NZ), which allows a decomposition of interest costs and revenues into quantity and price effects to explore the factors, including both technical and allocative efficiency, that impact changes in banks’ costs and revenues.

The research finds that focusing solely on technical efficiency can give a misleading impression of banking performance in our NZ sample. The inclusion of allocative efficiency measurement shows greater variability of performance, as well as highlighting changes in the mix of inputs and outputs needed for banks to improve performance.

A focus on prices and allocative efficiency has received little attention in the academic literature on banking. This paper shows how banking data can be decomposed into the respective price and quantity components.

Traditionally, models of voluntary turnover assume that a rational actor follows a series of linear steps leading towards turnover. In regards to the construct of voluntary turnover, information technology professionals represent a unique phenomenon that may not adhere to traditional models. A new instinctual model of voluntary turnover provides an alternative method of understanding the processes involved when information technology professionals contemplate turnover.

A performance framework is described that distils concepts from the literature about existing frameworks in order to extend capacity to evaluate and appraise performance. This open system interpretation recognises dynamic flows between various organizational levels and allows performance to be viewed in a holistic sense. Both macro and micro views are addressed that range from simple feedback control models to broader evaluation perspectives appropriate to stakeholder requirements and organisation purpose. Three basic dimensions of performance are observed using this framework that form a performance triplet, which is described in a series of principles as part of a first step towards a theory of performance measurement.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the holistic nature of control systems to understand how they operate across organizational levels and manage change.

This paper takes an analytical approach using the viable system model (VSM) to assess the two main frameworks of control reported in the accounting literature.

The VSM provides an elegant framework for management control systems with explicit consideration of: multiple levels of control, communication channels, interactions with the environment, and the mechanisms for attaining balance between stability and change.

The evaluation of current management control systems produces specific suggestions for improving the levers of control framework

The VSM has not previously been aligned with management control frameworks.