Editing Performance improvement (section)

== Methods ==
Performance is an abstract concept and must be represented by concrete, measurable goals or objectives. For example, a baseball player's performance is abstract as it encompasses various activities. [[Batting average (baseball)|Batting average]] is a concrete measure of a particular performance attribute for a particular game role, batting, for the game of baseball.

Performance assumes an actor of some kind, but the actor could be an individual person or a group of people acting in concert. The performance platform is the infrastructure or devices used in the performance act.

There are two main ways to improve performance: improving the measured attribute by using the performance platform more effectively, or by improving the measured attribute by modifying the performance platform, which in turn allows a given level of use to be more effective in producing the desired output.

For instance, in several sports such as [[tennis]] and [[golf]], there have been technological improvements in the apparatuses used. The improved apparatus in turn allows players to achieve better performance with no improvement in skill by purchasing new equipment. The apparatus, the [[golf club (equipment)|golf club]] and [[golf ball]] or the [[tennis racket]], provide the player with a higher theoretical performance limit.

Performance is a measure of the results achieved. Performance efficiency is the ratio between effort expended and results achieved. The difference between current performance and the theoretical performance limit is the performance improvement zone.

Another way to think of performance improvement is to see it as improvement in four potential areas:
# '''input''' requirements; e.g. [[working capital]], material, replacement or reorder time, and set-up requirements.
# '''throughput''' requirements, often viewed as process efficiency; this is measured in terms of time, waste, and resource utilisation.
# '''output''' requirements, often viewed from a cost/price, quality, functionality perspective.
# '''outcome''' requirements; i.e. did it end up making a difference.

=== Cycle ===
[[Business performance management]] and improvement can be thought of as a [[Business cycle|cycle]]:
# '''Performance [[planning]]''' where [[goal]]s and [[Goal|objectives]] are established.
# '''Performance [[coaching]]''' where a [[Management|manager]] intervenes to give [[feedback]] and adjust performance.
# '''[[Performance appraisal]]''' where individual performance is formally documented and feedback delivered.

=== Behaviour modification ===
{{see also|Behaviour modification}}
In his study of innate [[human needs]], psychologist [[Abraham Maslow]] in his concept of a [[hierarchy of needs]] identified esteem and social fulfillment, garnered by recognition by family and peers, as a basic human need, and therefore able to be tied to structured programs that increase performance. Abraham Maslow, on “Third Force” psychology{{what|date=April 2021}}, combines aspects of [[behavioral psychology|behavioural]], [[cognitive psychology|cognitive]], and emotional psychology, and accounts for the impact of culture and society on behaviour.<ref name="Horney1950">{{cite book | last=Horney | first=Karen | title=Neurosis and human growth : the struggle toward self-realization | publisher=Norton | publication-place=New York | year=1950 | isbn=978-0-393-30775-7 | oclc=285408 | page=}}</ref>