Systemic Analysis of Performance in Research Organizations

Aim of this paper is to build methodologies of performance evaluation for research organisations, using a systemic approach. This approach considers the interrelations between administrative and scientific activities. The methods are based on: i) ranks, ii) ratios [Max Index : 100 = index lab i : x] and iii) research evaluations laboratories (relabs) function. The latter proves to be the best measurement system, because its indexes are a combination of quality, quantity and cost measures. The evaluation system described in the paper is applied to Institutes of National Research Council in Piedmont region. The comparison among the methods shows a Spearman’s coefficient of rank correlation of about 0.8; these methods are simple, objective and focuses on outcome, not behaviour.