This paper reports on the use of a Qualitative Decision Support System used within the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. The system has been used to enable the individual performance review (IPR) process to become more effective. One aim of IPR is to motivate managers. However, the vision of the Unit General Manager was that the IPR DSS would help him (a) understand how individually negotiated IPR objectives fitted together as a whole and related to corporate goals, (b) monitor and control progress through the IPR year and (c) build teams. Managers would be able to understand the impact each of their IPR objectives had upon one another and be able to identify what contribution their objectives made to the aims of the organization as a whole. The decision support system was based upon cognitive mapping as the modelling technique and COPE as the DSS software. The system was used by the General Manager for taking a composite view of the role of IPR in meeting the Strategy of the organization, and also as a method for monitoring progress of individual managers in relation to their personal IPR objectives. This paper reports on the development and implementation of the system within a specific NHS Hospitals Unit.
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