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Expectations of Excellence
Oxley, G. M., and Genevieve B. Oxley
6/1  (Fall 1963): 13-22

Recent world events have raised Educators have found themselves exposed to public criticism of the quality of their product-from graduates in science and engineering to elementary school students of the three R's. Job classification and appraisal systems have become standard equipment in every large corporation to insure excellence of performance at all levels in the organization. The trend toward scientific management and the quantitative measurement of many factors in decision-making lend mathematical precision to the evaluation of business performance. Excellence of performance can be discussed in moral terms as it was in the Parable of the Talents. In management it is characterized by an above-average return on investment, a good rate of growth, imaginative product development and marketing, positive employee and public relations. In individual employees it is characterized by the quality of performance which makes the maximum contribution to the achievement of these ends. Management is accustomed to the use of promotions and pay raises as direct reinforcements of an employee's good performance, although at some employee levels the seniority raise has tended to remove the annual pay raise from the category of reinforcement. Excellence of performance is the particular concern of top management. Standards of performance are established for the entire organization at top levels by both example and decree.

 

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