The Evolution of the Performance Model from Black Box to the Logic Model Through Systems Thinking

Abstract

From approximately 1900 through the early 1970s, the examination of organizational performance in the United States reflected the Input/Output construct, which is associated with, if not derived from, scientific management. Beginning in the mid-1950s and accelerating in the 1970s, this construct transformed through systems thinking to Input → Throughput → Output. In current language, this sort of model is known as the “logic model.” There is no single accepted variant of the logic model. This process could be improved by adopting more coherence, integration with more performance constructs, and use of more systems constructs.

Keywords:

• black box
• performance measurement
• logic model
• evaluation
• systems theory

Notes

¹ Noise is the random, and sometimes nonrandom, perturbations of the phenomena surrounding the program.

² Uses omitted from this review include a type of plant, a type of apparel or fabric, a printing format used to emphasize content, and boxes that happen to be black.

³ Teleology refers to causation where the cause follows the effect, purposeful causation.

⁴ This explanation would appear to convert mental phenomena, such as the reader’s conscious understanding of this sentence, to the status of watching a movie and having no actual influence.

⁵ The Hawthorne experiments in the 1920s also examine process.

⁶ For many of the articles discussed, it is the diagrams themselves that establish the linkage to cybernetics or systems theory. Citations are frequently very poor.

⁷ “Managerial performance measurement and monitoring,” is used to refer to data collection and reporting that is functional for managerial purposes, not, primarily, external reporting purposes. The overall systems model, without the deep program theory, may be more relevant to external reporting.

⁸ The efficiency construct of this earlier period includes some elements of effectiveness.