The Effects of Two Types of Automated Feedback on the Performance of a Community Mental Health Center Staff

To study the differential effects of two types of performance feedback described as either cueing or evaluative "knowledge of results," two monthly reports embodying one or the other type of feedback were distributed to staff in a community mental health center. Evaluative reports consisted mainly of summary statistics in the form of service delivery indices presented in a manner that allowed each service area to compare its current perform that allowed each service area to compare its current performance with its past performance and with the performancec of all other service areas. Although it was found that the effects varied among and within feedback groups and across the dependent variables, the indices fluctuated primarily as a function of instructional antecedents and evaluative feedback. Aside from the quantitative analyses it was widely observed that the performance feedback system had contributed extensively to orienting the Center toward data-based management.