Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations
by Robert D. Austin, Tom DeMarco, Timothy Lister
Glossary
Agency Theory
A branch of economic theory devoted to the construction of rigorous mathematical representations of organizational arrangements between principals (employers or owners) and agents (employees).
Agent
An individual role within an agency model that supplies the labor (effort) required for a productive enterprise. An agent works for a principal. Think of an agent as an employee.
Critical Dimension (of Effort)
An aspect of a job to which effort must be devoted if the resulting work is to have any value at all. If no effort is devoted to a critical dimension, then no value to the customer can result.
Customer
The final arbiter of the value of all effort allocations by the agent. The one and only judge of the value of a ...
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