E. L. Rhodes’s research while affiliated with University at Buffalo, State University of New York and other places

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Publications (5)


Evaluating Program and Managerial Efficiency: An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis to Program Follow Through
  • Article

June 1981

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513 Reads

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1,754 Citations

Management Science

Charnes AC

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W. W. Cooper

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E. L. Rhodes

A model for measuring the efficiency of Decision Making Units (=DMU's) is presented, along with related methods of implementation and interpretation. The term DMU is intended to emphasize an orientation toward managed entities in the public and/or not-for-profit sectors. The proposed approach is applicable to the multiple outputs and designated inputs which are common for such DMU's. A priori weights, or imputations of a market-price-value character are not required. A mathematical programming model applied to observational data provides a new way of obtaining empirical estimates of extrernal relations—such as the production functions and/or efficient production possibility surfaces that are a cornerstone of modern economics. The resulting extremal relations are used to envelop the observations in order to obtain the efficiency measures that form a focus of the present paper. An illustrative application utilizes data from Program Follow Through (=PFT). A large scale social experiment in public school education, it was designed to test the advantages of PFT relative to designated NFT (=Non-Follow Through) counterparts in various parts of the U.S. It is possible that the resulting observations are contaminated with inefficiencies due to the way DMU's were managed en route to assessing whether PFT (as a program) is superior to its NFT alternative. A further mathematical programming development is therefore undertaken to distinguish between “management efficiency” and “program efficiency.” This is done via procedures referred to as Data Envelopment Analysis (=DEA) in which one first obtains boundaries or envelopes from the data for PFT and NFT, respectively. These boundaries provide a basis for estimating the relative efficiency of the DMU's operating under these programs. These DMU's are then adjusted up to their program boundaries, after which a new inter-program envelope is obtained for evaluating the PFT and NFT programs with the estimated managerial inefficiencies eliminated. The claimed superiority of PFT fails to be validated in this illustrative application. Our DEA approach, however, suggests the additional possibility of new approaches obtained from PFT-NFT combinations which may be superior to either of them alone. Validating such possibilities cannot be done only by statistical or other modelings. It requires recourse to field studies, including audits (e.g., of a U.S. General Accounting Office variety) and therefore ways in which the results of a DEA approach may be used to guide such further studies (or audits) are also indicated.


Measuring The Efficiency of Decision Making Units

July 1979

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3,627 Reads

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28,947 Citations

European Journal of Operational Research

A nonlinear (nonconvex) programming model provides a new definition of efficiency for use in evaluating activities of not-for-profit entities participating in public programs. A scalar measure of the efficiency of each participating unit is thereby provided, along with methods for objectively determining weights by reference to the observational data for the multiple outputs and multiple inputs that characterize such programs. Equivalences are established to ordinary linear programming models for effecting computations. The duals to these linear programming models provide a new way for estimating extremal relations from observational data. Connections between engineering and economic approaches to efficiency are delineated along with new interpretations and ways of using them in evaluating and controlling managerial behavior in public programs.



Measuring the effciency of decision making units

November 1978

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554 Reads

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6,334 Citations

European Journal of Operational Research

A nonlinear (nonconvex) programming model provides a new definition of efficiency for use in evaluating activities of not-for-profit entities participating in public programs. A scalar measure of the efficiency of each participating unit is thereby provided, along with methods for objectively determining weights by reference to the observational data for the multiple outputs and multiple inputs that characterize such programs. Equivalences are established to ordinary linear programming models for effecting computations. The duals to these linear programming models provide a new way for estimating extremal relations from observational data. Connections between engineering and economic approaches to efficiency are delineated along with new interpretations and ways of using them in evaluating and controlling managerial behavior in public programs.


Citations (5)


... Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is widely used to measure eco-efficiency. This is due to its nonparametric nature and avoidance of subjective modeling 12 .Common DEAbased models include traditional DEA 13 , three-stage DEA 14 , the DEA-SBM 15 and S-SBM [16][17][18] . Other methods are less commonly applied because of their limitations. ...

Reference:

Measurement of eco-efficiency in the horse industry, spatiotemporal evolution and convergence analysis
Measuring the efficiency of decision-making units
  • Citing Article
  • July 1979

European Journal of Operational Research

... It presents the evaluation results of 61 hospitals, identifies hospitals with significant issues, and offers valuable insights into the management practices of other hospitals. Secondly, qualitative (18) and quantitative (19,20) approaches were combined to select indicators. This scientific method avoids the pitfalls of relying on a single approach. ...

Measuring the effciency of decision making units
  • Citing Article
  • November 1978

European Journal of Operational Research

... In such circumstances, exploring alternative methods that compares multiple inputs and outputs is important to evaluate relative efficiency. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is one such method that researchers have widely recognized as a robust analytical tool (Charnes et al., 1978). DEA effectively identifies, evaluates, and improves locations through efficiency and benchmarking analyses, ultimately facilitating more targeted and effective environmental management strategies. ...

Measuring the efficiency of decision making units. European Journal of Operations Research
  • Citing Article
  • January 1978

... The DEA approach is used to set a benchmark and evaluate efficiency when there are many inputs, multiple outputs, and no market price. Although Farrell (1957) and Debreu (1951) laid the groundwork for the approach, Charnes, Cooper, and Rhodes (1978Rhodes ( , 1981 are the canonical references. ...

Evaluating Program and Managerial Efficiency: An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis to Program Follow Through
  • Citing Article
  • June 1981

Management Science

... Observam-se também a utilização de outros métodos consagrados, como análise envoltória de dados (Charnes et al., 1978), Topsis (Hwang & Yoon, 1981), Electre (Roy, 1968), Promethee (Brans & Vincke, 1985), programação linear e programação não linear. Ou seja, os artigos do portfólio bibliográfico utilizam tanto métodos derivados da teoria da utilidade multiatributo ou do critério único de síntese e métodos de sobreclassificação quanto de métodos interativos. ...

Measuring The Efficiency of Decision Making Units
  • Citing Article
  • July 1979

European Journal of Operational Research