Performance Comparison and Organizational Service Provision

Christopher Dorn is a Research Associate in Sociology, Trier University, Germany. He obtained his doctorate, supported by the German Excellence Initiative, from the Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology. He specializes in the sociology of (e)valuation, organizations, performance measures, and professions.

• Part I: Introducing Performance Comparisons1. U.S. Hospitals: Peak Performance and DisappointmentPart II: Theorizing Hospital Performance Comparisons2. Hospitals in the Context of Health Care, Profession, and Organization3. Comparison, Performance, and OrganizationsPart III: Examining the Case of Hospital Performance Comparisons in the United States4. Reinventing the Hospital and Medicine: Setting the Stage for Comparisons, 1870-19455. The Jactitations of Hospital Control: Proliferation of Performance Comparisons, 1945-20166. Conclusion: Hospital Performance Control between Hope and Disappointment

"Through the well-chosen lens of comparisons, Dorn takes us on a fascinating journey through time and the intriguing development of performance control in the realm of health care and US hospitals. Firmly anchored in rich accounts, both historical and contemporary, its take-aways on organization, professionalism and control make up a highly relevant and timely contribution to both academic and practitioner debates."Susanna Alexius, Associate Professor in business administration at Score, Stockholm University and the Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden"In Performance Comparison, Christopher Dorn provides a sweeping history of performance measures and quality assessments in U.S. healthcare. Dorn carefully documents how different regimes of internal and external comparison have shaped clinical decision making, generated contention within the field, and produced unforeseen consequences. Performance Comparison is a valuable addition to scholarship on organizational metrics, quantification, valuation, and the sociology of professions." Michael Sauder, Professor of Sociology, University of Iowa; Fellow, Max-Weber-Kolleg, Universität Erfurt, Germany