Performance improvement is measuring the output of a particular business process or procedure, then modifying the process or procedure to increase the output, increase efficiency, or increase the effectiveness of the process or procedure. Performance improvement can be applied to either individual performance, such as an athlete, or organisational performance, such as a racing team or a commercial business.
In organisational development, performance improvement is organisational change in which the managers and governing body of an organisation put into place and manage a program which measures the current level of performance of the organisation and then generates ideas for modifying organisational behaviour and infrastructure which are put into place to achieve higher output. At the organisational level, performance improvement usually involves softer forms of measurement such as customer satisfaction surveys which are used to obtain qualitative information about performance from the viewpoint of customers.