As with any manager, forensic science managers need to strive for the best possible outcomes from their available resources. Everything a manager does relies on sound performance at a reasonable cost; this is typically how they are evaluated as well. This may lead them to focus on short term, quantitative issues, such as cost, scheduling, and production rather than longer term, qualitative issues, such as quality and performance. Both views are required, however, for a manager to be effective, that is, to produce the desired outcome. Efficiency, the extent to which time and effort are used to produce the desired outcome, is often confused with effectiveness but they are intertwined. Benchmarking can help with assessments of efficiency (short-term gains) that lead to greater effectiveness (overall performance).
