The quality of effort among public assistance personnel has been criticized virtually since the inception of welfare programs for the poor. However, until recently, empirical information on the performance of these workers has been nonexistent. The present study, concerned with Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) case decision errors, examines potential influences on performance at worker, supervisory, and agency levels. Over 5000 randomly selected AFDC cases were reviewed by quality-control personnel. Findings include: (1) case payment decisions of public welfare personnel are not independent of their attitudes and values; (2) the use of monitoring and control mechanisms, the increased specialization of case-aide work loads, the provision of support services to case aides, and the establishment of work conditions conducive to job satisfaction can reduce case decision errors; and (3) no relationship was found between variations in organizational structure and variations in payment error. (Author/RLV)