Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations

Preface

Few management tools appear as simple and obviously useful as measurement. You establish numeric goals, take actions, and measure how the actions affect progress toward goals. Based on what the measures reveal, you adjust your actions. You continue in this way. Simple. You analyze measurements to determine what works and what doesn’t. Despite organizational complexity, you learn confidently, your managerial decisions backed up by hard data. Obviously useful. Right?

Look more closely, however, and this clear picture begins to blur. Soon you find examples of measurement disaster. Look again and you discover startling disagreement among recognized experts about the value of organizational measurement. First, you encounter an expert who claims ...