CHAPTER 3

Why Measurement Goes Bad

Why is it, considering all the incredible positive power and functional potential of measurement, that performance measurement seems to go so wrong? Why is it that good people in organizations so often do such detrimental things as those we saw in Chapter 2? This chapter provides the answers to these questions, and shows you how you can reduce measurement dysfunction and cynicism and begin to move your company toward a more positive measurement future.

Motive and Opportunity

There are two factors that contribute to measurement dysfunction—and, unfortunately, usually also translate into negative, or undesirable, behaviors. The first is opportunity. Opportunity is presented by flaws endemic in virtually every ...

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