Numbers Speak for Themselves, or Do They? On Performance Measurement and Its Implications

2022/03/26 by Berend van der Kolk · 2 voices · 1 citation
Business, Management and Accounting · #Management and Organizational Studies #Organizational Leadership and Management Strategies #Supply Chain Resilience and Risk Management

paper · pdf · doi:10.1177/00076503211068433

Abstract

Performance measurement systems have the potential to improve organizational outcomes, but they often come at a cost. This commentary highlights the individual, organizational, and societal costs of performance measurement systems and explores how such costs could be reduced.

Cited by

• Dead rats, dopamine, performance metrics, and peacock tails: Proxy failure is an inherent risk in goal-oriented systems

Discussions

• "When environmental performance is reduced to an indicator like 'kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions', other crucial environmental qualities like biodiversity are rendered virtually invisible." - d [bsky, 60 points, 0 comments]
• "Rankings and metrics create competition, and turn us into achievement-subjects, focused on striving to overtake those we are compared with, at the expense of our individual and collective well-being. [bsky, 12 points, 0 comments]

Related

• Why Measure Performance? Different Purposes Require Different Measures
• Measuring Organizational Performance: Towards Methodological Best Practice
• Digital technologies and performance incentives: Evidence from businesses in the Swiss economy
• On the unintended consequences of publishing performance data in the public sector
• Objective and Subjective Performance Measures