Feb 14, 2019 03:07 PM
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Book : The Tyranny of Metrics
Author – Jerry Z Muller
Performance measurement is the buzz word and the time we conceive to funeral we keep measuring. The metrics used may be different based on the status or lifestyle, however we measure. Is it the right measure, will all these measure meaningful everyone has their own opinion on that. Metrics and measurement has become dominant in our life.
The Tyranny of metrics is an introspect on the application of metrics, when it is linked to the performance of pay may lead to gaming. The author provides examples on the metrics that were used in Military, Academics, schools and corporates where the dominance of metrics has boomeranged. Greater attention and metrication of the measures linking to performance reward has become gaming. Many of the times, we remember a great quote “If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it” however we forget that it could be a game based on metrics fixation. Because we life in the age of measured accountability of reward for measured performance. But the identification of accountability with metrics and transparency is unreliable. Many a times, with the data flow from lower level to upper level there will be too many screening and analysis the real meaning of the metric gets lost or the decision maker will be biased as the true data on the metric doesn’t flow. The metric fixation is the seemingly irresistible pressure to measure performance, to publicize it, and to reward it, often in the face of evidence that this just doesn’t work very well. In 1986 the American management guru, Tom Peters, embraced the motto, “What gets measured gets done,” which became a cornerstone belief of metrics. Some of the common flaws of the measurement systems are
• Measuring the most easily measurable.
• Measuring the simple when the desired outcome is complex
• Measuring inputs rather than outcomes.
• Degrading information quality through standardization.
• Gaming through creaming
• Improving numbers through omission or distortion of data
The problem is not measurement, but excessive measurement and inappropriate measurement—not metrics, but metric fixation. The key components of metric fixations are
• the belief that it is possible and desirable to replace judgment, acquired by personal experience and talent, with numerical indicators of comparative performance based upon standardized metrics;
• the belief that making such metrics public(transparent) assures that institutions are actually carrying out their purposes;
• the belief that the best way to motivate people within these organizations is by attaching rewards and penalties to their measured performance,
Goal displacement through diversion of effort to what gets measured. Goal displacement comes in many varieties. When performance is judged by a few measures, and the stakes are high, people will focus on satisfying those measures—often at the expense of other, more important organizational goals that are not measured. The result is that the metric means comes to replace the organizational ends that those means must to serve.
Checklist for when and how to use metrics?
o What kind of information are you thinking of measuring?
o How useful is the information?
o How useful are more metrics?
o What are the costs of not relying upon standardized measurement?
o To what purposes will the measurement and to whom will the information be made transparent?
o What are the costs of acquiring the metrics?
o Ask why demanding performance metrics.
“Measurement is not an alternative to judgement: measurement demands judgement: judgement about whether to measure, what to measure, how to evaluate the significance of what’s been measured, whether rewards and penalties will be attached to the results, and to whom to make the measurements available”. Identifying, measuring, and discussing good quality metrics with your staff is key to being able to manage your organization effectively. If we focus on this Metric, will it drive the desired behaviour.
A good book to read, and if you don’t like to read every chapter read the last chapter – which provides great summary of the book!
