Special Report: Measuring to Manage
In recent years, companies have developed much more sophisticated strategic measurement systems, based on such tools as the balanced scorecard, key performance indicators, computerized dashboards and the like. Nonetheless, there seems to be a widespread consensus that they measure too much, or too little, or the wrong things, and that, in any event, they don't use their metrics effectively. Why?
On the basis of discussions with hundreds of managers, noted management thinker, author and professor Michael Hammer (Hammer and Co.) concludes that the operational metrics that companies commonly use make little or no sense. In the core article of this special report, "The 7 Deadly Sins of Performance Measurement and How to Avoid Them," Hammer identifies seven common mistakes -- the deadly sins -- that seriously impede the relevance and usefulness of operating measures. He also offers managers some means for redemption. In addition, four prominent managers -- Carole J. Haney (Boeing Co.), Aanders Wester (Tetra Pak Group), Rick Ciccone (Procter & Gamble Co.), and Paul Gaffney (Desktone Inc.) -- comment on Hammer's thesis through the prism of their own experience in the field and offer insights from their own philosophy of performance measurement.
On the basis of discussions with hundreds of managers, noted management thinker, author and professor Michael Hammer (Hammer and Co.) concludes that the operational metrics that companies commonly use make little or no sense. In the core article of this special report, "The 7 Deadly Sins of Performance Measurement and How to Avoid Them," Hammer identifies seven common mistakes -- the deadly sins -- that seriously impede the relevance and usefulness of operating measures. He also offers managers some means for redemption. In addition, four prominent managers -- Carole J. Haney (Boeing Co.), Aanders Wester (Tetra Pak Group), Rick Ciccone (Procter & Gamble Co.), and Paul Gaffney (Desktone Inc.) -- comment on Hammer's thesis through the prism of their own experience in the field and offer insights from their own philosophy of performance measurement.