Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations
Author | : Robert Daniel Austin |
Publisher | : Dorset House Publishing Company, Incorporated |
Total Pages | : 244 |
Release | : 1996 |
ISBN-10 | : 0932633366 |
ISBN-13 | : 9780932633361 |
Rating | : 4/5 (66 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: Understand the Sometimes Negative Effects of Performance Measurement Systems Based on an award-winning doctoral thesis at Carnegie Mellon University, Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations presents a captivating analysis of the perils of performance measurement systems. In the book's foreword, Peopleware authors Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister rave, "We believe this is a book that needs to be on the desk of just about anyone who manages anything." Because people often react with unanticipated sophistication when they are being measured, measurement-based management systems can become dysfunctional, interfering with achievement of intended results. Fortunately, as the author shows, measurement dysfunction follows a pattern that can be identified and avoided. The author's findings are bolstered by interviews with eight recognized experts in the use of measurement to manage software development: David N. Card, of Software Productivity Solutions; Tom DeMarco, of the Atlantic Systems Guild; Capers Jones, of Software Productivity Research; John Musa, of AT&T Bell Laboratories; Daniel J. Paulish, of Siemens Corporate Research; Lawrence H. Putnam, of Quantitative Software Management; E.O. Tilford, Sr., of Fissure; plus the anonymous Expert X.