Winfried, who was "Not really replying" to LO20966, but adding to the
thread, wrote:
>I agree to the following two statements on measurements by E. Goldratt
>- - the first on the purpose of measurement and the second on the
>effect:
>
>"The purpose of measurements is to motivate the parts (departments,
>individuals) to do what is good for the organization as a whole."
I'm not trying to be argumentative or pick a fight or in any other way be
unnecessarily obnoxious, but I would have to say that the statement above
reflects at best no more than one purpose of measurement and far from the
most important purpose.
The purpose stated above might be termed "managerial" or "manipulative"
but in either case its purpose is to use measurement for some other
purpose. The direct purpose of measurement is to determine the state of
some variable in relation to some preferred, required, or desired state.
In short, the primary purpose of measurement is to find out something, not
drive someone else's behavior.
I'm not familiar with the source Winfried cites but, if even if Goldratt
wrote it, I take issue with it and I would not encourage anyone to adopt
it as part of their mental model of the way the world works or should
work.
The second Goldratt comment cited by Winfried follows and relates to the
effect of measurement:
>"Tell me how you measure me, and I will tell you how I will behave. If
>you measure me in an illogical way...do not complain about illogical
>behaviour."
Here, too, I take issue. The statement above seems to me to assume an
extraordinary degree of compliance. I would be more inclined to say
something like the following:
"Tell me how you measure me and I will tell what you want to hear."
Left unsaid is this, "Tell me how you measure me and I will tell you how I
manipulate your perception of me."
Again, I am not trying to pick a fight with Winfried; I have too much
respect for the quality of thought represented by his past postings to do
that.
What I am trying to communicate is the measurement for managerial or
manipulative purposes is likely to yield something quite different from
that which is intended.
Just a thought or two from the firing line...
Regards,
Fred Nickols
Distance Consulting
http://home.att.net/~nickols/distance.htm
nickols@worldnet.att.net
(609) 490-0095
--Fred Nickols <nickols@worldnet.att.net>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>