George Bartow asked:
>Does anyone know the source of the quote that goes something like:
>
> "People pay attention to what is measured." or,
> "We tend to notice what we measure."
>
>Or, do you have a citation that fits with the spirit?
In "The Haystack Syndrome - Sifting Information Out of the Data Ocean",
Eliyahu M. Goldratt states two times (page 26 and 28 again, both in
capital letters), while discussing whether material inventory is a
liability or asset the paragraph below the next one.
While overproduction is forced on an organisation by
1.) stating that high local productivity at each machine is good,
1b.) considering an idle machine as being waste and
2.) honouring inventory as assets in the financial statements, on the
other hand the competitiveness of high inventory companies has
dramatically dropped compared to low inventory companies.
"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"
Later, on page 88, Goldratt continues with
"Do you really believe that we can change the culture through changing the
local performance measurements? It is not that simple. Previously, we
said, "Tell me how you measure me and I will tell you how I will behave,"
but now, let's remind ourselves of the other half of the story: CHANGE MY
MEASUREMENTS TO NEW ONES, THAT I DON'T FULLY COMPREHEND, AND NOBODY KNOWS
HOW I WILL BEHAVE, NOT EVEN ME."
George, you will have noticed, that this is much more than the two quotes
you stated, but it definitely fits with the spirit. Depending on the point
you are going to make, maybe it is helpful.
Liebe Gruesse,
Winfried
--"Winfried Dressler" <winfried.dressler@voith.de>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>