Week 2 Discussion 1

1st Colleague – Dorian Wilson

Judson, J. (2021, October 11). 'no way around it': Facing budget cuts, Army braces to fight for modernization. Defense News. Retrieved February 20, 2022, from  https://www.defensenews.com/congress/budget/2021/10/11/no-way-around-it-facing-budget-cuts-army-braces-to-fight-for-modernization/  

Your Thoughts

Steve

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Evaluating Results and Benefits – Week #2 Lecture 1

Performance, Training, and Success

Welcome to Week 2. I hope you have found your way around the classroom and are ready to continue. This week our focus will be on the power of training within the workplace.  Last week we discussed the meaning behind research, measurement, and evaluation. You learned that measurement and evaluation are key players in the success of an organization. Training is also a critical player in the success of an organization. Without training, one might find the organization failing to grow or productivity lacking.  Training provides an opportunity for a company to expand. This expansion might focus on one department or many. The expansion might also focus on specific employees. Regardless of where the expansion occurs, the main concept revolves around the people within the organization. By implementing a training program, an organization can focus on the areas that need growth. Despite the need for training, some organizations resist as they feel the costs of implementing a training session outweigh the benefits. These organizations couldn’t be more wrong. In fact, though training can be costly, if run and implemented properly, the training will lead to cost savings in the long run. You might be wondering how this can be and the reason is this: when looking at those employed within the workplace, one will find that many, if not most, employees have some sort of weakness in their skill set. By implementing a training program, you will be able to focus on the weaknesses to (1) determine why there is a weakness and (2) turn that weakness into a strength. In addition, leadership skills may be developed by those who have stronger skill sets and can assist and motivate those that may be struggling.  Training also promotes morale within the workplace. Over time, an employee who receives training and then implements their learning will become more productive. The reason for this is that the employee will feel empowered and may aim for higher standards within the workplace. In addition, a trained employee tends to have more confidence than one who lacks an understanding of the workplace concepts. Continuous workplace training will help to keep an organization on the cutting edge of industry developments which can eventually lead to the company holding the position of an industry leader overall. So, what happens when your employees decide that training isn’t worth their time? Surely some of you can relate to feeling as if the training provided is not helpful or not taught in a manner that makes learning easy. This, unfortunately, is very common. Sadly, many organizations do not properly implement their training program. They spend a lot of money up front and consider it done. Management fails to follow up to see if the training is working and all the money spent to help the organization is left wasted. This, however, does not have to be the case. In fact, if a training program is run properly, you will find that you have money in the budget for the training and the follow up.  When choosing a training program for the organization, there are many items to consider. What training is needed? With the training, what materials are required? How will this affect the day of the employees when they are away at training?  Who will implement the training upon completion? Who will know if the training is working? These are just a few of the questions that need to be considered when adding a training program to the workplace.  Consider the methods that work for you when it comes to learning. Most of you will likely agree when I state that hands-on training is effective training because people learn by performing. Adding a hands-on option to your training program will engage your employees and will help them to see the importance behind the learning. Once the training has been completed, it is important that someone be put in charge to lead the implementation. This is something that cannot be overlooked. If you do, you might as well forget the training occurred because very few people will change their daily work habits.  So, choose your leader wisely as this will be the person who proves success from the training.  Finally, be sure to follow up to ensure that the training is working. Just because the training was learned and implemented does not mean that it will be an automatic success. Obtain feedback on a regular basis to see what tweaks might need to be made and make them! Let your employees share their thoughts on what works and what doesn’t. By doing this, you will be able to make the necessary adjustments to ensure that the learning is successfully being applied and that the workplace is productive and successful.  As you can see, along with training, research, evaluation, and measurement continue to play a role. This will be common, or at least it should be if you are doing your job as a manager properly. Taking the time to learn from your employees will allow you the opportunity to continue to build success for the organization overall. Please remember that your work is due by 11:59pm on Tuesday. I look forward to your effort this week! Resources: Mosele, J. & Dessinger, J. (2009). Handbook of Improving Performance in the Workplace. (Volume 3). Pfeiffer-Wiley

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CHAPTER THREE

Unleashing the Positive Power of Measurement in the Workplace

Dean R. Spitzer

Effective management is based on a foundation of effective measurement, and almost everything else is based on that. Organizations are conglomerations of many systems. Measurement is actually the most fundamental system of all. The measurement system—for good or ill—triggers virtually everything that happens in an organization, both strategic and tactical. This is because all the other organizational systems are ultimately based on what the measurement system is telling the other systems to do. No organization can be any better than its measurement system. If the measurement system works well, management will tend to manage the right things—and the desired results will occur.

THE IMPORTANCE OF MEASUREMENT

So why is measurement so important? Here are some of the most compelling reasons:

It cuts through the B.S. and gets right to the point. People can (and often do) advance their points of view with incredible vagueness until they are challenged “to measure it.” Suddenly, clarity emerges.

It makes performance visible. Even if you can’t see performance directly, you can see it indirectly using measurement. This is the concept of “operational definitions” that is such a critical part of effective measuring.

It tells you what you need to manage in order to get the results you want. Using “measurement maps,” you will be able to identify, understand, and discuss the high-leverage relationships that drive results, and apply them to your benefit—and to the benefit of your organization.

Measurement makes accountability possible. It’s difficult to hold yourself—or anyone else—accountable for something that is not being measured because there’s no way to determine that whatever it is that you’re supposed to do has actually been accomplished. Measurement tells you whether you (and your employees) are doing the right things at the right times—the essence of accountability.

Measurement lets people know if they are off-track so that they can do something to correct their performance. Without measurement, feedback is often too vague and too late—and feedback that is too vague and too late is useless.

Measurement tells employees what is important. If you don’t measure it, people won’t pay attention to it. As one colleague said: “Measure it, or forget it.”

Measurement makes things happen; it is the antidote to inertia. We have all experienced, for example, how milestones in a project plan get people moving energetically toward a goal, while open-ended timeframes inevitably lead to complacency and low energy. Give people measurable goals—and help them measure their progress—and they will make progress.

Measurement results in consequences (rewards and punishment) that further reinforce the inherent power of measurement. Any effective system of rewards and recognition, and any system of performance appraisal, must be based on a solid foundation of measurement.

Above all, measurement helps you to understand what is really happening in your organization and to take action based on that understanding. Measurement enables you to make comparisons, study trends, and identify important correlations and causal relationships that will help establish a roadmap for success. And this is just a sampling of what performance measurement—when well used—can contribute to organizational effectiveness.

The good news is that organizations are finally discovering the importance of measurement. The bad news is that most organizations are still using it very poorly.

THE DYSFUNCTIONS OF MEASUREMENT

Unfortunately, when used poorly, not only does performance measurement not live up to its positive promise, but it can be a very negative force in organizations. In The Agenda, Michael Hammer (2001, p. 105) puts the problem this way: “A company’s measurement systems typically deliver a blizzard of nearly meaningless data that quantifies practically everything in sight, no matter how unimportant; that is devoid of any particular rhyme or reason; that is so voluminous as to be unusable; that is delivered so late as to be virtually useless; and that then languishes in printouts and briefing books, without being put to any significant purpose. . . . In short, measurement is a mess.”

What is commonly referred to as “measurement dysfunction” occurs when the measurement process itself contributes to behavior contrary to what is in the best interests of the organization as a whole. When measurement dysfunctions occur, specific numbers might improve, but the performance that is really important will worsen. While some of the most egregious examples of measurement dysfunction in the history of business were at companies like Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco, its more mundane manifestations are being played out virtually every day in almost every organization around the globe.

Most organizations are full of examples of negative, self-serving measurement: measurement used for self-aggrandizement, self-promotion, and self-protection; measurement used to justify pet projects or to maintain the status quo; and measurement used to prove, rather than improve. Although the more routine cases of dysfunctional measurement might not appear to be very serious individually, the collective consequences of small doses of measurement dysfunction can be profound.

Probably the biggest problem with measurement is not the flaws in the system, but with the consequences, both positive and negative, that so often follow flawed measurement. There are two major types of measures, based on how they are used: informational measurement, measurement that is used for informational purposes, and motivational measurement, measurement that is used for rewards and punishment.

Most of the functionality of measurement, as described in the previous section, is related to the enormous value of measurement as a source of information—information for organizational members to use to improve management and the work that is done. However, when measures are tightly linked with rewards or the threat of punishment, the informational value of the measurement becomes subordinated to its use for inducing people to exert more effort. This is where the major problems begin.

Most organizations have very strong contingencies that tell employees, either explicitly or implicitly, “If you do this (behavior) or achieve this (result), you will get this (reward, punishment).” Because, in most organizations, behavior and results can’t be directly observed, these performance expectations are operationalized by how they are measured. The performance measures become the way to achieve rewards and to avoid punishment. No matter how many other things might be measured, what is rewarded or punished becomes the focal point.

Striving for rewards is one of the most important aspects of life and work. But when rewards are at the end of the line, measurement becomes a means to that end. Furthermore, the greater the rewards that are offered, the less focus there is on the information that measurement can provide. When the focus is on the carrot, it’s difficult to see anything else! And human beings are very adept at doing whatever it takes to get a reward. Because measurement is so powerful, especially when coupled with contingent rewards, measurement dysfunctions are quite prevalent and widespread. Furthermore, when people are being rewarded by the existing measurement system, they will resist any changes that will reduce their rewards.

While linking rewards and measurement does not automatically lead to dysfunction, it very significantly increases the probability of it happening.

HOW PEOPLE EXPERIENCE MEASUREMENT

People tend to refer to those things they perceive as negative and threatening as the enemy. When I ask participants in my workshops about their personal measurement experiences, the negative ones far outnumber—and, more importantly, outweigh—the positive ones. Even more distressing is that, even when I probe deeply, most people can’t even think of any positive experiences!

Almost everybody has, at one time or another, experienced negative measurement used to expose negative things—errors, defects, accidents, cost overruns, out of stock items, exceptions of all kinds—and to trigger negative emotions—like fear, threat, fault-finding, blame, and punishment. They also know how dangerous measurement can be in the hands of those who don’t use it well or benevolently. Although negative measurement can get results, it is mostly short-term compliance, and it leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths.

For most employees, measurement is viewed, at best, as a “necessary evil.” At worst, it is seen as a menacing force that is greeted with about the same enthusiasm as a root canal! When most people think of performance measurement at work, they tend to think of being watched, being timed, and being appraised. This is why Eliyahu Goldratt (1990, p. 144) says that “the issue of measurement is probably the most sensitive issue in an organization.”

The environment of measurement tends to have a major influence on how measurement is perceived by employees and, therefore, how they respond emotionally to it. Since measurement is such an emotionally laden subject, the environment in which it is being conducted is particularly important. Even if people aren’t directly involved in measurement, almost everyone feels strongly about it. And yet, very few people talk about it—which, as we will see, is one of the primary problems with the way performance measurement is implemented in most organizations.

Measurement is powerful, and—for better or for worse—what is measured tends to be managed. Most employees also seem to intuitively understand that measurement provides data upon which many important decisions are made—most prominently personnel decisions. Although seldom explicitly acknowledged as such, measurement is important to people because they know that their success, their rewards, their budgets, their punishments, and a host of other things ultimately are, directly or indirectly, based on it.

Many of these negative attitudes about measurement at work are due to its association (and confusion) with evaluation. Few people, including corporate executives, know the difference between measurement and evaluation—and there is a very significant difference! The word “evaluation” is really composed of three component parts: “e,” “value,” and “ation.” The central element of the concept of evaluation is value. When you evaluate, you place a value on whatever you are evaluating. Most people don’t mind measuring, or even being measured; they just don’t like being measured upon. And that’s what most evaluation is—having a value placed by an external agent on us and our performance. The outcome of an evaluation is a judgment. Evaluation is essentially about making value judgments. People don’t like being judged—especially when they are suspicious about the fairness of the evaluation process and the motives of those who are doing the judging. As long as measurement is closely associated with judgment, there will be fear. And as long as there is fear, measurement will be viewed as a negative force—rather than a positive one. And, as long as the “measurement experience” is negative, there is little hope that performance measurement will realize its potential as a powerful and transformational force in organizations.

In my book Transforming Performance Measurement (Spitzer, 2007), I talk about four keys to transforming performance measurement and making it a more positive force in organizations. These four keys are summarized in Table 3.1.

In the rest of this chapter, I will discuss those four keys.

CONTEXT

The first key to transforming performance measurement is context. Much of what we have already discussed relates to what I call the “context of measurement.” Context is everything that surrounds a task, including the social and psychological climate in which it is embedded. This includes such factors as the perceived value of measurement, communication around measurement, education around measurement, measurement leadership, and the history of how measurement has been used in the organization. To a large extent, the context of measurement tends to reflect how measurement is perceived by employees and, therefore, how they respond emotionally to it. Interestingly, even if it is accomplished with great technical skill, it can still carry a negative implication. How people respond to measurement is largely a function of how it is used—that is, what is done with the data that are collected makes a huge difference in how measurement is perceived. For example, as we have seen, it is experienced much differently if it is used to inspect, control, report, or manipulate—compared with when it is used to provide feedback, to learn, and to improve.

Table 3.1 Keys to Transforming Performance Measurement

Four Keys Definition Importance

Context Context is everything that surrounds a task, including the social and psychological climate in which it is embedded. The context of measurement tends to reflect how measurement is perceived by employees and therefore how well it will be used.

Focus Focus is what gets measured in an organization, the measures themselves. Selecting the right measures can create leverage and focus the organization on what is most important.

Integration Integration is how the measures are related to each other, the relationships among the measures. Measurement frameworks make sure that measures relate to each other and are not just isolated metrics.

Interactivity Interactivity is the social interaction process around measurement data. Interactivity is the key to transforming measurement data and information into knowledge and wisdom.

The importance of the context of measurement in an organization cannot be over-stated. It can make the difference between people being energized by measurement or people just minimally complying with it, and even using measurement for their own personal benefit (that is, gaming or cheating). No matter how sophisticated the technical aspects of your performance measurement system, how managers and employees experience it on a day-to-day basis will be due more to the “context of measurement” than anything else.

So what can be done to improve the context of measurement? Here are a few important points: Be aware of the sensitivity of measurement. Be vigilant for dysfunctions. Use it for learning and improvement, so that employees can see the positive side. Avoid using measurement for judgment and, above all, don’t confuse measurement with evaluation. Discuss measurement openly and honestly. Educate employees about measurement and help them use it well. Make measurement less tightly connected with judgment and rewards. And make sure that evaluations are much more data-based.

FOCUS

The second key to transformational performance measurement is focus. The right measures will provide laser focus and clarity to management, while the wrong measures, or too many measures, will likely cause lack of focus.

What gets measured gets managed, and what gets managed gets done. Selecting the right measures can create enormous leverage for any organization. And, of course, the things that are measured command management attention. Because of the validity of “You get what you measure,” it is vital to select the right measures. If the right things are measured, the right things will happen. Unfortunately, most organizations’ measurement systems lack focus, and most of what organizations measure is routine—the hundreds or thousands of measures that permeate every nook and cranny of organizations. This dilutes performance measurement—like trying to boil the ocean! When everything is important, then nothing is really important. This focus on the wrong things, or the lack of focus, tends to do little more than perpetuate the status quo. However, in today’s competitive marketplace, organizations need to have very clear focus. Not only do companies need to do the routine things well, better and better, they must also find new measures that are high-leverage so that they can achieve competitive advantage. This can be done by focusing on a critical few transformational measures—measures that will make a real difference to competitive advantage and that will differentiate the organization from the others with which they compete—measures that will make a real difference to the organization’s competitive advantage.

While most org

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