Public Productivity Measurement: Diseases and Cures

Abstract

In discussions about productivity measurement there has been a shift from the naive belief in the power of quantified measures to an awareness of their dysfunctional effects. There has also been a shift in the discussion of management, from the meaning of management to the management of meaning. Both of these shifts are indispensable to understanding the position of productivity measures within organizations and the potential dysfunctional effects, or pathologies, of these measures. We will discuss thirteen illnesses and cures associated with productivity measurement. Our conclusion is that the art of management must be combined with meaningful measurement. In the beginning of this century, the hopeful belief in the power of quantified measures was related to scientific management. A doctor places a thermometer under the patient's tongue; not only is the presence of a fever detected, but the precise extent of the fever is read to a fraction of a degree. In the case of govemment, we still want to devise methods and standards by which we can measure the results of government, so that the information we get will be accurate and conclusive. This thinking is what we might call an addiction to quantification. But measurement does not work this way. Although there has been some progress in the technology of measurement, there has not been a concurrent evolution of knowledge about the potential dysfunctional effects of measurement within organizations. Most of us just measure and measure and measure. We are now shifting our attention from the meaning of management to the management of meaning. Measures produce information, which is the language we use within organizations. That language may be used or abused. We may think we see correct information, but in fact it may not be correct. We must therefore study the management of meaning, of which productivity measurement is part. Management is characterized by the language of efficiency and control. The management of meaning becomes