The tyranny of metrics / Jerry Z. Muller.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Muller, Jerry Z., 1954- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Organizational effectiveness--Measurement.

Organizational effectiveness.

Performance--Evaluation.

Performance.

Performance standards.

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Statistics.

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Government & Business.

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Management.

Local Subjects:

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Statistics.

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Government & Business.

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Management.

Physical Description:

ix, 220 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2018]

Summary:

Today, organizations of all kinds are ruled by the belief that the path to success is quantifying human performance, publicizing the results, and dividing up the rewards based on the numbers. But in our zeal to instill the evaluation process with scientific rigor, we've gone from measuring performance to fixating on measuring itself. The result is a tyranny of metrics that threatens the quality of our lives and most important institutions. In this timely and powerful book, Jerry Muller uncovers the damage our obsession with metrics is causing--and shows how we can begin to fix the problem. Filled with examples from education, medicine, business and finance, government, the police and military, and philanthropy and foreign aid, this brief and accessible book explains why the seemingly irresistible pressure to quantify performance distorts and distracts, whether by encouraging "gaming the stats" or "teaching to test."That's because what can and does get measured is not always worth measuring, may not be what we really want to know, and may draw effort away from the things we care about. Along the way, we learn why paying for measured performance doesn't work, why surgical scorecards may increase deaths, and much more. But metrics can be good when used as a complement to--rather than a replacement for--judgment based on personal experience, and Muller also gives examples of when metrics have been beneficial. Complete with a checklist of when and how to use metrics, The Tyranny of Metrics is an essential corrective to a rarely questioned trend that increasingly affects us all. -- Inside jacket flaps.

Contents:

I. The argument

The argument in a nutshell

Recurring flaws

II. The background

The origins of measuring and paying for performance

Why metrics became so popular

Principals, agents, and motivation

Philosophical critiques

III. The mismeasure of all things? : case studies

Colleges and universities

Schools

Medicine

Policing

The military

Business and finance

Philanthropy and foreign aid

Excursus

When transparency is the enemy of performance: politics, diplomacy, intelligence, and marriage

IV. Conclusions

Unintended but predictable negative consequences

When and how to use metrics: a checklist.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-212) and index.

ISBN:

9780691174952

0691174954

OCLC:

1005121833