Editorial

Citation

Radnor, Z. and Heap, J. (2009), "Editorial", International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 58 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijppm.2009.07958faa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Volume 58, Issue 6

If MySpace was a country, it would be the 5th largest in the world. What are the implications of that statement for what you do? Understanding the relative importance or context of concepts is important especially in regard to performance measurement and management. There are long established discussions regarding the way that implementing performance measures leads to change of behaviours – i.e. people “do” what they need to in order to optimise the measure! So, be careful what you wish for!

The first research paper by Elzinga, Albronda and Kluijtmans builds on the research of DeWaal considering the development of the behavioural factors related to performance management. In their paper looking at “behavioural factors influencing performance management systems’ use” they expand the DeWaal model by considering the notion of “relative” importance of behavioural factors – thus allowing managers in organisations to use the Performance Management Assessment (PMA) to focus the attention of the appropriate behaviours to enhance the organisation’s performance.

The range of technologies available to us grows evermore. Some of these are clearly distractions; some are clearly productive. How do we sort out one group from another … or is it more complex than that. Perhaps some are distractors in some contexts but productive in other contexts. We need to work out how to deploy and exploit productively.

Sometimes big concepts can be expressed in a few, simple words … and sometimes we need complex language or big numbers to describe very simple events and situations. For example … how many ball point pens does someone lose in a lifetime? And where do they go?

Another question may be … what is the real value of employing business consultants to implement process and performance management? The consultancy spend in many organisations can be vast but the “value for money” not always tracked! The second research paper by Ajmal, Nordström and Helo considers the effectiveness of business consulting in operations development projects particularly focusing on the theory of constraints (ToC) approach. By considering the effectiveness over 20 projects the good news (we think!) is that the findings indicate that the involvement of business consultants in development projects has a positive impact on outcomes and can be justified in financial terms. This paper should hopefully develop some debate or other related articles regarding the value or use of external support in supporting performance and improvement; others will argue that the driver for performance and improvement has to come from within.

The issue of training and developing concepts which drive up performance is picked up in the final research paper by Fotopoulos and Psomas. This paper considers the use of quality management tools and techniques in ISO 9001 companies. In their research over 270 Greek companies they found that that the majority of companies only used the “simpler” tools and techniques with the training focusing on specialised issues rather than deeper implementation issues associated with complex or applied quality tools and techniques. So, maybe driving performance and improvement from within is not as easy as it looks and may only result in achieving the “easy wins” rather than the deeper understanding?

We were amongst an “arty” crowd the other day. Someone used the word “performance” and at first it seemed that we, and they, used the word differently. But a little discussion revealed that “our” performance and “their” performance had similar attributes if they were to be described or measured as “good”. Thinking about what you do in someone else’s context often helps you to think differently about your own field. We recommend it!

Our final paper for this issue, in the Reflective Practice section, is about employee “wellness”, a developing concept but one that can have significant impact on operational performance. It also reflects the overall theme of this issue which is the importance of human and behavioural factors in determining performance levels … factors relating to those being measured and to those doing the measuring.

Zoe Radnor, John Heap