Editorial

Citation

Heap, J. and Radnor, Z. (2009), "Editorial", International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 58 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijppm.2009.07958gaa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Volume 58, Issue 7

We, on the editorial team, sometimes wonder whether we ought to have a competition to find the most obscure title for a paper (yes, but what is it about?) or the longest or the one with the most three letter acronyms (TLAs). The relationship between title and paper is like the relationship between performance measures and performance in many organisations – you know there is – or should be – a connection but you have to work hard to find it. With organisations often collecting hundreds of measures per month it is no wonder that, when asked, most people in the company do not know which ones are relevant let alone what they mean.

The first paper in this issue by Piercy, Caldwell and Rich attempts to develop some connectivity among the operations management community around business performance improvement by examining some current key themes related to interconnectivity. These themes, which are reflected in past papers in this journal, include process-based working, supply networks and systems thinking. The paper gives a comprehensive overview of the writings around the themes concluding that more writings could, and should, be developed which illustrate more interconnectivity around the themes due to their importance for performance improvement.

Understanding and knowing how to measure “knowledge” has been debated by some writers for a number of years – how do you measure the output of a software engineer? Just because they are not producing code does this mean they are not working? Developing metrics which adequately capture the “value add” can be challenging. The second paper by Ryan and Tipu presents an instrument for doing this with scientific researchers through self appraisal. The instrument presented allows judgements to be given which can then used to understand the “gap” in the performance in order to focus future activity. Although simple, the instrument was well received perhaps because it gave an opportunity for review and reflection – after all is that not what performance management is all about – enhancing performance!

The issue about “work” and “effectiveness” introduced – slightly obliquely – above leads to some interesting debates about performance measurement. We want to see maintenance engineers do very little – since this means the equipment they maintain has “uptime” (is that a valid word for the opposite of downtime?). Can you think of others who demonstrate their effectiveness by doing less?

The third paper by Chi, Kilduff and Gargeya is one of those papers with a long title! However, it does present a solid analysis of the relationship between environment characteristics, competitive priorities and supply chain structure with the firm’s business performance. Through careful selection of variables the authors examine the relationship within US textile manufacturers finding significant results in a number of areas. The paper concludes that it is important to understand the relationship between the concepts and it presents a valid survey instrument to do so. It would be interesting for the analysis to be re-run within a different industrial sector – anyone up for the challenge?

Should everything be measured? Should all organisations have measures? The final research paper by Bennett investigates the use of metrics in the theatre and finds that metrics used range from financial to artistic vitality. Many of the metrics often appeared to be linked to efficiency with a financial bias – especially for organisations facing financial difficultly or funded externally. It could be argued that his is similar in other sectors. This paper actually presents a similar picture to the previous one in that there is a demonstrable relationship between the environment/context or circumstances, the priorities for the organisation and business performance. This paper presents findings from a sector not previously covered in this journal and is interesting… or is it … . does this continuing drive towards measures in all aspects of life and organisations mean that there is a danger that risks are not taken and innovation is reduced?

The final paper by Kumar, Johnson and Lai in the “Reflective practice” section addresses the profitability of the airline industry – at a time when they ar working very hard just to survive. The paper does offer hope suggesting that there is scope for operational improvement... and if we have any senior airline executives amongst our readers, we might just have made them feel a little better about the state of “their world”.

Finally, as we find ourselves at the end of another volume, it is time for us to reflect on our performance over the year … but we do that in private when we have the performance measures to hand. Oh yes, we are not exempt. How could we expect to be?

John Heap, Zoe Radnor