Book : The Tyranny Of Metrics - Muller, Jerry Z.

-Titulo Original : The Tyranny Of Metrics

-Fabricante :

Princeton University Press

-Descripcion Original:

Review Muller delivers a riposte to bean counters everywhere with this trenchant study of our fixation with performance metrics.--Barbara Kiser, Nature Highly readable.--Luke Johnson, Sunday TimesMany of us have the vague sense that metrics are leading us astray, stripping away context, devaluing subtle human judgment, and rewarding those who know how to play the system. Mullers book crisply explains where this fashion came from, why it can be so counterproductive and why we dont learn. It should be required reading for any manager on the verge of making the Vietnam body count mistake all over again.--Tim Harford, Financial TimesMercilessly exposes the downside of the cult of measurement and managerialism.--The Economist How the obsession with quantifying human performance threatens business, medicine, education, government and the quality of our livesToday, 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, weve gone from measuring performance to fixating on measuring itself and this tyranny of metrics now threatens the quality of our organizations and lives. In this brief, accessible, and powerful book, Jerry Muller uncovers the damage metrics are causing and shows how we can begin to fix the problem. Filled with examples from business, medicine, education, government, and other fields, the book explains why paying for measured performance doesnt work, why surgical scorecards may increase deaths, and much more. But Muller also shows that, when used as a complement to judgment based on personal experience, metrics can be beneficial, and he includes an invaluable checklist of when and how to use them. The result is an essential corrective to a harmful trend that increasingly affects us all. Review “Mercilessly exposes the downside of the cult of measurement and managerialism.” The Economist“Muller delivers a riposte to bean counters everywhere with this trenchant study of our fixation with performance metrics.” Barbara Kiser, Nature “Highly readable.” Luke Johnson, Sunday Times“Many of us have the vague sense that metrics are leading us astray, stripping away context, devaluing subtle human judgment, and rewarding those who know how to play the system. Muller’s book crisply explains where this fashion came from, why it can be so counterproductive and why we don’t learn. It should be required reading for any manager on the verge of making the Vietnam body count mistake all over again.” Tim Harford, Financial Times From the Back Cover In this clear and compelling book, Jerry Muller shows how our attempts to improve organizational outcomes through quantitative measures have metastasized into a culture of gaming and manipulation. Through carefully researched case studies on education, healthcare, and compensation, The Tyranny of Metrics makes a convincing case that we need to restore judgment and ethical considerations at a time when shallow quantification threatens the integrity of our most important institutions.--Rakesh Khurana, Harvard Business School Have you ever wondered why universities make the mistake of hiring presidents with little or no experience in higher education, or why, nine times out of ten, these foreign imports fail? Then read Jerry Mullers new book and you will understand such folly as one more instance of an unhappy, massive trend--abandoning the situated judgment of experienced professionals in favor of the supposedly objective judgment promised (but not delivered) by the magic bullet of metrics: standardized measures and huge data banks touted as generating insight and wisdom all by themselves. Muller dismantles this myth in a brisk and no-nonsense prose that has this reader crying yes, yes at every sentence.--Stanley Fish, auth