Measuring behavior can be dangerous. As soon as people feel they’re being measured, they begin to feel threatened. This is a false feeling, and definitely not the intent, but nonetheless, that’s usually what happens. The intent behind the behavior measurment was good, but the negative feelings it generated with the staff didn’t help the change team gain trust and credibility.
It is clear that whatever is being measured will receive more attention, and in most cases, will increase. It works well with hard measurements like minutes on the phone or defects per 100 lines. It is conceivable, however, that the same logic cannot apply to "soft" factors such as congeniality or agreeableness. How do you objectively measure a person's contribution to a successful outcome on the basis of being more nice? Moreover, although we may have decided that higher agreeableness is desireable in a team, when applied to an individual, it is a personality trait, and as such it's clearly threatening to realize that one's personality is on trial.
