The Tyranny of Metrics

by Jerry Z. Muller

Most organizations have multiple purposes, and that which is measured and rewarded tends to become the focus of attention, at the expense of other essential goals. Similarly, many jobs have multiple facets, and measuring only a few aspects creates incentives to neglect the rest.8 When organizations committed to metrics wake up to this fact, they typically add more performance measures—which creates a cascade of data, data that becomes ever less useful, while gathering it sucks up more and more time and resources. In the process, the nature of work is transformed in ways that are often pernicious. Professionals tend to resent the impositions of goals that may conflict with their vocational ethos and judgment, and thus morale is lowered. Almost inevitably, many people become adept at manipulating performance indicators through a variety of methods, many of which are ultimately dysfunctional for their organizations. They fudge the data or deal only with cases that will improve performance indicators. They fail to report negative instances. In extreme cases, they fabricate the evidence.