Managers must aspire to understand their organization in a way that allows
them to take appropriate actions when necessary and to be able to utilize
tools which encourage the organization to behave in a desirable way. The
field of performance management deals with these objectives and is becoming
increasingly pervasive.
However, the author’s personal experience and substantial scholarship
suggest that performance management is linked to dysfunctional behavior in
organizations. Various current explanations for the link between measurement
and dysfunction revolve around observability or knowledge of the transformation
process, but seem simplistic and inadequate. This work examines
measurement as one representational form out of many others, for example
text. It is proposed that the representational form used in performance management
practice is implicated with dysfunctional behavior.
This demands an exploration of the relevant facets of organizational reality
which influence the relationship with various representational forms. After a
theoretical positioning, the relationship is explored empirically through onsite
visits at two Microsoft Corporation locations in Copenhagen and Redmond.
Thirty stories of performance management, based on interviews with senior
managers, are presented. The stories provide the basis for establishing a rich
understanding of organizational reality and the implications of using various
representational forms in terms of dysfunctional behavior.
These implications lead to a fundamental rethinking of the form and
boundaries of performance management theory and practice, and emphasize
the need for a multi-paradigmatic approach to performance management,
which is presented