Page 46 - Performance Leadership

Chapter 3 Measurement Drives Behavior • 35

to sell. In other parts of the organization, in finance, manufacturing,
and information technology, for example, performance measurement
is rarely a means to drive people’s behavior. Usually performance man-
agement initiatives in these areas focus on compliance and reporting,
as well as strategic decision making and learning.
The impact of measurement on the behaviors of people runs quite
deep. In fact, the process of measurement alone, regardless of what is
being measured, has an impact. In the social sciences this is referred
to as the Hawthorne effect. 2

The Hawthorne effect refers to experiments between 1924 and 1933 conducted
3
in the Hawthorne works of the Western Electric Company in Chicago. One of the
experiments dealt with the relationship between the illumination in the factories
and worker productivity. When the illumination levels were increased, it was no
surprise to see that productivity went up. However, when the illumination levels
were decreased, productivity went up again. That was unanticipated. Even stranger,
productivity went up in the control group as well, where there was no change in
the illumination levels. This was puzzling. It was Professor Elton Mayo from Harvard
Business School who came up with a widely accepted explanation. It wasn’t the
illumination process that improved productivity; it was the fact that productivity
was being measured. One can speculate about the reasons—perhaps people felt
a positive impact because the company paid attention to working conditions. Or
it could be a negative driver—the people on the work floor were afraid the exper-
iments would lead to further rationalization and layoffs, and therefore they worked
harder. Whatever the reason, measurement affected performance.

The Hawthorne effect is obviously a curse for the social sciences
because these sciences study subjects in their natural environment. The
Hawthorne effect shows that the fact that you study the subject already
alters the natural environment. But for performance management, the
Hawthorne effect is a blessing. In fact, just putting measurements in
place already impacts on behavior, even before you think about what
to measure.

Measurement Drives Behavior . . . in
Mysterious Ways

Measurement affects behavior regardless of what is being measured.
Even where performance measures are instituted purely for purposes
of information, they are probably interpreted as important aspects of