Selected papers from the 5th International PMA Conference, London, July 2006

Citation

Kennerley, M. (2007), "Selected papers from the 5th International PMA Conference, London, July 2006", Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 11 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/mbe.2007.26711aaa.001

Selected papers from the 5th International PMA Conference, London, July 2006

The first issue of volume 11 of Measuring Business Excellence is a special issue of selected papers from the PMA conference which took place at the New Connaught Rooms in London between July 25-28, 2006. There is a report on the conference in the “Focus On” section of this issue. As usual the conference covered a broad spectrum of subjects and disciplines in the field of performance measurement and management, making it an ideal conference from which to select papers for this journal. Furthermore the conference maintained its mix of practitioners and academics, one third of the delegates coming from practice, again reflecting the focus of this journal. As such we have selected a number of papers from the conference which are considered to make a contribution to practice in the field. The collection of papers reflects one of the overriding themes to emerge from the conference as well as reflecting the evolution of this field. That is the movement in focus from performance measurement per se to the broader subject of performance management, and the way in which performance measurement is implemented and used to manage performance.

The first paper in the issue “Interpreting the Balanced Scorecard: An Investigation into Performance Analysis and Bias” by Vicky Rich was awarded the best practitioner paper prize at the conference. The paper uses the context of Vicky’s company IBM to investigate a little researched but highly important issue of how managers make decisions using a balanced scorecard, particularly considering the cognitive approach to the use of scorecards. The research found that managers don’t necessarily use all of the measures on their scorecard when making decisions and will often put their own interpretation and weighting on the measures provided.

In the second paper, John Parsons continues the theme of taking a cognitive perspective, and considers the need to align an organization’s vision, culture and measures for the measurement and management system to be effective. The paper reflects the need to not only consider logical process based approaches to decision making but also cognitive approaches and the influence of culture in order to enhance learning and decision making. Buytendijk continues this theme with behavioral approach to “challenge conventional wisdom”. He suggests that considering “interface metrics” and “negative values” can help overcome conventional wisdom which he argues can sometimes be limiting.

Hoverstadt, Kendrick and Morlidge further criticize conventional approaches to performance measurement, and particularly the “target-plan-variance” model upon which much of it is based. They argue that such simple mechanisms cannot control complex systems such as modern organisations. They argue that the application of concepts originating from cybernetics and applying the concept of viability provides a paradigm shift in approaches delivering more effective and efficient control.

Michel’s paper returns to the issue of decision making and the need for CEOs to focus attention on the appropriate strategic issues. The paper combines scorecard concepts with the Levers of Control model to propose an approach to help organizations to understand how their management systems support decision making, enabling CEOs to focus on leadership.

Meekings and Povey discuss an approach designed to focus attention of the delivery of performance improvement. They reflect on the fact that the performance measurement field has tended to focus on what to measure rather than how organizations can ensure that their investment in performance measurement delivers value. They highlight the importance of focusing attention to designing and utilizing effective performance planning and review processes to ensure that measurement systems are not just bought but also “plumbed in” and utilised. The issue is completed with Cotora’s paper which presents a case study reporting an approach to address the key issue of the conversion of intangible assets into tangible value flows.

Mike Kennerley