Insights from research

Citation

Bourne, M. and Kennerley, M. (2005), "Insights from research", Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 9 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/mbe.2005.26709daa.001

Insights from research

Three papers providing insights from research consider measurement and management issues in different contexts. Boys et al. investigate the use of business excellence programmes in Canada. They observe that Canadian experiences differ considerable from those in the USA but have not been studies to a considerable degree. The paper evaluates patterns of use and identifying unmet needs of these programmes and finds that size and location of the organisation influence adoption and the sequence in which they choose to implement specific elements of business excellence.

Urrutia and Eriksen investigate the application of balanced scorecard principles in not for profit organisations, examined through application in Spanish healthcare sector. They conclude the need to modify the scorecard to meet the objectives of not for profit sector and specifically health sector with greater emphasis required on the assessment of the environment as well as the mission of the organisation.

Calandro and Flynn discuss measurement in the realm of underwriting. The paper discusses the practical measure of Underwriting Return, which the authors have developed to address the lack of appropriate measures to support strategic decision making in the insurance industry.

Insights from practice

Three papers in this issue provide insights from investigation of the design and use of performance measurement systems in practice. Walsh investigates the important issue in the area of performance measurement that of dumbing down measures. He identifies the difficulty of identifying precise and exact measures of performance, and the resulting need to use proxy or surrogate measures. However, he also highlights the danger of losing focus of the ultimate objective if to much focus is placed on these measures. He presents a rule-based approach to help overcome these problems.

Tangen follows his article in issue 2 of this volume with a complementary paper discussing the criteria development and improvement of performance measurement systems. The article suggests that organisations can benefit from implementing simple systems and getting them working effectively before adding further sophistication as experience and PMS maturity are acquired.

Nogeste and Walker discuss the measurement of performance drivers and intangibles in project environments to improve successful project execution. Based on action research the article outlines an approach for defining intangible project outcomes, their associated benefits and tangible outputs.

Mike Bourne, Mike Kennerley