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Article
Publication date: 23 August 2013

Alan Meekings and Steve Briault

The purpose of this paper is two-fold: first, to bring into sharper focus the role of organisational performance management both for “exploring the future to deliver better…

1167

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is two-fold: first, to bring into sharper focus the role of organisational performance management both for “exploring the future to deliver better outcomes” and “learning from the past to improve the future”; and second, to introduce the control tower approach to optimising complex service delivery performance, explaining how this approach is derived from a unique combination of lean thinking and connected performance.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a practitioner paper based on extensive practical experience.

Findings

While the tools and techniques of “exploring the future to deliver better outcomes” may be less common than those for “learning from the past to improve the future”, they offer significant benefits, particularly in complex service delivery situations.

Research limitations/implications

It has not, so far, been possible to find organisations willing and able to participate in a quasi-controlled experiment to explore how organisations which implement the control tower approach actually perform in relation to others that do not. However, the authors hope this paper will help move thinking forward in the field of complex service delivery, and perhaps inform future academic research.

Practical implications

The control tower approach offers significant opportunities to improve service delivery performance, not just within healthcare but across all sectors where service delivery is complex and important.

Social implications

The improvement of complex service delivery performance offers huge social benefits for all stakeholders, including customers, providers (and their staff) and society as a whole, notably through improved outcomes and efficiency.

Originality/value

Although the value of “learning from the past to improve the future” in organisational performance management terms is widely understood, the value of “exploring the future to deliver better outcomes” is much less well known. Hence, this paper highlights a perspective of real practical significance.

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Article
Publication date: 1 January 2004

New systems of performance appraisal and management development have helped to revitalize a UK housing association, enthuse its managers and transform them into a more cohesive…

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Abstract

New systems of performance appraisal and management development have helped to revitalize a UK housing association, enthuse its managers and transform them into a more cohesive group. Rother Homes, part of the Horizon Housing Group, had a five‐year program to repair and upgrade the 3,000 homes for which it had taken over responsibility from Rother District Council, East Sussex, England.

Details

Human Resource Management International Digest, vol. 12 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0967-0734

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Article
Publication date: 30 August 2011

Alan Meekings, Steve Briault and Andy Neely

Advocates and critics of target‐setting in the workplace seem unable to reach beyond their own well‐entrenched battle lines. While the advocates of goal‐directed behaviour point

2156

Abstract

Purpose

Advocates and critics of target‐setting in the workplace seem unable to reach beyond their own well‐entrenched battle lines. While the advocates of goal‐directed behaviour point to what they see as demonstrable advantages, the critics of target‐setting highlight equally demonstrable disadvantages. Indeed, the academic literature on this topic is currently mired in controversy, with neither side seemingly capable of envisaging a better way forward. This paper seeks to break the current deadlock and move thinking forward in this important aspect of performance measurement and management by outlining a new, more fruitful approach, based on both theory and practical experience.

Design/methodology/approach

The topic was approached in three phases: assembling and reading key academic and other literature on the subject of target‐setting and goal‐directed behaviour, with a view to understanding, in depth, the arguments advanced by the advocates and critics of target‐setting; comparing these published arguments with one's own experiential findings, in order to bring the essence of disagreement into much sharper focus; and then bringing to bear the academic and practical experience to identify the essential elements of a new, more fruitful approach offering all the benefits of goal‐directed behaviour with none of the typical disadvantages of target‐setting.

Findings

The research led to three key findings: the advocates of goal‐directed behaviour and critics of target‐setting each make valid points, as seen from their own current perspectives; the likelihood of these two communities, left to themselves, ever reaching a new synthesis, seems vanishingly small (with leading thinkers in the goal‐directed behaviour community already acknowledging this); and, between the three authors, it was discovered that their unusual combination of academic study and practical experience enabled them to see things differently. Hence, they would like to share their new thinking more widely.

Research limitations/implications

The authors fully accept that their paper is informed by extensive practical experience and, as yet, there have been no opportunities to test their findings, conclusions and recommendations through rigorous academic research. However, they hope that the paper will move thinking forward in this arena, thereby informing future academic research.

Practical implications

The authors hope that the practical implications of the paper will be significant, as it outlines a novel way for organisations to capture the benefits of goal‐directed behaviour with none of the disadvantages typically associated with target‐setting.

Social implications

Given that increased efficiency and effectiveness in the management of organisations would be good for society, the authors think the paper has interesting social implications.

Originality/value

Leading thinkers in the field of goal‐directed behaviour, such as Locke and Latham, and leading critics of target‐setting, such as Ordóñez et al. continue to argue with one another – much like, at the turn of the nineteenth century, proponents of the “wave theory of light” and proponents of the “particle theory of light” were similarly at loggerheads. Just as this furious scientific debate was ultimately resolved by Taylor's experiment, showing that light could behave both as a particle and wave at the same time, the authors believe that the paper demonstrates that goal‐directed behaviour and target‐setting can successfully co‐exist.

Details

Measuring Business Excellence, vol. 15 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1368-3047

Keywords

Available. Content available
Book part
Publication date: 24 February 2021

Erik Lemcke

Free Access. Free Access

Abstract

Details

Social Ecology in Holistic Leadership
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-841-5

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