Citation:
Veronica Martinez, Mike Kennerley, Richard Harpley, Richard Wakelen, Kathy Hart, James Webb, Impact of Performance Measurement and Management Systems. Cranfield School of Management, 2008
Abstract:
This report describes the results of a detailed research on the impact of
performance measurement and management systems (PMMS). It presents the
results of the first UK Survey on this specific theme. Then, it explains the effects
of the implementation of a scorecard-based performance management system
(PMS) within EDF Energy’s Networks Branch, the UK-based division of a
multinational company.
Cranfield School of Management’s Centre for Business Performance has
conducted this research, with funding from the Engineering & Physical Sciences
Research Council. It has two phases: 1) a survey study in the UK manufacturing
and service sectors and 2) an in-depth case based on multiple structured
interviews.
The report addresses an analysis of the positive, negative, internal and external
effects in the UK manufacturing and service sectors. It is extended to the
analysis of EDF Energy’s experience of implementing a PMS, in the context of
Cranfield researchers’ previous research findings in this field. In doing so, it
describes the factors that contributed most to the PMS’s successful
implementation and those aspects which, at least initially, tended to hold it
back from achieving its full potential, and so draws conclusions and lessons
from these research results.
The report also identifies moderating factors that influence these critical effects
and highlights the vital importance of performance reviews at both executive
and operational levels. It provides guidance too on where EDF Energy will
need to make future adjustments to the ongoing development of its PMS.
The results of this research will make interesting reading for all executives
involved in the PMS development process; and the report also contains
valuable lessons for executives in other companies who wish to embark on a
similar implementation process. We hope, therefore, that EDF Energy will be
willing to share their learning experience with other executives in other
industries. This report has, therefore, been structured in such a way that this
can easily be enabled.