Barriers and Blockers to Organizational Performance, An Expert and Academic Perspectives

 

Industry experts and academics have long studied these challenges, offering insight into why organizations struggle with performance measurement. Kaplan and Norton, creators of the Balanced Scorecard, noted that companies often fail to balance their metrics, overemphasizing financial indicators at the expense of other strategic areas (customers, processes, learning). This imbalance can make the performance measurement system less relevant and lead to its abandonment. Academic research by Bourne et al. found that many performance measurement initiatives fail due to partial approaches, companies implement measures without integrating them into management processes or they lack change management to support the new system [9] [6]. The “political” aspect is also emphasized, internal politics can derail measurement (for instance, when certain metrics threaten a powerful department’s image) Neely and Bourne (2000) identified three root causes for implementation failure: political resistance, inadequate infrastructure and lack of focus in the measurement system [6]. These correspond closely to the cultural, structural and strategic issues discussed above.

Performance management consultants like Stacey Barr and Mark Hocknell underscore the behavioural change required to make measurement work. Barr points out that organizations need a step-by-step methodology and to start small to overcome the “pain of change” in adopting metrics. Without a clear method, people flounder with basic tasks like defining a good KPI or getting buy-in for targets [8]. Hocknell similarly observes that many teams prefer “inaccurate good news” to “accurate bad news,” indicating a culture that shoots the messenger and thus resists honest measurement [10]. Both experts advocate creating a safe, learning-focused environment for measurement. The literature also suggests involving employees in designing metrics to increase buy in, lack of employee involvement is a noted barrier that can make measures feel imposed and irrelevant. When people at all levels participate in defining what success looks like, they are more likely to value the metrics and use them.

Table: Key Barriers to Organizational Performance Measurement and Examples (from multiple sources [2] [7] 

The table summarizes the major categories of barriers identified by experts and research. In practice, these factors often overlap for example, a blame-oriented culture (cultural issue) can lead to political fights over metrics (strategic issue) and result in choosing only easy, siloed measures (structural issue). Overcoming these hurdles requires a comprehensive approach, which many case studies have illustrated.

The Next article will present a number of case studies. 

References

[1] What are the key challenges in measuring and evaluating organizational performance? https://humansmart.com.mx/en/blogs/blog-what-are-the-key-challenges-in-measuring-and-evaluating-organizational-performance-57020 
[2] Office of Personnel Management (OPM) (1999). “Good Measurement Makes a Difference in Organizational Performance.”https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/performance-management/measuring/good-measurement-makes-a-difference-in-organizational-performance/ 
[3] Examples & Success Stories, Balanced Scorecard Institute https://balancedscorecard.org/bsc-basics/examples-success-stories/ 
[4] Bain & Co. survey Ivey Business Journal (2004). “The Balanced Scorecard: To Adopt or Not to Adopt?” https://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/the-balanced-scorecard-to-adopt-or-not-to-adopt 
[5] Balanced Scorecard: How Many Companies Use This Tool? https://bernardmarr.com/balanced-scorecard-how-many-companies-use-this-tool/ 
[6] WHY MEASUREMENT INITIATIVES FAIL EconBiz https://www.econbiz.de/Record/why-measurement-initiatives-fail-neely-andy/10014930511 
[7] PM'O'Phobia (or: the fear of performance measurement), Mark Hocknell | Customer Value. Business Results (WARNING website flags riskware so no link provided) 
[8] Stacey Barr (2013). “Why Don’t Companies Measure Performance?” StaceyBarr.com  https://www.staceybarr.com/measure-up/why-dont-companies-measure-performance/ 
[9] Why some performance measurement initiatives fail: Lessons from the change management literature https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247830890_Why_some_performance_measurement_initiatives_fail_Lessons_from_the_change_management_literature 
[10] KPI's & PuMP Archives, Page 3 of 4, Mark Hocknell | Customer Value. Business Results (WARNING website flags riskware so no link provided)

Disclaimer:

Please note that parts of this post were assisted by an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool. The AI has been used to generate certain content and provide information synthesis. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, the AI's contributions are based on its training data and algorithms and should be considered as supplementary information.