Review of Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement

Everyone interested in practical measurement applications needs to read Dean R. Spitzer's book, Transforming performance measurement: Rethinking the way we measure and drive organizational success (New York, AMACOM, 2007). Spitzer describes how measurement, properly understood and implemented, can transform organizational performance by empowering and motivating individuals. Measurement understood in this way moves beyond quick fixes and fads to sustainable processes based on a measurement infrastructure that coordinates decisions and actions uniformly throughout the organization.

Measurement leadership, Spitzer says, is essential. He advocates, and many organizations have instituted, the C-suite (executive) position of Chief Measurement Officer (Chapter 9). This person is responsible for instituting and managing the four keys to transformational performance measurement (Chapters 5-8):

Spitzer takes a developmental approach to measurement improvement, providing a Measurement Maturity Assessment in Chapter 12, and also speaking to the issues of the "living company" raised by Arie de Geus' classic book of that title. Plainly, the transformative potential of performance measurement is dependent on the maturational complexity of the context in which it is implemented.

Spitzer clearly outlines the ways in which each of the four keys and measurement leadership play into or hinder transformation and maturation. He also provides practical action plans and detailed guidelines, stresses the essential need for an experimental attitude toward evaluating change, speaks directly to the difficulty of measuring intangible assets like partnership, trust, skills, etc., and shows appreciation for the value of qualitative data.

Transforming Performance Measurement is not an academic treatise, though all sources are documented, with the end-notes and bibliography running to 25 pages. It was written for executives, managers, and entrepreneurs who need practical advice expressed in direct, simple terms. Further, the book does not include any awareness of the technical capacities of measurement as these have been realized in numerous commercial applications in high stakes and licensure/certification testing over the last 50 years. This can hardly be counted as a major criticism, since no books of this kind have yet to date been able to incorporate the often highly technical and mathematical presentations of advanced psychometrics.

That said, the sophistication of Spitzer's conceptual framework and recommendations make them remarkably ready to incorporate insights from measurement theory, testing practice, developmental psychology, and the history of science. Doing so will propel the strategies recommended in this book into widespread adoption and will be a catalyst for the emerging re-invention of capitalism. In this coming cultural revolution, intangible forms of capital will be brought to life in common currencies for the exchange of value that perform the same function performed by kilowatts, bushels, barrels, and hours for tangible forms of capital (Fisher, 2009, 2010).

Pretty big claim, you say? Yes, it is. Here's how it's going to work.

  • First, measurement leadership within organizations that implements policies and procedures that are context-sensitive, focused, integrated, and interactive (i.e., that have Spitzer's keys in hand) will benefit from instruments calibrated to facilitate:

  • Second, measurement leadership sensitive to the four keys across organizations, both within and across industries, will find value in:

  • Third, living companies need to be able to mature in a manner akin to human development over the lifespan. Theories of hierarchical complexity and developmental stage transitions that inform the rigorous measurement of cognitive and moral transformations (Dawson & Gabrielian, 2003) will increasingly find highly practical applications in organizational contexts.

    Leadership of the kind described by Spitzer is needed not just to make measurement contextualized, focused, integrated, and interactive "and so productive at new levels of effectiveness", but also to apply systematically the technical, financial, and social resources needed to realize the rich potentials he describes for the transformation of organizations and empowerment of individuals. Spitzer's program surpasses the usual focus on centralized statistical analyses and reports to demand the organization-wide dissemination of calibrated instruments that measure in common metrics. The flexibility, convenience, and scientific rigor of instruments calibrated to measure in units that really add up fit the bill exactly. Here's to putting tools that work in the hands of those who know what to do with them!

    Dawson, T. L., & Gabrielian, S. (2003, June). Developing conceptions of authority and contract across the life-span: Two perspectives. Developmental Review, 23(2), 162-218.

    Fisher, W. P., Jr. (2009, November). Invariance and traceability for measures of human, social, and natural capital: Theory and application. Measurement (Elsevier), 42(9), 1278-1287

    Fisher, W. P., Jr. (2010). Additional material available at www.livingcapitalmetrics.com.



    Fisher W.P. Jr. (2009) Review of Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement, Rasch Measurement Transactions, 2009, 23:3, 1220-1221



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