From Index Trap To Digital Myth

When I read the index trap, I feel a bit sorry to meet each other. Finally, we found a monograph that can systematically study the defects of quantitative indicators. Using historical methods, Jerry Muller shows us the past and present life of the tradition of relying on indicators for management. Based on the case studies of some universities, primary and secondary schools, military, police, business and finance, philanthropy and foreign donation, this paper shows the negative effects of over reliance on quantitative indicators with vivid facts. In order to improve the ranking of colleges and universities, hospitals have gradually deviated from the spirit of science, hospitals have turned away critical patients in order to reduce mortality, soldiers have lost their heads in order to count the heads of enemy corpses, the police have revised their files to reduce the crime rate, and executives have shown rich creativity in "shortcut" in order to achieve assessment. Even charity organizations are forced to make short-term suggestions Effective projects. These phenomena, it seems, have become widespread all over the world. In order to make the world better, how should we face these problems?

What's valuable is that Jerry Muller doesn't just ask questions, "you see, it's a serious problem.". In addition to showing the problems caused by excessive reliance on quantitative indicators, the author is more dedicated to analyzing and solving these problems. More importantly, the author has repeatedly stressed that the original intention of this book is not simply to criticize quantitative indicators, but to make better use of the indicator system to improve management efficiency on the basis of analyzing the defects of quantitative indicators.

What are the unplanned negative effects of quantitative indicators? Jerry Muller found that: quantitative indicators often shift their attention to the measured objects, resulting in the replacement of goals, and people strive for indicators rather than goals; due to the emphasis on the measurability of indicators, the short-term doctrine is born, which is limited to measurable and explicit tasks, but often ignores the difficult to measure but important goals. More importantly, long-term projects that are difficult to measure are more likely to be ignored; the collection, communication, collation, statistical analysis and reporting of quantitative indicators often greatly increase the time cost of employees; after completing simple indicators, the effect of employees tends to show a diminishing marginal utility; quantitative indicators also bring layers of rules, in order to prevent employees from tampering with indicators Disadvantages: to shift objectives, organizations often formulate a series of review and supervision rules, and the implementation of these rules can only increase costs and reduce efficiency; if the indicators are not set properly, quantitative indicators tend to reward luck rather than strength; more importantly, quantitative indicators will make those who dare to take risks and innovate yield to the existing framework and have to put down entrepreneurship. The passion of work itself gradually faded, so that employees gradually lost the common goal and chose to fight alone.

This reminds me of the summary of the law of yin and Yang in Huangdi Neijing: Yin and yang are the way of heaven and earth, and the compendium of all things. When we use indicators to make goals clearer, information more transparent, and responsibilities clearer, various negative effects also follow. Of course, the balance of yin and Yang is often not the best answer. At the end of the book, Jerry Mueller puts forward ten questions to consider when designing indicators: what kind of information is measured? How useful is the measured information? What are the measurements? What is the cost of not relying on standardized measurement? Is there any measurement based on other information such as customers? What is the purpose of measurement? What is the cost of acquiring the indicator? Specifically, what is the cost and opportunity cost required to generate the indicator? Ask senior management, why are these indicators needed? How to set the performance indicators? It should be remembered that even the best measurement is subject to corruption or target shifting. Finally, it is necessary to acknowledge the possible defects.

This book is enlightening in many aspects. First of all, this book is more objective and calm than the thinking tendency of either left or right. It does not stop at criticizing the index system, nor does it advocate abandoning it directly because of its negative effects. On the basis of analyzing the causes of the negative effects, the paper puts forward some constructive suggestions. More importantly, after seeing the two sides of the index, Jerry Muller did not fall into the "golden oil" view of "degree" to seek balance, but further put forward more systematic and comprehensive suggestions. Secondly, this book has a strong reference significance for enterprises that persistently use digital technology to promote management innovation. Although the wave of digital technology diffusion has brought all walks of life into the digital torrent, I have always been cautious about digitization. If digitization cannot improve the productive results, it will eventually become a rainbow after the rain. More importantly, as the book reveals, over reliance on digital management can easily mislead managers and make many inner pursuits succumb to cold numbers. When we put down our ideal for the sake of numbers, where can we find the meaning of digitalization? If digitization enhances control, it is easy to compress the space created. This book, based on systematic research, has sounded the alarm bell for digital transformation and pointed out the way for how to promote management innovation by using digital technology.

This book is a thorough reflection on the index system. On the way back to the original intention, we need to rethink the negative effects of the index system.

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