MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENTS

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CHAPTER 2.  THEORETICAL FOUNDATION

SCOPE OF BODY OF KNOWLEDGE

It can be an ill-fated affair to attempt classification of organisation and management theory, but it can be said that most theories on these subjects have one of three philosophical points of departure: –

• Those with a focus on the structural, ‘harder’ side of the organisation,
• The others with a ‘softer’, behavioural or ’human’ stance, and then
• Those proclaiming a holistic, integrated view.

Kast and Rosenzweig (1981) supported this view by highlighting that three different management models competed for precedence in organisation theory – the traditional approach, human relations theory and systems theory since the 1930’s.
The traditional approach supported a mechanistic view of organisations and was based mainly on the scientific management theories of Taylor (1911), administrative management theories of Fayol (1916) and the bureaucracy theory of Weber (1947).
In stark contrast with the traditional approach, the human relations theories developed by theorists such as Herzberg (1959) and Maslow (1943), catered for the human side of organisations, and addressed issues such as leadership and individual motivation.
According to Jackson (1991) the systems approach started to dominate management theory since the 1960’s because of its “obvious superiority”. This is based on the fact that systems thinkers viewed organisations as whole systems made up of interrelated parts, and was not only focused on a single dimension. They saw the enterprise as an “open system” as opposed to the “closed” view of the traditional and human relation theories.
Performance management tends to borrow truths from all these bodies of knowledge as it is primarily concerned with aligning human effort and behaviour towards the holistic achievement of organisational strategy and intent. To this effect, it must get all the “noses to point in the same direction” (Flapper, Fortuin & Stoop, 1996) which means that it must enable the organisation to agree on tough targets between the individual and the organisation, and actions to be taken if these targets are not met. No one particularly likes to be confronted with his/her own failure but no business will survive if it is not prepared to face its own mistakes or under-performance. The performance management system has the, in some cases unfortunate, but primary function to report on progress (good and bad) against desired outcome and initiate appropriate action. It is therefore tied-up in an eternal balancing act between the hardness of structure and the sensitiveness of human nature.
It is therefore not surprising to find that theory on performance management is founded in theory of control and theory of behaviour. Management control theories dominated earlier research on this subject but reasoning found in behavioural theories soon influenced the more technical approach to accommodate the softer, more ‘human’ side (De Waal, 2002). To integrate these theories by means of systems thinking and systems theory then seems to be a logical next step by which diverse opinion can be integrated. This approach to theory development on performance management has already been attempted by scholars (Boland Fowler, 2000). Analyses of these three different groups of theory were conducted as part of this research in an attempt to form a theoretical base for this study.

THEORIES TO BE USED

The main theories used as departure point in this research are outlined in Figure 2-1 below.

Systems Theories

Systems theory and systems thinking was shaped by a wide spectrum of scholars, philosophers and scientists who basically agree that a system can be seen as a grouping of elements and the relationships between the elements in order to achieve a common purpose. Schoderbeck, Schoderbeck & Kefalas (1980) define a system as a set of objects together with relationships between the objects and between their attributes connected or related to each other and to their environment in such a manner as to form an entirety or whole. This definition is commonly accepted.
Alongside the concept of systems theory the term systems approach is found. An approach is a way of going about tackling a problem; a systems approach (Schoderbeck et al, 1980) is an approach to a problem, which takes a broader view, which attempts to take all aspects into account, which concentrates on interactions between the different parts of the problem.
Another imperative attribute of a system is that it contains emergent properties. Emergent properties of a system are those properties that did not exist in the parts (of the system) but are found in the whole. (Weinberg,2001).
Churchman (1968) defined the objectives of a system as those ends or goals toward which the system tends. This fits in with the teleological characteristics of a system. He advises also that one must distinguish between the stated and real objectives of a system. Top-level objectives are translated into lower-level objectives through an objective-translation process for all levels of the enterprise.
Good objectives are specific, measurable, attainable, results–driven and time–framed (SMART) and lower-level objectives are aligned with higher-level objectives to obtain trace-ability. According to Churchman (1968), objectives must be quantifiable to be able to measure performance of a system.

CHAPTER 1. ORIENTATION 
1.1 INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 2. THEORETICAL FOUNDATION 
2.1 SCOPE OF BODY OF KNOWLEDGE
2.2 THEORIES TO BE USED
CHAPTER 3. LITERATURE REVIEW 
3.1 PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
3.2 CALL CENTRE PERFORMANCE
CHAPTER 4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 
4.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS.
4.2 OUTLINE OF RESEARCH APPROACH
4.3 MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENTS
4.4 SAMPLE SIZE AND DATA COLLECTION
CHAPTER 5. RESEARCH RESULTS .
5.1 RESULTS BASED ON THE INTERVIEW
5.2 RESULTS OBTAINED WITH THE PMSAI
5.3 RESULTS OBTAINED WITH THE PMA®
CHAPTER 6. DISCUSSIONS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .
6.1 CONCLUSIONS
6.2 DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
CHAPTER 7. ARTICLE FOR PUBLICATION .
REFERENCES .
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