Who Decides Metrics? LO8411

John Farago (jfarago@cix.compulink.co.uk)
Mon, 8 Jul 96 14:18 BST-1

Subject: Who Decides Metrics? LO8338

Ginger Shafer writes:

>"the customer SHOULD determine the nature of the metrics"

Which customers? Yesterdays, todays, tomorrows? Or the potential
customers that are not buying because the key decision makers are looking
at the wrong metrics?

Successful businesses (and that also applies to public service and
voluntary organisations) take account of and measure the needs and
aspirations of customers (and potential customers), suppliers and the
communities/environment in which they operate. (People who work in the
organisation and investors/shareholders are also SUPPLIERS - of labour and
capital respectively.) The collective noun for all these is STAKEHOLDERS,
but in Britain this now has political overtones which distort its meaning
and therefore diminish its utility.

Key decision makers in organisations need to enter into reciprocal
learning relationships with ALL stakeholders. They learn about customer
expectations and satisfaction from those people in the organisation who
interface with customers. That is where empowerment is important and can
be most effective. Appropriate qualitative and quantitative measures from
the reciprocal point of view of both parties will emerge from those
learning relationships.
---

John Farago
<jfarago@cix.compulink.co.uk>

-- 

jfarago@cix.compulink.co.uk (John Farago)

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>