A Short History of Performance Measurement and Management

Today, performance measurement and performance management practices are commonplace in all sectors of industry and commerce, including the public sector. This chapter provides an overview of how the performance measurement field developed from different contextual perspectives. It then talks about performance management. Early works in performance management identified a number of factors that influenced the success and failure of performance measurement and improvement initiatives. Two approaches to organizational control are suggested: Technical controls and Social controls. Based on the brief history of performance measurement presented here, it is clear that the performance measurement field has developed in parallel with, and indeed in response to, the global trends. With the emergence of global competition and the sophistication of markets, the purpose of performance measurement shift towards integrated performance measurement, and subsequently on to performance management.