“Anything which is measured, improves”, goes the saying. Does it mean that measurement of an issue automatically triggers improvements around? Actually, yes! Just count the money that you spend on a specific area, say for getting a comfort sleep. And count the time that you spent on bed. You would see the startlingly disproportionate figures!

Probably the corporate have learnt a lesson or two from this old proverb. Words like “KPI”, “Metrics”, and “Targets” etc.

have become part of the daily dose. And the most common gyan for you today is “it’s a number game”. The quantitative regime as practiced through various methodologies and schema like Six Sigma, CMMI, Balanced Score Card (BSC) etc., have transformed the industry landscape - for the good. While “being process oriented” was the QA buzz word for streamlining the operations, “being quantitatively managed” is the new mantra for optimizing the performance.

Qualitative v/s Quantitative

Let’s look at an organisation who wants to improve its penetration among a specific customer segment. Qualitative measures for achieving it would be through feedbacks from customers, Customer orientation trainings, increased sales presence in the segment etc. Quantitative thought process would bring in specific targets for the sales force for revenue from targeted customer segment, Inclusion of Customer satisfaction into Performance parameters of functional employees, Targets for market visibility for the organisation in the targeted segment and finally an organisational target for revenue from the targeted market.
To achieve the quantitative targets, you need to resort to qualitative measures like campaigns, trainings, feedbacks etc. But what Key Performance Indicators (KPI) do is to have an impact in an employee’s life which drives him/her to perform. Qualitative targets always face the threat of subjectivity.

One of the pitfalls of quantitative regime is becoming overly number driven & similarly qualitative parameters are sometimes difficult to measure. Customer satisfaction survey, for e.g. might be influenced by the mood of the person who fills it or the last interface you had with the customer. Often jumbo sized organizations are unable to bring in the qualitative element to decision making and the decisions at times eludes rational thought process.

Quantitative Regime Catalyzed by Quality

Depending upon the structure of the organisation, KPIs would have to be defined at multiple levels - Organization, Business Units, Departments, Practices and Teams. In order to ensure alignment of employees with organisational vision, an exercise to define objectives at each level in alignment with organisational objectives need to be taken up. Further individual KPIs and goals of employees need to be set in line with the KPIs of the teams/levels they belong to.
Aligning individual goals of employees to organisational objectives is an HR manager’s nightmare. Creating awareness among employees about organisational vision, goals & objectives is the key to ensure that you obtain the buy in of the organisation in the    regime change. It’s a continuous activity given the fact that objectives keep changing based on Macro economic scenarios, Management changes, Compliance laws and Technological advancements. Well oiled HR machinery with a well executed quantitative regime executed through an agile performance management system can create an organisation which can resonate to market needs.