Princeton University Press
The Tyranny of Metrics
Key Metrics
- Jerry Z Muller
- Princeton University Press
- Hardcover
- 9780691174952
- 8.5 X 5.7 X 1 inches
- 0.95 pounds
- Business & Economics > Operations Research
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
How the obsession with quantifying human performance threatens our schools, medical care, businesses, and government
Today, organizations of all kinds are ruled by the belief that the path to success is quantifying human performance, publicizing the results, and dividing up the rewards based on the numbers. But in our zeal to instill the evaluation process with scientific rigor, we've gone from measuring performance to fixating on measuring itself. The result is a tyranny of metrics that threatens the quality of our lives and most important institutions. In this timely and powerful book, Jerry Muller uncovers the damage our obsession with metrics is causing--and shows how we can begin to fix the problem.
Filled with examples from education, medicine, business and finance, government, the police and military, and philanthropy and foreign aid, this brief and accessible book explains why the seemingly irresistible pressure to quantify performance distorts and distracts, whether by encouraging gaming the stats or teaching to the test. That's because what can and does get measured is not always worth measuring, may not be what we really want to know, and may draw effort away from the things we care about. Along the way, we learn why paying for measured performance doesn't work, why surgical scorecards may increase deaths, and much more. But metrics can be good when used as a complement to--rather than a replacement for--judgment based on personal experience, and Muller also gives examples of when metrics have been beneficial.
Complete with a checklist of when and how to use metrics, The Tyranny of Metrics is an essential corrective to a rarely questioned trend that increasingly affects us all.
Author Bio
Jerry Z. Muller is professor emeritus of history at the Catholic University of America and the author of several books, including The Mind and the Market and Capitalism and the Jews (Princeton).
His work has appeared in Foreign Affairs, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and other leading publications. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Research Interests
Jerry Muller’s books, articles, and current research are on the border between history, social science, philosophy, and public policy. He writes and teaches about a variety of historical and contemporary subjects, including capitalism; nationalism; conservatism; the history of social, political, economic, and religious thought; and modern German and Jewish history.
Source: Princeton University Press and The Catholic University of America
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