Exploration of executive performance measures in manufacturing organizations.

The aims of this research are: (A) to examine current practices in executive performance measures in manufacturing; and (B) to propose a model for executive performance measures that reflects both the aspirations of practitioners and the issues raised in academic literature. Executives in the context of this research are defined as the leaders of their organizations who "exercise strategic management not only via the more obvious dimensions of analysis, policy formulation, evaluation and planning but also in their behaviour" (Burke, 1986:64). So executive performance is considered in terms of the roles and responsibilities of executives as leaders, their strategic objectives and their behaviours. The purpose of executive performance measures is to provide an improved understanding of the issues of executive performance. A holistic approach is taken in this research in exploring executive performance measures by addressing the following questions: What are the executive roles and responsibilities in practice? What are the strategic objectives of executives in practice? What are the desired behaviours of executives in practice? What current executive performance measures are used in practice? In the light of these questions, is it possible to create a model for executiveperformance measures? The fieldwork was conducted in three medium sized manufacturing companies using a qualitative case study approach that included direct observation in the form of workshadowing (Mintzberg, 1973), repertory grid technique (Gammack and Stephens, 1994) and semi-structured interviews. The main findings from the fieldwork are that the current practices in executive performance measures in manufacturing organizations favour measures for performance output, particularly in relation to the financial and internal business process perspectives. By contrast the executives themselves feel the practical need for measures, which include executive behaviours alongside the performance output measures. The principal contribution of this research is a model for considering measures for executive performance outputs together with measures for executive behaviours in achieving those outputs. This model (which goes further than any previous model in the field) will allow its users to consider measures to improve executive performance. The aim is that any improvement in the executive performance will contribute to the improved performance and competitive position of their organization.