Necessary evil or saving grace?

Performance measurement systems often have a poor reputation. They get off to a bad start as staff regularly view their introduction with feelings of fear despite reassurances from management. These feelings are often reinforced when the data collected seems to be used mostly to inform staff of areas of poor performance. Consequently, systems tend to flounder rather than achieving their full potential as effective management tools. The key to making them into effective systems lies in both the way in which the information collected is used by management and in the selection of manner of presentation of appropriate measures. In this article, a case study, carried out for the NatWest Operational Research OR Group, is used to illustrate how an effective performance measurement systems can be implemented. It is argued that such a system is an essential part of the management of Operational Research OR groups of the future.