One of the main tools (often the only tool) managers use as part of their efforts to influence behaviour and provide evidence of compliance with procedure is statistics. Based on observations in practice and in a corporate environment, it boils down to ‘what you measure influences what you get’. Others call this the measurement paradigm.
To illustrate this, here is a story. An aeroplane lands. Baggage handlers arrive swiftly, one of the handlers leaps out of the handling vehicle and selects the lightest, smallest piece of luggage and tears off at top speed to the terminal. A few minutes later he saunters back. In the meantime, his colleagues have unloaded some of the baggage and he helps them at normal speed. Why?
