In business people live and die based on deadlines, at least in a career sense, thankfully modern business practices don’t allow for actual executions if someone is late on a deadline. We may sometimes wish to enact such laws when it comes to delivery companies and we’re being impatient, however, that’s just irrationality and impatience speaking. In a metaphorical sense though businesses survive and fail based on their ability to meet deadlines. The importance of timeliness has increased the need and value of performance management systems. Basically all a performance management system is, is a system that conveys and gathers information on the ability of a company or a part of a company to produce and meet their targets.
Deadlines are incredibly serious as a company needs to be reliable to do business on any level. Very few companies sell directly to the consumer, there are usually a few layers of middlemen, and disappointing the other businesses you work with can spell doom for a company’s long term prospects. If you start losing contracts because you can’t keep deadlines you will start losing very real business and can quickly go under from it. Performance management systems are a way to handle this problem. A managerial philosophy dedicated to improving speed and reliability is the second prong. You need both, you need to seriously commit your business to improving the speed and reliability of your output, and you need a performance management system to see how that philosophy is being put into place.
Managerial philosophy sounds like a more complex concept than it is; essentially it only means that your managers are tasked with a ranked set of priorities towards a larger goal. Some companies have a managerial philosophy of employee retention, so they work hard to keep their employees happy even at the cost of profit margins. Generally the philosophies are dedicated to increasing the profitability of the business. However there are different approaches to it, even within the subfield of improving production reliability there are differing philosophies. Some focus on reducing defects others on reducing waste. However, ultimately any philosophy needs a performance management system to be properly implemented. No matter how sound the core, fundamental principles are to a managerial approach if there is a lack of good information and good tracking the philosophy will fall apart. A performance management system lets you understand how things are working within your set of priorities and make informed decisions as to how to implement your strategy effectively, regardless of the specifics of the strategy. You need to make your deadlines, and anything that helps, from managerial training to performance management systems are important.
