Targets and Terror

Many, if not most organizations employ targets as a form of performance management. Waiting times in hospitals, sales targets in retail, and so on. In recent years, CMS scholars and others have drawn attention to the ‘convergence’ of Western management by objectives (targets) with Soviet methods of decades past. Although targets can potentially increase efficiency and productivity, their efficacy is undermined in many cases by a potential for distortion and unethical behaviour. This was illustrated by the Soviet experience and in various more recent scandals in the public and private sectors. The notion of terror comes not only from the Soviet comparisons, but from the unnecessary pressure targets are said to put upon workers and managers in organizations.