The idealized market was supposed to deliver ‘friction free’ exchanges, in which the desires of consumers would be met directly, without the need for intervention or mediation by regulatory agencies. Yet the drive to assess the performance of workers and to measure forms of labor which, by their nature, are resistant to quantification, has inevitably required additional layers of management and bureaucracy. What we have is not a direct comparison of workers’ performance or output, but a comparison between the audited representation of that performance and output. Inevitably, a short-circuiting occurs, and work becomes geared towards the generation and massaging of representations rather than to the official goals of the work itself.
And then, eventually realizing this, they hire consultants for $$$, who offer two things, further tips for goosing numbers in silly ways, and also just direct advice for how to treat employees like utter shit, with a sharp, stainless veneer of “smart (because $$$ spent) business strategy”.
Or, to put it succinctly, that which gets measured gets done, and the people in charge of measuring don’t know what’s important.
And then, eventually realizing this, they hire consultants for $$$, who offer two things, further tips for goosing numbers in silly ways, and also just direct advice for how to treat employees like utter shit, with a sharp, stainless veneer of “smart (because $$$ spent) business strategy”.
This hits so hard