Assessing some distinctive dimensions of performance feedback information in high performing plants

A primary function of the Performance Measurement System is to provide empl oyees with information on their past performance, allowing them to assess t he outcomes of their actions, and therefore if they are meeting or not the objectives they are given. This work aims at contributing to the understand ing of how the effectiveness of performance feedback information can be imp roved by defining a set of distinct performance feedback? dimensions based on a PMS literature review, and by validating it empirically on an internat ional sample of 164 manufacturing organisations. The proposed dimensions ar e: relevance as performance feedback orientation to the achievement of obje ctives; dynamic adjustment of performance feedback; relevance as usefulness of cost performance feedback; relevance as usefulness of non-cost performa nce feedback; timeliness of shop-floor performance feedback; personal perfo rmance feedback; and feedback on the overall process performances. The anal ysis shows that these dimensions are distinct, thus allowing to deal with t hem separately both in PMS design and audit. As far as the effectiveness of the performance feedback is concerned it emerges that for several dimensio ns higher scores are associated to higher operating performances (cost, tim e and quality), but in one case this only holds for managers and in another one only for supervisors.