Tag Archives: police

Finding the Source

Posted on April 18, 2013 by InspGuilfoyle

As I go about my formal and informal research into the effects of target-driven performance management, I regularly have conversations with people at all levels of organisations. One thing I’ve found is that the people at the very top of … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged police, targets, management, decision making, command and control, performance management, systems thinking, organisational culture, blame, assumptions, binary comparisons, measures | 6 Comments

Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Posted on March 1, 2013 by InspGuilfoyle

“The system must be held to account!” How often do you hear that in the wake of the latest scandal? Not that often. Usually, it’s “People must be held to account! / Who is responsible? / This must never happen … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged assumptions, blame, command and control, deming, education, error management, management, nhs, organisational culture, performance management, police, risk management, systems thinking | 12 Comments

Spot The Difference

Posted on January 31, 2013 by InspGuilfoyle

Sometimes when I say this… …people hear this: Not being able to differentiate between targets, measures and priorities is a deadly obstacle to effective performance. Let me explain why… Targets First of all, if you’ve ever met me, heard me … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged assumptions, binary comparisons, control charts, data, deming, management, measures, performance management, police, priorities, purpose, systems, systems thinking, targets | 25 Comments

Pull The Other One

Posted on January 13, 2013 by InspGuilfoyle

After a couple of forays into the worlds of wildlife and motorway driving, I return briefly to the subject of food and drink, largely because once you have been afflicted with seeing everyday situations from a systems perspective, the pub … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged demand, efficiency gains, flow, nhs, police, pull, purpose, systems, systems thinking, variety | 12 Comments

Oh Deer

Posted on January 7, 2013 by InspGuilfoyle

In the film ‘Stand by Me’ (which I saw again yesterday, for the first time in years), there’s a scene where a young lad out camping with his friends sees a deer early one morning. I won’t spoil the storyline, … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged assumptions, deming, extrinsic, intrinsic, management, motivation, performance management, police, public service, systems, systems thinking, targets | 5 Comments

(Not So) Bad Performance Measurement On Tour (#3)

Posted on October 31, 2012 by InspGuilfoyle

‘Data have no meaning apart from their context’. – Donald Wheeler Cast your mind back to Episode One of this series. No beer, no food, no chillies; just trains. The examples provided in that blog post highlighted the dire (but … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged binary comparisons, data, donald wheeler, management, performance, performance management, performance measurement, police, russell ackoff, systems, systems thinking, targets | 20 Comments

Would You Like Sub-Optimization With That?

Posted on October 29, 2012 by InspGuilfoyle

Maybe this is ill-timed, not being long after my ‘weight loss’ blog post, but here’s another story from the land of “Is that large?” In my defence, I was on a long journey and was so hungry when I stopped … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged flow, management, performance, police, queuing theory, rational choice, sub-optimization, systems, systems thinking, targets | 11 Comments

Bad Performance Measurement on Tour (#2)

Posted on October 20, 2012 by InspGuilfoyle

Just one day after Episode One of this tragedy series, one of my faithful readers told me about a target so ridiculous that it would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious. During a hospital training session, those attending were … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged deming, nhs, performance, performance management, police, systems, systems thinking, targets, variation | 7 Comments

Binary Finary

Posted on October 17, 2011 by InspGuilfoyle

A few things happened yesterday. Firstly I realised I hadn’t written a blog for a while. (This isn’t because I’ve run out of things to say, just because I’ve been busier than usual recently). The second thing was that I discovered my old … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged charts, command and control, performance management, police, spc, systems thinking | 6 Comments

The Perfect Target

Posted on July 5, 2011 by InspGuilfoyle

Okay, so those of you who have read my blogs will be familiar with my views on numerical targets in policing – in short I argue that they should all be abolished, without exception. This is because they generate perverse … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged command and control, gaming, performance, police, spc, systems, targets | 3 Comments