Performance Management System. A Literature Review

Abstract

This Chapter proposes a broad systematic review of PMS design, describing the evolution of the approaches to PMS design, based on the application of theories; introducing both concepts and frameworks that characterise the field and clearly call out for more research on a comprehensive PMS framework; and showing how PMS mechanisms should relate to each other in order to develop both efficiency and innovation, which result in long-term survival. From the review on PMS design, we can argue that effective design of PMS design is contingent to both external and internal variables; financial performance measures are more and more assessed together with non-financial performance measures; the link between PMS and strategy should be enacted trough different kind of PM mechanisms; PMS is a dynamic package of PM mechanisms, which should be considered as a whole in order to assess the overall effectiveness. Finally, since the analysis of the effect of single mechanisms on the overall effectiveness is partial and problematic, there is a call for more loosely coupled PMSs, which develop both control and flexibility.