It will help them look good on paper when somebody higher up on the corporate ladder decides that AM time is the new "flavor of the week." When the man upstairs decides that he wants a 10% reduction in AM time then by God we had better give him his number whether it makes any sense to do so or not.
I too have seen lots of good, honest management people make stupid moves with the best of intentions, namely to save their own jobs by spoon-feeding their immediate superiors whatever numbers they happen to
feel are important that day.
We would be a stronger company if we focused less on manipulating statistics and more on managing the business.
You are absolutely correct that management generates statistics and is rewarded if those statistics change. Its also true that when the number becomes more important than the business element it was designed to measure, bad and/or useless behavior can occur.
This dilemma is faced by all businesses, but all good businesses still must measure themselves. Proper measurement is a critical factor to success. You have to measure where you, know where you want to go, and measure progress.
You may not be aware that UPS has changed how it measures operations and the change has been for the good. Rather than have a slew of measures which leaves it open to having a flavor of the month, UPS now has what's called a "balanced scorecard".
It is a list of measures used by everyone, and the overall score dictates how well an individual center did. Included on the scorecard is service measures, performance measures, people measures, etc.
Performance measurement is NDPPH. Its an overall statistic that includes all hours. If someone looks good in the AM (only), it no longer matters.
Of course, someone will still create a flavor of the month. No one can stop that. However their overall measure will be the balanced scorecard.
The example that started this thread had nothing to do with a manager trying to look good in AM time (as far as I can tell). Someone traded off AM hours vs. on road hours vs. service. If it caused a service problem, it will show up in the balanced scorecard. If it caused additional on road hours, it will also show up.
P-Man