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RC Passage
Direction for the questions 10 to 14: The passage below is accompanied by a set of five questions. Choose the best answer to each question.
More and more companies, government agencies, educational institutions and philanthropic organizations are today in the grip of a new phenomenon: âmetric fixationâ. The key components of metric fixation are the belief that it is possible â and desirable â to replace professional judgment (acquired through personal experience and talent) with numerical indicators of comparative performance based upon standardised data (metrics); and that the best way to motivate people within these organisations is by attaching rewards and penalties to their measured performance.
The rewards can be monetary, in the form of pay for performance, say, or reputational, in the form of college rankings, hospital ratings, surgical report cards and so on. But the most dramatic negative effect of metric fixation is its propensity to incentivise gaming: that is, encouraging professionals to maximise the metrics in ways that are at odds with the larger purpose of the organisation. If the rate of major crimes in a district becomes the metric according to which police officers are promoted, then some officers will respond by simply not recording crimes or downgrading them from major offences to misdemeanours. Or take the case of surgeons. When the metrics of success and failure are made public â affecting their reputation and income â some surgeons will improve their metric scores by refusing to operate on patients with more complex problems, whose surgical outcomes are more likely to be negative. Who suffers? The patients who donât get operated upon.
When reward is tied to measured performance, metric fixation invites just this sort of gaming. But metric fixation also leads to a variety of more subtle unintended negative consequences. These include goal displacement, which comes in many varieties: when performance is judged by a few measures, and the stakes are high (keeping oneâs job, getting a pay rise or raising the stock price at the time that stock options are vested), people focus on satisfying those measures â often at the expense of other, more important organisational goals that are not measured. The best-known example is âteaching to the testâ, a widespread phenomenon that has distorted primary and secondary education in the United States since the adoption of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
Short-termism is another negative. Measured performance encourages what the US sociologist Robert K Merton in 1936 called âthe imperious immediacy of interests where the actorâs paramount concern with the foreseen immediate consequences excludes consideration of further or other consequencesâ. In short, advancing short-term goals at the expense of long-range considerations. This problem is endemic to publicly traded corporations that sacrifice long-term research and development, and the development of their staff, to the perceived imperatives of the quarterly report.
To the debit side of the ledger must also be added the transactional costs of metrics: the expenditure of employee time by those tasked with compiling and processing the metrics in the first place â not to mention the time required to actually read them.
Full RC Video Analysis
RC Line-wise Explanation
Paragraph 1
"More and more companies, government agencies, educational institutions and philanthropic organizations are today in the grip of a new phenomenon: âmetric fixationâ."
Explanation: Increasingly, organizations like companies, government bodies, schools, and charities are becoming obsessed with the use of metrics.
"The key components of metric fixation are the belief that it is possible â and desirable â to replace professional judgment (acquired through personal experience and talent) with numerical indicators of comparative performance based upon standardised data (metrics);"
Explanation: Metric fixation involves the belief that it is both possible and beneficial to replace professional judgment, gained through experience and skills, with numerical performance indicators based on standardized data.
"and that the best way to motivate people within these organisations is by attaching rewards and penalties to their measured performance."
Explanation: The idea is that the best way to motivate individuals within these organizations is by offering rewards or penalties based on how well they perform according to these metrics.
Paragraph 2
"The rewards can be monetary, in the form of pay for performance, say, or reputational, in the form of college rankings, hospital ratings, surgical report cards and so on."
Explanation: Rewards can be monetary, like pay-for-performance schemes, or reputational, such as rankings for colleges, hospitals, or surgeons.
"But the most dramatic negative effect of metric fixation is its propensity to incentivise gaming: that is, encouraging professionals to maximise the metrics in ways that are at odds with the larger purpose of the organisation."
Explanation: The most harmful effect of metric fixation is that it leads to "gaming" â professionals manipulating the metrics in ways that conflict with the organizationâs overall purpose.
"If the rate of major crimes in a district becomes the metric according to which police officers are promoted, then some officers will respond by simply not recording crimes or downgrading them from major offences to misdemeanours."
Explanation: For example, if police promotions depend on the crime rate, some officers may manipulate the numbers by not recording crimes or reclassifying serious crimes as minor ones.
"Or take the case of surgeons. When the metrics of success and failure are made public â affecting their reputation and income â some surgeons will improve their metric scores by refusing to operate on patients with more complex problems, whose surgical outcomes are more likely to be negative."
Explanation: Similarly, surgeons may avoid operating on complex cases with a higher chance of failure to improve their success rates, which affects their reputation and income.
"Who suffers? The patients who donât get operated upon."
Explanation: The victims of this manipulation are the patients who are denied necessary surgeries.
Paragraph 3
"When reward is tied to measured performance, metric fixation invites just this sort of gaming."
Explanation: When rewards are based on metrics, it encourages this kind of manipulation or "gaming" of the system.
"But metric fixation also leads to a variety of more subtle unintended negative consequences."
Explanation: Apart from gaming, metric fixation also causes more subtle and unintended negative effects.
"These include goal displacement, which comes in many varieties: when performance is judged by a few measures, and the stakes are high (keeping oneâs job, getting a pay rise or raising the stock price at the time that stock options are vested), people focus on satisfying those measures â often at the expense of other, more important organisational goals that are not measured."
Explanation: One such negative effect is "goal displacement," where people focus on the few measured metrics that affect their job or rewards, neglecting other more important goals that arenât measured.
"The best-known example is âteaching to the testâ, a widespread phenomenon that has distorted primary and secondary education in the United States since the adoption of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001."
Explanation: A common example of goal displacement is "teaching to the test," which has skewed education in the U.S. since the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
Paragraph 4
"Short-termism is another negative."
Explanation: Short-termism is another harmful consequence of metric fixation.
"Measured performance encourages what the US sociologist Robert K Merton in 1936 called âthe imperious immediacy of interests where the actorâs paramount concern with the foreseen immediate consequences excludes consideration of further or other consequencesâ."
Explanation: Metric fixation encourages a short-term focus, where individuals prioritize immediate results over long-term consequences, as described by sociologist Robert K. Merton.
"In short, advancing short-term goals at the expense of long-range considerations."
Explanation: In essence, short-term goals are prioritized over long-term planning.
"This problem is endemic to publicly traded corporations that sacrifice long-term research and development, and the development of their staff, to the perceived imperatives of the quarterly report."
Explanation: This issue is common in publicly traded companies, where short-term profits (often shown in quarterly reports) are prioritized over long-term investments like research, development, and employee growth.
Paragraph 5
"To the debit side of the ledger must also be added the transactional costs of metrics: the expenditure of employee time by those tasked with compiling and processing the metrics in the first place â not to mention the time required to actually read them."
Explanation: Another cost of metric fixation is the time spent by employees in collecting, processing, and reading metrics, which is a drain on resources.
RC Paragraph Explanation
Paragraph 1 Summary
Metric fixation refers to the growing belief that professional judgment should be replaced by standardized metrics, and that rewards or penalties should be tied to these metrics to motivate employees within organizations.
Paragraph 2 Summary
While rewards based on metrics can be monetary or reputational, a major negative impact of metric fixation is that it incentivizes "gaming" â professionals manipulating the metrics in ways that harm the organizationâs overall purpose.
Paragraph 3 Summary
In addition to gaming, metric fixation leads to unintended consequences such as goal displacement, where people focus on satisfying measurable metrics at the expense of other, more important organizational goals. "Teaching to the test" is a prime example of this.
Paragraph 4 Summary
Another negative effect of metric fixation is short-termism, where individuals focus on immediate results and ignore long-term consequences. This is particularly problematic in publicly traded companies that prioritize short-term profits over long-term investments.
Paragraph 5 Summary
Metric fixation also involves significant transactional costs, including the time employees spend collecting, processing, and reading metrics, which can drain organizational resources.
RC Quick Table Summary
| Paragraph Number | Main Idea |
|---|---|
| Paragraph 1 | Metric fixation is the belief that professional judgment can be replaced by standardized metrics, with rewards tied to performance. |
| Paragraph 2 | A major drawback of metric fixation is that it leads to "gaming," where professionals manipulate metrics in ways that undermine the organizationâs goals. |
| Paragraph 3 | Metric fixation leads to unintended negative effects like goal displacement, where employees focus on measurable goals at the expense of other important objectives. |
| Paragraph 4 | Short-termism is another negative consequence of metric fixation, where immediate goals are prioritized over long-term considerations. |
| Paragraph 5 | The transactional costs of metric fixation include the time spent by employees on collecting, processing, and reading metrics, which drains resources. |
RC Questions
Ques 10. What main point does the author want to convey through the examples of the police officer and the surgeon?
Ques 11. Which of the following is NOT a consequence of the 'metric fixation' phenomenon mentioned in the passage?
Ques 12. Of the following, which would have added the least depth to the authorâs argument?
Ques 13. All of the following can be a possible feature of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, EXCEPT:
Ques 14. What is the main idea that the author is trying to highlight in the passage?t
