The People Measurement Manual
Author: David Wealleans
Price: £55
Pages: 160
Publisher: Gower
ISBN: 0566083809
This book is a follow-up to Wealleans’ publication The Organisational Measurement Manual, and promises to take a systematic approach to the complex science of measuring the attitudes, behaviours and beliefs of the people working in an organisation. It also covers how to make sense of and use the results to bring lasting benefits to the business.
This well-written book is illustrated with many analogies to life and anecdotes that many readers will identify with, regardless of how much relevant experience they have in measurement techniques.
The chapters broadly relate to information you will need to communicate before embarking on a measurement project: different methods that can be employed, how to pick your samples and report your results, and the understanding and action that should follow to improve the business as a result of the findings. One section in the book that I found particularly beneficial was the one on composition and phrasing of questions for use in an employee survey.
I had hoped to see the book as a user-friendly, dip-in reference tool to help me put forward and carry out proposals for people measurement. However, it was more of a lengthy study. I found that using it as I would do in my job (that is, not reading the whole book in one go) was really challenging, and I needed to go back to the summaries to help me recall the salient points.
This is not a book I would take with me to my next HR role. Overall, I would say it is a good book for students – but not so useful for practitioners.
Useful? Three stars
Well-written? Four stars
Practical? Two stars
Inspirational? Two stars
Value for money? Two stars
Overall? Three stars
Angela Grant, HR manager, Alcoa CSI UK
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