Corporate performance is the sum of the individual contributions of all employees. However, efforts to optimize business success often focus on increasingly complex performance management systems, largely neglecting the individuals whose performance is intended to be managed.

Based on expert interviews in 40 large companies and extensive employee surveys, Nils Pleier demonstrates that significantly fewer problems arise with performance measurement systems (PMS) themselves than at the interface between the system and the individual. In other words, companies often struggle with user-specific difficulties. Less complex and more transparent PMS tools, as well as greater employee involvement and more intensive communication between leaders and employees, are essential success factors for companies.

Drawing on this solid data, the author derives clear practical recommendations for a central area of human resources work.