The Qualimetrics Approach

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Edited by Henri Savall and Véronique Zardet, Institut de Socio-Economie des Entreprises et des OrganisationsA volume in Research in Management ConsultingSeries Editor Anthony F. Buono, Bentley UniversityThe impetus for this work emerged from Savall's belief that there is a doubleloopinteraction between social and economic factors in organizations, betweenbehaviors and structures, and between the quality of life in organizations and theireconomic performance. When managers underestimate this dynamic interaction, theresulting tension ultimately manifests in lowered performance and increased costs, whathe refers to as the "hidden costs" of organizational life. Only by delving into the depthsof these organizational dynamics can we hope to fully understand - and create the basis for improving - organizationalperformance.The Qualimetrics Approach presents a different and challenging way of thinking about analyzing organizations, one that draws together quantitative information, financial analysis and qualitative insights into organizational dynamics.As Savall and Zardet argue, to gain a true understanding of what is happening in organizations, intervener-researchers mustfocus on all three perspectives, as ignoring any one of them will lead to incomplete understandings. Their approachunderscores the importance of using qualitative data to validate quantitativedepictions ("the numbers") of organizational performance in understanding theconstruction of financial statements. The strength of Savall and Zardet's approach isthat it pushes us to go deeper, to fully understand the narratives underlying thenumbers and the social construction of our financial assessments.