ABSTRACT
Rooted in an extensive study of performance management in a UK train service operating company this chapter demonstrates how organisational structure, information systems and performance are intertwined in such a way as to be inseparable. Each is a function of the others and this systemic approach offers both great economy of effort in capturing and reporting performance but, reflecting its cybernetic roots, shows how the whole system is designed to improve performance and damp error over time, not through managerial intervention but through its embedment in the whole structure. The chapter shows both how the organisation is designed, as a whole, to perform and fulfil its purpose and how the information system is the connective tissue which enables that. The reader will be able to see how such a light touch but comprehensive approach can be applied to any organisation.
