Research Links - September 2007 - Helping Businesses Stay on Track

Cognos Professor in Performance Management.

For years, Cognos Incorporated has been a global leader in developing performance-management products that help companies understand, plan and manage their financial and operational performance. More specifically, Cognos software enables executives to answer fundamental questions about the condition and conduct of their organizations: How are we doing? Why are we on or off track? What should we do to stay on track or get back on track?

To intensify the study of performance management, the Telfer School of Management signed a partnership agreement with Cognos in November 2006. According to the pact, the Ottawa-based company supplied more than $1 million in funding, software and related services to the Telfer School, which has applied this generous contribution to develop a new performance-management curriculum that is now featured in all graduate programs.

The Telfer School of Management also used the funding to create a new faculty position: the Cognos Professor in Performance Management. Dr. Greg Richards, a Telfer School adjunct professor and former senior executive at Cognos, will hold the professorship for the next three years. In this role, he will provide a course to graduate students on the fundamentals of performance management and supervise a team of researchers that has undertaken three distinctive projects.

Within this context, Dr. Richards created the School’s IT-enabled Managerial Process Innovation cluster along with four colleagues to study a variety of local companies and determine the specific ways in which these organizations use performance-management practices and tools. “Our aim is to analyze results from the case studies to determine best practices that can be used by all businesses, and identify ideal sector-specific approaches that companies in particular industries can employ,” says the Cognos Professor.

Dr. Richards’ team is also using data generated from the case studies to enhance their understanding of the factors that directly influence vital aspects of business performance, such as sales growth, process innovation and product development. The cluster works closely with the School of Information Technology and Engineering at the University of Ottawa and is in the process of creating a global network of researchers through collaboration with FHS St. Gallen University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland and the University of South Australia who also have active research programs on the topic of Performance Management in organizations.

In addition to these initiatives, the cluster is working with a number of federal agencies to develop an integrated approach to reporting on departmental and program performance. This approach will enable program managers and departmental executives to access a common source of data within their organizations. “Armed with this information,” Dr. Richards says, “these officials can not only respond swiftly and authoritatively to requests from central government agencies, but also strengthen internal accountability and increase transparency of public spending.”