KPI gaming makes them pointless and a value detractor.
Gaming KPIs is when employees of a company do what is within their power to make “keep the numbers green”, even if it is not in the best interest of the company. It is a form of Rule Beating.
Possible Examples
- Cancelling shipments rather than letting them ship late
- Not reporting incidents that would cause some sort of safety or quality metric to go south
- Spending your budget on frivolous things near the end of the FY so you don’t under-run your forecast
- Incentivizing for a high capacity of low quality output
KPI gaming can be prevented by using best practices for Good Metrics.