How and Why the Metric Management Model Is Unsustainable: The Case of Spanish Universities from 2005 to 2020

Abstract

[EN] The metric management model is a method based on quantitative indicators called metrics and is used to evaluate individuals and organizations. Organizations' sustainability is related to risk and expectation concepts and both are, in turn, related to the metric management model (MMM). The main objective of the present research work is to analyze the MMM applied to the Spanish university system (SUS) and the propagation of its consequences. The secondary objective is to study alternatives to the metric management system applied to the SUS to avoid its negative socio-economic consequences. Our results reveal how applying the MMM to the SUS, based on the metric evaluation and the ranking monitor model, deteriorates research quality, students' levels of education and working people's well-being at university. Finally, university managerial boards, teased with the "mirror" of university rankings and the picture a simulacrum of reality, are still unaware of the damage.