Managing through measurement or meaning? Lessons from experience with New Zealand's public sector performance management
By: Norman, Richard.
Material type:
ArticlePublisher: 2002Description: p.619-28.Subject(s): Public administration - New Zealand | Public administration
In:
International Review of Administrative SciencesSummary: Comprehensive adoption of systems for managing for results as an alternative to procedure-based bureaucracy has earned the New Zealand public sector a reputation as the `world's most advanced performance system' (Kettl, 2007: 7). Research with a cross-section of users of this system, now nearly 15 years old, reveals a variety of responses. True Believers support a current focus on measurement and think that more effort should be put into creating clearer, more observable measures that emphasise outcomes. Pragmatic Sceptics see reported measures as part of a new game of public management and at best a starting point for asking about the substance behind the form. Active Doubters believe that too much emphasis on measurement gets in the way of the `real work' of developing relationship-based work in a political environment. Issues of meaning are seen to be more important than measurement for the further development of the system. - Reproduced.
| Item type | Current location | Call number | Vol info | Status | Date due | Barcode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Articles
|
Indian Institute of Public Administration | Volume no: 68, Issue no: 4 | Available | AR55756 |
Comprehensive adoption of systems for managing for results as an alternative to procedure-based bureaucracy has earned the New Zealand public sector a reputation as the `world's most advanced performance system' (Kettl, 2007: 7). Research with a cross-section of users of this system, now nearly 15 years old, reveals a variety of responses. True Believers support a current focus on measurement and think that more effort should be put into creating clearer, more observable measures that emphasise outcomes. Pragmatic Sceptics see reported measures as part of a new game of public management and at best a starting point for asking about the substance behind the form. Active Doubters believe that too much emphasis on measurement gets in the way of the `real work' of developing relationship-based work in a political environment. Issues of meaning are seen to be more important than measurement for the further development of the system. - Reproduced.
There are no comments for this item.