The challenges facing public services and non-profit organizations are complex and multifaceted, confounding the orthodoxies of bureaucratic public administration and New Public Management approaches. This article discusses the merits and potential of the emerging 'Human Learning Systems' (HLS) approach to the funding, commissioning and management of public services as an alternative management logic. Building on prior introductory work, the authors analyse the current state of development, content and operation of HLS and its collaborative process, involving more than 300 organizations. Drawing on the experience of public and non-profit service professionals in adopting and experimenting with this approach, the authors found that HLS can provide a helpful and innovative conceptual frame to promote constructive engagement with complexity in public management theory and practice.

Governments, philanthropic agencies and public sector organisations have given increasing primacy to outcomes across their operations in recent years, particularly within the domain of performance management. We argue that societal outcomes challenge public agencies to respond to four specific forms of complexity -compositional, experiential, dynamic and governance complexities -which taken together confound the conceptual basis of traditional performance management systems. We adopt this understanding of complexity in a constructive capacity to consider the design parameters of a complexity-appropriate performance management system. We conclude that two theoretical transitions are necessary in a complexity-appropriate performance management approach: a shift from principal-agent theory to stewardship theory, and from technical to social management control theory.We explore the characteristics which such a model of performance management might take in practice, and conclude by outlining a research agenda to explore the potential applications of this new approach.

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PurposeModern public service systems tackle many complex issues by operating across institutional boundaries. Performance management must operate in this context without clear lines of accountability or central authority. This paper introduces and develops the theoretical mechanism of “performance attraction” to describe how outcomes and associated performance indicators can operate as organising instruments in inter-institutional contexts by attracting, rather than directing, institutional behaviour.Design/methodology/approachWe explore the “performance attractor” role played by outcomes through a multiple case study analysis of three prominent outcomes frameworks operating at the regional, national and international levels: the Scottish Government's National Performance Framework, the Western Australian Alliance to End Homelessness Outcomes Measurement and Evaluation Framework and the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.FindingsWe find support for two theorised mechanisms facilitated by the performance attractor concept: (1) that performance attractors enable coordination by creating a shared sense of responsibility for interdependent goals while also permitting autonomous navigation of individual contexts and (2) that performance attractors support performance improvement by motivating collective learning and adaptation informed by institutional interdependencies. Cases relied primarily on voluntary adoption of outcomes frameworks, rather than utilising more coercive forms of accountability. Further studies should explore the institutional response to performance attractors to better understand the potential of this mechanism.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to a growing body of critical literature that has explored alternatives to traditional control-oriented performance management in complex and inter-institutional settings. We describe design principles that policymakers and practitioners can adopt to construct more effective performance frameworks in these conditions.

As public services face the limits of existing approaches to public management, emerging practices are highlighting the importance of continuous learning and service reform. While many approaches, methods and aids for learning exist, managers embracing complexity are making use of relational resources to scaffold their learning capacity-building. This article introduces the idea of 'learning partnerships': a set of nested learning relationships between public managers, consultants, and researchers and academics, which extends the literature on academic-practitioner collaborations and builds a relational mechanism for learning into the action learning action research (ALAR) and learning organization genres. IMPACTThis article describes why managers of public services who are engaged in reform should consider engaging in learning partnerships. The authors explain how this emerging approach provides important sources of reflexive practice to members of partnerships, including policy-makers, consulting firms, and academia; they show how these sectors can collaborate to build learning capacity across multiple stakeholders; as well as the dilemmas and dualisms involved.