Disparate Measures: Public Managers and Performance-Measurement Strategies

Abstract

problem of multiple measures and to explore the different types of performance feedback that managers may receive from each. Purposes, Types, and Selection of Performance Measures in the LiteratureRecent work on performance measurement has moved beyond early assessments of the prevalence and benefi ts of performance measurement to investigate the many purposes that these measures can be used for and the diff erent types of measures that managers may choose from. Th is work is both taxonomic in nature, attempting to provide more nuance to our classifi cations of performance measurements, and prescriptive, off ering advice on how to choose the right measure.

What is the Effect of Performance Measurement on Perceived Accountability Effectiveness in State and Local Government Contracts?

“…This may suggest a number of things: a lack of capacity to collect data and evaluate service quality (Gianakis 2002), poorly designed quality monitoring tools, as well as ambiguous, unsatisfying or contradictory information on service quality (Frederickson and Frederickson 2006;Kravchuk and Schack 1996;Nicholson-Crotty, Theobald, Nicholson-Crotty 2006;Radin 2006). The general performance measurement literature suggests that broad and ambiguous objectives of public programs often make it difficult to measure success, and they introduce political tradeoffs between multiple measures of quality, costs and others (Amirkhanyan, Kim and Lambright 2008;Blasi 2002;Callahan and Kloby 2007;Frederickson and Frederickson 2006;Kravchuk and Schack 1996).…”

Enhancing Project Funding Decision Quality

“…For example, items suggested to assess the "Specific" dimension include: "target benefits were assigned a target value (e.g. 10% decrease in road fatalities)" adopted and modified from Breese (2012), Ward and Daniel (2006), and Zwikael and Smyrk (2012); and "target benefits were assigned measures that are consistent with those measuring similar benefits across the organization", adopted and modified from Nicholson-Crotty et al (2006). However, due to the large number of dimensions and the fact that two dimensions consisted of only a single item, factors were consolidated (Zikmund, Babin, Carr and Griffin 2010).…”

Solving the Labour Problem Among Professional Workers in the UK Public Sector: Organisation Change and Performance Management

“…New Labour's agenda for public services is essentially premised on neo-liberal ideals (Bach and Della Rocca 2000;Nicholson-Crotty et al 2006) and, underpinning this, there is an inherent belief in the benefits of "strong" managers-cum-leaders to deliver performance improvements rooted in ideological unitarism that managers (and not "professional workers") know and do best. Central to contemporary NPM ideology then is that managers, rather than professionals are best placed to define service delivery standards given that 'for the marketisers, the professional, public service ethic is a con' used by self-interested professionals 'to force the price of their labour above its market value' (Marquand 2005 p.3).…”