The History of Municipal Public Reporting

Lee, Mordecai

doi:10.1080/01900690500436982

Cited by 32 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…While this effort at first hand may seem like a technical detail, it is in fact the very core of the accountability role that performance data often is intended to serve: Enhancing this role requires a deep empirical understanding of how the public-at-large makes up their mind about public services when confronted with performance data (Lee 2006a;2006b). The findings here stress that the selection of reference points for benchmarking is fundamental to how citizens are affected by performance data.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Compared to What? How Social and Historical Reference Points Affect Citizens’ Performance Evaluations

Olsen

2017

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory

121

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Compared to What? How Social and Historical Reference Points Affect Citizens’ Performance Evaluations

Olsen

2017

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory

121

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“…Clarence Ridley, executive director of the International City Managers' Association (ICMA) (now the International City/County Management Association) and professor at the University of Chicago, published Measuring Municipal Government in 1927. In that same year, Leonard White published The City Manager , identifying the possible role conflicts between the city manager and city council regarding the issuing of performance reports (White 1927; Lee 2006). In 1938, the International City Managers' Association published a volume entitled Measuring Municipal Activities: A Survey of Suggested Criteria and Reporting Forms for Appraising Administration , which included fifty‐eight pages of performance measures (Ridley and Simon 1938).…”

Section: Origins Of Local Government Performance Measurementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 1938, the International City Managers' Association published a volume entitled Measuring Municipal Activities: A Survey of Suggested Criteria and Reporting Forms for Appraising Administration , which included fifty‐eight pages of performance measures (Ridley and Simon 1938). In 1953, Ridley reported that 188 local governments in the United States were issuing periodic performance reports to the lay public, a considerable increase from the twelve he noted in 1927 (cited in Lee 2006). From the 1950s to about 1990, interest in local government performance measurement and reporting generally waned.…”

Section: Origins Of Local Government Performance Measurementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From the 1950s to about 1990, interest in local government performance measurement and reporting generally waned. Mordecai Lee (2006) suggests that, in the U.S., the movement was undermined by a focus on efficiency measures that did not address the increasingly complex service and policy issues confronting local governments and the lack of interest on the part of key stakeholders (elected officials and interest groups). Driven by the local government reform movement, which had largely run its course, public reporting of performance results seemed to have also run its course.…”

Section: Origins Of Local Government Performance Measurementmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Joining public accountability and performance management: A case study of Lethbridge, Alberta

Hildebrand

McDavid

2011

Canadian Public Administration

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This article presents an in‐depth assessment of how performance measurement, public reporting, and internal performance management have been merged in Lethbridge, Alberta. Business‐unit managers and council members both share the view that performance measurement and reporting are useful and that performance information is credible. This finding contrasts with the more general view that performance information is not used much, despite widespread commitments to collecting it. In Lethbridge, a balance has been struck between performance measurement for management uses and council uses. The current system is driven by managers who share the view that performance measurement and reporting are useful for improving programs and providing information that can be a part of public accountability. If performance measurement is to add value in public‐sector organizations, it needs to have the continued support of managers – they are key to developing the measures, collecting the information and using it, and sustaining such systems. Changes that undermine the trust that is critical to a workable compromise for performance measurement, public reporting and performance management ultimately undermine the integrity of these systems.

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“…His books include Nixon's Super-secretaries: The Last Grand Presidential Reorganization Effort (2010), Bureaus of Efficiency: Reforming Local Government in the Progressive Era (2008) and Institutionalizing Congress and the Presidency: The US Bureau of Efficiency, 1916-1933(2006. He has also published numerous articles on governmental and NGO history, public relations and images in pop culture.…”

Section: Analysis and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

History of US public administration in the Progressive era

Lee

2011

Journal of Management History

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If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -Histories of American public administration during the Progressive era (1890-1920) tend to highlight the positive contributions of its major founders, skimming lightly over nativist, anti-democratic and racial writings. The purpose of this paper is to broaden the given narrative by setting the record straight regarding the latter writings of three major figures: Frederick Cleveland, Frank Goodnow and W.F. Willoughby. Not intended as an exercise in presentism, the goal is a more nuanced understanding of public administration history. This research approach can be used internationally by other management historians to examine cultural biases by other management theorists. Design/methodology/approach -Mainstream qualitative research techniques in management history and a close literary examination of lesser known and out-of-print writings. Economy and Efficiency (1910-1913) expressed nativist, racial and anti-democratic views in their published writings, before and after serving on the commission. These views are little known and need to be added to the given historical narrative. The three deemed that only limited populations were qualified to govern a democracy and provide efficient public administration to the masses. Research limitations/implications -Internationally, scholars can apply this approach to the forgotten or largely hidden publications of other key management theorists. Originality/value -Management histories of early American public administration have passed lightly over the works of its founders with nativist, racial and anti-democratic views. This has had the effect of sanitizing the historical record by ignoring publications that provide a fuller contextual understanding of the worldviews of these major figures. Findings -The three major public administration figures on President Taft's Commission on

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The History of Municipal Public Reporting

Cited by 32 publications

References 19 publications

Compared to What? How Social and Historical Reference Points Affect Citizens’ Performance Evaluations

Compared to What? How Social and Historical Reference Points Affect Citizens’ Performance Evaluations

Joining public accountability and performance management: A case study of Lethbridge, Alberta

History of US public administration in the Progressive era

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