Performance Management, Evaluation and Learning in 'Modern' Local Government

Public sector reforms throughout OECD member states are producing a new model of 'public governance' embodying a more modest role for the state and a strong emphasis on performance management. In the UK, the development of performance management in the context of the 'new public management' has been primarily 'top-down' with a dominant concern for enhancing control and 'upwards account-ability' rather than promoting learning and improvement. The development of performance management and evaluation in local government in the UK has been conditioned by external pressures, especially reforms imposed by central government, which have encouraged an 'instrumental–managerial' focus on performance measurement. The new Labour government's programme of 'modernizing local government' places considerable emphasis on performance review and evaluation as a driver of continuous improvement in promoting Best Value. However, recent research has indicated that the capacity for evaluation in local government is uneven and many obstacles to evaluation exist in organizational cultures. Local authorities need to go beyond the development of review systems and processes to ensure that the capacity for evaluation and learning is embedded as an attribute of 'culture' in order to achieve the purpose of Best Value.     

Performance Management,Evaluation and Learning in ‘Modern’ Local Government

Public sector reforms throughout OECD member states are producing a new model of ‘public governance’ embodying a more modest role for the state and a strong emphasis on performance management. In the UK, the development of performance management in the context of the ‘new public management’ has been primarily ‘top‐down’ with a dominant concern for enhancing control and ‘upwards account‐ability’ rather than promoting learning and improvement. The development of performance management and evaluation in local government in the UK has been conditioned by external pressures, especially reforms imposed by central government, which have encouraged an ‘instrumental–managerial’ focus on performance measurement. The new Labour government's programme of ‘modernizing local government’ places considerable emphasis on performance review and evaluation as a driver of continuous improvement in promoting Best Value. However, recent research has indicated that the capacity for evaluation in local government is uneven and many obstacles to evaluation exist in organizational cultures. Local authorities need to go beyond the development of review systems and processes to ensure that the capacity for evaluation and learning is embedded as an attribute of ‘culture’ in order to achieve the purpose of Best Value.     

Rational Management, Performance Targets and Executive Agencies: Views from Agency Chief Executives in Northern Ireland

The way in which central government services are delivered in both Britain and Northern Ireland has changed significantly since 1988. Executive Agencies have been created with the aim of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery, with changes being supported by an increasing focus on the rational management model as a basis for improving management in the public sector. This paper is a case study of nine agencies within the Northern Ireland 'family of agencies' and is the first study of its type in the UK. It presents the results of a series of interviews with agency Chief Executives that attempted to identify perceptions with respect to the development, use and impact of mission statements, objectives, targets and performance measures (components of a rational management approach). The main findings of the research include: Northern Ireland Chief Executives perceive an increased focus on quantification since agencification; this focus is viewed as helpful in providing a basis for improving management; systems in practice are considered to be much more flexible than a rigid management model would normally suggest; and, it is thought that the potential adverse consequences of such an approach can be managed.     

Corruption,Taxation and Natural Resource Management in Tanzania

Democratic decentralisation of natural resource management requires careful attention to the distribution of power, devolved accountability and institutional design. However, even if all these elements are well crafted, failures in efficiency, equity and service delivery are possible because of the way institutions of government are lived out in the practice of day-to-day life. This paper presents a detailed account of the performance of local government in Tanzania. It demonstrates remarkable deficiencies in the workings of local government taxation and service delivery, despite the well structured, downwardly accountable nature of local government. It considers the implications of these failures for calls for community-based conservation, and the importance of good institutional design in effective decentralisation.     

Irrigation and Water Management in Turkmenistan: Past Systems,Present Problems and Future Scenarios

FOR THE FORMER SOVIET REPUBLIC OF TURKMENISTAN agriculture is the single most important economic activity in that more than 40% of the population is directly in its employ. For a greater number of people it represents a major secondary income source, which in the economic crisis of the post-independence period has assumed even greater significance. With agriculture in Turkmenistan being almost totally dependent on irrigation, access to water is essential and the control and management of the region's water resources has long been an important factor in Turkmen history. Archaeological and historical records indicate that the amount of land irrigated in the region has varied considerably over time. During periods of political stability, often when a single polity ruled over the area, irrigation flourished, but declined after periods of invasion or when internal political conditions were unstable. It was during the 70 years that Turkmenistan was part of the Soviet Union, however, that the region's irrigation network reached its greatest extent with the construction of huge, highly integrated systems which allowed large tracts of desert to be cultivated. But what are the implications of the collapse of the Soviet Union for irrigated agriculture in Central Asia? Will there be, as has been seen in the past, a decline in irrigation now that there is no longer centralised management and funding or can Turkmenistan buck the trend and maintain its irrigation network which is so essential to the republic's economy? In this article we assess the impact of the break-up of the Soviet Union on water management strategies in Turkmenistan. In particular we focus on the Karakum canal, which is the world's largest irrigation canal and feeds an area of approximately one million hectares. The problems of managing such a system are highlighted and some of the different ways in which future management may be directed are discussed.     

Analysing credit risk in large local governments: an empirical study in Spain

In governments throughout the world, bank lending excesses, solvency issues and worsening credit ratings have all contributed to raising risk premiums and impeding access to credit, thus provoking a major financial problem in the public sector. Accordingly, tax authorities and regulators need to analyse the causes of public sector bank debt, doing so through the joint study of idiosyncratic and systematic variables, an area that has been neglected in previous research. This paper examines idiosyncratic and systematic factors that may influence local government credit risk through an empirical study of the performance of 148 large Spanish municipalities during 2006–2011. We identify individual factors relevant to the probability of local government default (such as dependent population, per capita income and debt composition) and also determinants associated with macroeconomic developments, such as gross domestic product and the risk premium.     

City Management in the United States and Norway: A Comparative Analysis of Professional Orientations

This analysis examines the effects of political culture on the nature and practice of professional local government management by comparing the structures, responsibilities, and relationships of city administrative executives in the democratic countries of the United States and Norway. The findings suggest that, despite fundamental differences in societal institutions and settings, American and Norwegian city managers serve similar roles in their respective local government organizations. However, the notable variations in the processes of municipal management identified between the two nations appear to reflect the contextual influence of divergent political foundations on the operational environment of professional public administrators.     

Turnaround Management Strategies in Local Authorities: Not Only for Poor Performers

In the past four decades, UK government policymakers have sought to improve the performance of local government by trying to achieve organisational turnaround and bring laggards up to the standards achieved by the leaders. Both the Conservative Party and New Labour led new public management reforms aimed at modernizing and improving local government authorities by adopting standards from the private sector. Given the pressure to improve, failing local authorities have been pushed to adopt a unique set of strategies known as turnaround management strategies (TMS). However, this paper, based on qualitative data and a survey of 126 senior local leaders, shows that TMS have been implemented to a high extent among both poor and excellent performers. The paper concludes that regardless of their objective performance ranking, English local authorities are characterised by a self-perception of underachievement. As a result, high performers continuously implement radical changes.     

Contract Management from the Perspectives of Bureaucrats and Contractors: A Case Study of Hong Kong

New Public Management (NPM) encourages private sector participation in the provision and delivery of public services through outsourcing. Bureaucrats and contractors assess the values, processes, and outcomes of contract management differently. This study adopts transaction cost economics (TCE), the resource-based view (RBV), and the principal–agent theory to analyze Hong Kong bureaucrats’ and contractors’ views on contract management. It finds that both groups are critical of the existing contract management system in Hong Kong. The study shows that the government’s neglect of the risks is causing transaction costs because it lacks a proper monitoring mechanism, two-way communication channels, and appropriate training, and because of contract complications and issues of accountability. There is insufficient proof to assert that the government purposefully conceals these risks, but they are not properly addressed.     

Strategizing Public Sector Human Resource Management: The Implications of Working in Networks

Networks have come to the fore as a means by which government can achieve its strategic objectives, particularly when addressing complex or “wicked” issues. Such joined-up arrangements differ in their operations from other forms of organizing as they require collaborative effort to deliver the collaborative advantage. Strategic Human Resource Management is concerned with the matching of human resource practices to the strategic direction of organizations. It is argued that the strategic direction of government has been towards network involvement and that, as a result, a reconfiguration of Human Resource Management practices is needed to support this new direction. Drawing on eight network case studies findings are presented in relation to the roles government is expected to play in networks and conclusions are drawn about what types of human resource management practices would best support those roles. Implications for Strategic Human Resource Management are posited.     

Trust Management in the Finnish Ministries: Evaluation of Management Systems

Abstract

Our purpose was to find out to what extent civil servants—managers, specialists, and experts—in 13 Finnish ministries have confidence in their management systems. We defined trust as a kind of deep sentiment, more fundamental than mere acceptance, satisfaction or legitimacy. Trust and mistrust are strong motivators for cooperation and collaboration. They are logical outcomes of social interaction in terms of management systems and context. We found out that civil servants are more likely to trust management if it acts professionally with no emphasis on political factors. Ministers, for instance, can efficiently earn their trust with administrative experience and behavior norms. Our analysis showed that there are both well‐trusted and ill‐trusted components in management systems implicating that management must be the object of continuous development. As a whole civil servants have more confidence in work community than in strategy, structure, people policies, and administrative processes of the ministries.     

A behavioral view on responsibility attribution in multi-level governance: Upward and downward responsibility attribution in response to performance below aspirations

Multi-level governance systems provide decision-makers with many avenues for external responsibility attribution in response to lacking performance. This study provides a behavioral perspective that examines responsibility attribution to the national government (upward) and policy implementers (downward) as a function of performance relative to decision-makers' aspiration levels. The study proposes that perceived accountability increases the propensity of external responsibility attribution, and that decision-makers' political alignment to actors on other governance levels explains when responsibility is deflected upwards or downwards. Using a survey experiment that presents factual information on youth care overspending to 1086 elected local government officials, the study finds consistent evidence that performance below aspirations increases upward responsibility attribution. Accountability strengthens responsibility attribution for negative performance downward to policy implementers. Finally, responsibility is attributed upward less frequently by decision-makers who are politically aligned with the national government, but information that signals performance below aspirations attenuates this tendency.     

Revitalizing Local Government Performance Management: Further Dissecting the Role of Socioeconomic Status and Social Mobilization Policy

ABSTRACT

This article examines how socio-economic status and social mobilisation are linked to local government performance management in Nepal. As part of local government reform, Nepal adopted a social mobilisation policy in selected local governments to empower communities for their effective participation. Our results show that socio-economic status and social mobilisation have a significant relationship with performance management. Female literacy, for example, is strongly and significantly associated with performance management, while area has a significant positive relationship but population has only a weak positive relationship. In contrast, poverty has a significant negative correlation. More importantly, mobilisation has a significant, though modest, positive association with performance management particularly in participatory planning and budgeting, fiscal discipline, and administrative management. This indicates that improving the socio-economic status of citizens and their mobilisation for empowered collective action can be one important strategy to improve the performance capacity of local government.     

Inside the Matrix: Integrating the Paradigms of Intergovernmental and Network Management

Abstract

The basic research concepts of intergovernmental and network management are examined with regard to blending the two into a unified theory of collaborative management. A substantial literature in both fields has emerged and is ripe for conceptually enhancing interorganizational management in the public sector. The collaborative management concepts forwarded emanate from the authors' comprehensive study of collaborative public management in 237 cities. The major concerns that are found to be ready for knowledge unification include: (1) multiple network complexity and the emergence of governance through policy networks, (2) strategic behavior and its implementation through networks, (3) the role of government institutions in network governance, and (4) the use of myriad policy instruments and multiorganizational activity. Each of these research arenas are representative of the kind of knowledge base that can be blended and extended to help public managers understand how to operate in the vertical/horizontal matrix of intergovernmental network management.     

Increasing Access to Services for Limited English Proficient Persons

Abstract

Recent federal policy initiatives highlight requirements for all United States federal agencies and all recipients of federal funding to proactively accommodate the LEP populations they serve. However, many of the agencies and organizations that receive federal funds are unaware of this obligation or have not taken action to comply with it. Implementing these initiatives, especially in an era of fiscal constraints, poses significant management challenges for public agencies. Local government entities, advocates and community organizations share an obligation to ensure effective access to LEP populations, and can reap mutual benefits through coordinated efforts to do so.     

Management by Measurement? Public Management Practices Amidst Ambiguity

In the public sphere, a management by measurement (MBM) movement can be traced. Practitioners attempt to strengthen the transparency and effectiveness of administrative systems by introducing rational measurement cycles. When issues are managed, ambitions must be stated, options must be assessed, optimal options must be chosen and performance must be monitored and evaluated. This cycle rests upon assumptions that are often untenable. When issues are ambiguous, interpretative spaces exist; when interpretative spaces exist, strict measurement cycles do not work because required conditions and assumptions cannot be met. This article explores the nature of interpretative spaces by identifying three types of public management practice. In this typology of public management, practices differ in terms of the extent to which issues can be classified, as well as the extent to which standards are contested. Management by measurement fits canonical practices where issues are known and standards are shared, it is argued, but is less appropriate for evaluating non-canonical practices and practices-in-transition where such a classification of issues is weak and consensus on standard is absent. MBM focuses on data; the other practices require dialogue in order to manage ambiguity and interpretative spaces.     

Value-For-Money Audit for Accountability and Performance Management in Local Government in Ghana

Public sector organizations, including local government (LG) entities, continue to resort to value for money (VFM) audit to enhance performance and accountability. Based on the analysis of the consolidated reports on the annual performance-based Functional Organizational Assessment Tool (FOAT)—VFM audit—in Ghana to determine the efficacy of VFM on performance, this article argues that VFM audits constitute a significant public management tool that could enhance LG performance. However, the FOAT reports, like most VFM audits, only provide quantitative evidence, which fails to capture the qualitative or other relevant explanatory factors behind the recorded performance improvement.     

Effects of local government social media use on citizen compliance during a crisis: Evidence from the COVID-19 crisis in China

Improving citizen compliance is a major goal of public administration, especially during crises. Although social media are widely used by government agencies across the globe, it is still unclear that whether the use of social media can help local governments improve citizen compliance especially during crises. Based on an original daily panel dataset of 189 cities in China during COVID-19, this study provides empirical evidence for the positive effect that crisis-related social media posts published by local government agencies has on citizen compliance. In addition, this effect is mediated by the topic of prevention measures in social media posts, and is stronger in cities with higher GDP per capita, better educated citizens and wider internet coverage. The findings imply that social media is an efficient and low-cost tool to assist local government agencies to achieve public administration objectives during crises, and its efficacy is largely dependent on regional socioeconomic status.     

A ‘Fruitless Obsession with Accuracy’: The Uses of Sensemaking in Public Sector Performance Management

Sensemaking provides a framework for understanding and interpreting managers' working lives, based on a thorough critique of rational choice models. It refutes rational choice, and aims not to predict, prove or control but simply to explain: the making of sense. This article, based on the author's original prizewinning MBA thesis, presents research undertaken in 2005–2006 on the uses of sensemaking in understanding local government organisations' contrasting experiences of performance management systems: an internal system in Canadian city government, and an externally-imposed system in the form of the now abandoned Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) in British local government. Key literature utilised includes social and organisational psychologist Karl Weick, British complexity theorists such as Ralph Stacey, and a literature on the politics of organisational behaviour (such as Guy Peters et al.). A critique of rational choice and summary of sensemaking precedes an account of phenomenological case study research across two countries, undertaken using ethnographic field methods. The author argues that using sensemaking to understand performance management systems provides a further imperfect means of making sense of inherent organisational equivocality. These systems are radically interpreted as devices for making sense of experience in organisations in which human behaviour cannot be expected to be forever accurately predicted and controlled. Conclusions with enduring relevance for practising managers are presented on the personal, tactical, methodological and philosophical ‘uses’ of sensemaking in managers' working lives.     

Transparency Pays? Evaluating the Effects of the Freedom of Information Laws on Perceived Government Corruption

About 90 countries have adopted Freedom of Information (FOI) laws with the objective of facilitating citizens’ right to access information on government activities expeditiously. It is argued that FOI laws increase transparency and fix accountability of the government. We provide quantitative evidence on the impact of FOI laws on perceived government corruption. Using panel data for 132 countries over the 1990–2011 period, we find that adopting FOI laws after controlling for self-section bias, is associated with an increase in perceived government corruption driven by an increase in detection of corrupt acts. In fact, FOI laws appear to increase the perception of government corruption if combined with a higher degree of media freedom, presence of NGO activism and political competition. However, the perception of government corruption tends to decline with the duration of FOI law adoption. These findings are robust to controlling for endogeneity using instrumental variables, alternative samples and estimation methods.