基于和谐社会构建的政府绩效评估

政府绩效评估对政府行为具有显著的引导、激励、监督和咨询功能,绩效评估的指标体系和运作方式直接影响政府的行为目标及其对公共资源提取和分配的模式,对社会发展具有重要的导向作用。绩效评估指标体系和运作方式的不合理将会对经济社会的发展造成重大的影响,社会不和谐与政府绩效评估的错误导向密切相关。政府绩效评估应该构建以和谐社会为价值导向的指标体系,采取参与式的评估模式,有效地发挥政府在建构和谐社会中的核心作用和主导地位。     

Avoiding Theoretical Stagnation: A Systematic Review and Framework for Measuring Public Value

Public value theory has become a hot topic in public administration research, but its proponents have long recognised difficulties in empirically testing the theory's central propositions. There has been a lack of clarity about how to measure the extent to which organisations are generating public value, which has rendered researchers unable to quantitatively study the causes, consequences and correlates of public value. The current study systematically reviews the growing literature on public value measurement to identify, evaluate, and synthesise available measures. Through a qualitative synthesis of the themes present in published measures, we identify four key components for measuring public value that appear to be important across a range of policy and national contexts. Our review identifies a promising framework that could be used to structure a comprehensive measure of public value and, in doing so, provides a means to progress theoretical development and testing of the public value approach.     

Putting the Cart before the Horse: Accountability or Performance?

Conventional wisdom argues that a good set of performance measures builds accountability and that improved accountability generates better productivity in the organisation. By way of an analysis of a case study in one inland Chinese county, this article shows that the assumed relationship between performance and accountability is more rhetoric than real. In practice, the implementation of performance measurement in local China leads to an accountability paradox, in which enhanced accountability tends to hinder the improvement of government productivity. The implementation of the Chinese target-based responsibility system risks boosting the short term accountability of public employees while undermining the long term productivity of government agencies. With the deepening of China's market-oriented reform, this choice appears to put the cart before the horse.     

The convergent bribe

This essay is an analysis of drawing up a social menu based entirely on goods provided by the state. We make the unavoidable assumption that all voters vote for a specific menu combination on the argument used by J. K. Arrow to prove the voting paradox or voting impossibility. However, what is possible, though not inevitable, is to obtain a maximum or a second-best by allowing some groups to bribe others into accepting a given combination. This will lead to successive sequences of voting until the desired number of sub-combinations is reached. The bribes are thus purposeful, constituting a convergent ordinal chain.     

Austerity Policies,the UK State and the Energy Utilities: a Changing Paradigm or Business as Usual?

In 2008, the economic downturn coincided with a major shift in the energy sector paradigm. This state of emergency forced the UK government to try to steer the objectives of its major energy players. This crisis put the UK state's capacity to influence its mostly privately‐owned energy sector to the test. Using the example of energy utilities, this article aims to explore whether the austerity agenda impacted the relationship between the UK state and its public services. The purpose is to determine whether current multiple crises have forced the UK state to adopt an exceptionally interventionist approach that doesn't tally with the austerity agenda, or whether these crises merely revealed dynamics which had been underlying in the management of its energy utilities since the beginning of the neo‐liberal era.     

The industrial regulation： Experiences and lessons in China＇s telecommunication,electricity and public utilities

We trace the development of the regulatory policy in China＇s telecommunication, electricity and public utilities. We find that different characteristics of industry result in different policy evolution processes, different reform strength and methods, which lead to different effects. Some industries have just established the competitive structure, and some others have already formed sufficient competition. Reasons for these differences among industries include： regulatory promise, technical progress and substitutive competition. According to the analysis, the foundation of the regulatory system and the coordination of the regulators＇ behavior can improve the industrial regulation in China.     

How Organizational Identity Affects Hospital Performance: Comparing Predictive Power of Mission Statements and Sector Affiliation

Abstract

Organizational identity is an important concept in organizational theory, as it can contextualize the behavior of organizations and members. The literature presents divergent perspectives on organizational identity: some studies have characterized organizational identity as constrained by institutional forces, whereas others have contended it is socially constructed by organizational members. Studies have largely focused on the former perspective, measuring organizational identity by sector affiliation; the latter approach has rarely been empirically tested. Therefore, in addition to sector affiliation, this article proposes a different approach to operationalizing organizational identity by examining hospitals’ mission statements. The study also examines which of these dual forces have more predictive power regarding organizational performance. Together with hospitals’ sector affiliation, we test how the presence and frequency of mission statement language regarding access, cost, quality, or unique organizational values affect hospitals’ various performance metrics. Regression analyses with 172 acute hospitals in Florida reveal significant relationships between types of mission statement content, sectors, and performance indicators.     

西方组织绩效测量路径研究的演进及启示

自组织绩效作为独立的研究概念提出以来,西方学术界对组织绩效的研究经历了相当长的时间,积累了丰富的成果。通过梳理不同学派对组织绩效概念的认知差异,进一步归纳出了五类与各学派观点相对应的组织绩效测量路径。并通过分析这些路径在着眼点、前提假设等方面的区别,深入探讨了各类路径的优越性、局限性及其适用范围,总结了西方组织绩效研究的特点,以期为国内的相关研究提供参考。     

How is the Use of Performance Information Related to Performance of Public Sector Professionals? Evidence from the Field of Academic Research

There is inconclusive evidence as to how performance management is actually related to performance, particularly in subfields of the public sector where professional work prevails. We propose that the association between the use of performance information and performance of public sector professionals varies with the targets of management control. We test our hypotheses in the field of academic research, a prime example of professionalism in the public sector. The overall results of an online survey with 1,976 observations suggest that performance management is positively related to publication performance when performance information is used for the control of input targets. In contrast, we find negative associations of performance information with performance when used to control output targets. Public managers in professional fields should consider these countervailing relationships when they compose and use control systems.     

Grantmaking in a Disorderly World: The Limits of Rationalism

This article reflects on the real world relevance of rational approaches to grantmaking. The characteristics and environment of foundation work are outlined, then both traditional and newer funding practices are analysed. Unpacking implicit assumptions of a rational approach, eight costs to foundations and their grantees are identified. The final sections of the paper consider what grantmaking for a complex and disorderly world might encompass. In conclusion, while rational approaches to grantmaking provide a comfortable aura of certainty, funders need to adapt to a little discomfort.     

Cheaper,better, and more accountable? Twenty‐five years of prisons privatisation in Victoria

Twenty‐five years after the Kennett government began privatising prisons, Victoria has the world's highest proportion of prisoners in private prisons. When the privatisation project began, it was confidently expected that privately managed prisons would be cheaper, better, and more accountable than traditional public sector provision. This paper examines whether those anticipated benefits have been realised. In doing so, we assess system‐wide operating costs, specific measures of performance, and accountability of the prison system between 1992 and 2017. Using publicly available data, we conclude temporary lower costs occurred but have not been sustained. Similarly, performance improvements are mixed, and enhanced accountability is contested. Although the performance information now available on Victoria's prisons is superior to what was available in the pre‐privatisation era, successive Victorian governments have also overseen arrangements that severely curtail dissemination of such data. This has restricted the capacity of Parliament and the public not only to hold government to account for the operations of the prison system, but also to evaluate the efficacy and impact of the prisons privatisation project. We conclude a more definitive assessment will only be possible when current limitations on accessing performance and other data are lifted enabling greater public scrutiny of Victoria's prison system.     

THE COGNITIVE FOUNDATION OF A CO‐PRODUCTION APPROACH TO PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT: HOW DO OFFICIALS AND CITIZENS UNDERSTAND GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE IN CHINA?

In this article, we explore and discuss the implications and relevance of the concept of co‐production to the design of performance measures. Such a co‐production approach to performance management is grounded upon a conception of public management that emphasizes collective problem‐solving involving not only government officials but also citizens. We argue successful application of such an approach requires that both officials and citizens be cognizant of their role as co‐producers in the process of public service delivery. Whether such a cognitive basis exists in a particular context will affect the utility and viability of the co‐production approach and is an important question that needs to be addressed empirically. To illustrate the importance of the cognitive basis for co‐production, we have conducted an empirical analysis of data collected in a survey in three cities in China. Our analysis suggests that the officials and citizens in the sample generally do not recognize that public administration is a co‐production process involving the efforts of both officials and citizens. Yet, our analysis identifies a number of leverage points for building the cognitive basis. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.