IMPACT OF PRODUCTIVITY MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS ON MUNICIPAL PERFORMANCE |
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| Authors: | Robert P McGowan Theodore H Polster |
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| Institution: | ROBERT P. McGOWAN is an Assistant Professor of Management at the University of Denver. His teaching and research interests are in the areas of public policy, business-government relations, and public management;had he has previously published in such journals as Public Administration Review, Public Productivity Review, and Policy Studies Review.;THEODORE H. POISTER i s an Associate Professor of Public Administration at The Pennsylvania State University. His principal interests are in applied-research methodology, urban management, and transportation policy. He i s the author of Public Program Analysis: Applied Research Methods and coauthor of Applied Program Evaluation in Local Government (Lexington Books, 1979), and his articles have appeared in Transportation Research Record and Traffic Quarterly as well as Public Administration Review, Journal of Criminal Justice, Public Productivity Review, and Evaluation Heview. |
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| Abstract: | Recently, a challenge to the use of traditional productivity and performance measurement tools has emerged. The focus of this debate i s whether such tools are instrumental for making critical trade-off decisions or program changes. In a nationwide survey of municipalities on this subject, the authors found that performance measurement systems are used across a number of service-related functions. While their perceived contribution to overall municipal performance tended to diminish for Individual worker productivity and morale concerns, the respondents–on balance-viewed the returns from performance measurement systems as worth the costs. The work concludes with several implications for possible adoption. |
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