Performance-Based Management Systems

Expectations for performance management systems continue to grow in the public sector. Yet few administrators know how to effectively implement and sustain these systems. Performance-Based Management Systems: Effective Implementation and Maintenance supports practical efforts to build and maintain performance management systems in public organizations, explaining obstacles to measurement efforts and providing guidance on how to overcome them. The book begins by exploring performance measurement as a key element of performance-based management systems. It discusses its legacy and its limitations and offers competing explanations of the factors that constrain its effective use. Next, it focuses on building theory in support of practice through a mixed methods approach. It examines research reconciling the conflicting explanations for the lack of proper use of performance measurement information. Then it offers new insights for developing a context-sensitive model of performance measurement that can lead to effective practices. The third part develops these insights into a pragmatic model of performance-based management. It provides a realistic explanation of the contributions of performance measurement and gives advice derived from current practice. The author concludes by highlighting the rationale, methods, and findings of two studies that served as the foundation for this book. She also provides final suggestions of how to move practice and theory forward. This volume explains why performance measurement is not more widely used in the public sector, and explores how implementation of performance measurement can be improved with insights gained from extant literature on public policy, organizational politics and culture, and knowledge utilization. Mastery of this material will enable practitioners to understand how to effectively implement policies that will positively impact their organizations and their employees.