Hardback
Handbook on Performance Management in the Public Sector
This timely Handbook examines performance management research specific to the public sector and its contexts, and provides suggestions for future developments in the field. It demonstrates the need for performance management to be reconceptualized as a core component of business both within and across organizations, and how it must be embedded in both strategic decision-making and as a day-to-day leadership and management practice in order to be effective.
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Critical Acclaim
Contributors
Contents
More Information
This timely Handbook examines performance management research specific to the public sector and its contexts, and provides suggestions for future developments in the field. It demonstrates the need for performance management to be reconceptualized as a core component of business both within and across organizations, and how it must be embedded in both strategic decision-making and as a day-to-day leadership and management practice in order to be effective.
Addressing multiple levels of analysis, the Handbook shows how performance management can enable high performance if governance, systems, organization and individual components are aligned. Written by an international team of both academics and practitioners, chapters offer insights into why changes in practice need to occur, how to make such changes possible, and what these changes require from a practical standpoint. The Handbook also highlights current limitations in public sector performance management and suggests new initiatives for performance management frameworks.
Scholars of public policy in human resources, administration and management looking for exemplary current research in these fields will find this Handbook invaluable. It will also be of interest to public administration and human resources practitioners looking to develop new practice and create new ways of thinking and behaving in the aftermath of global upheaval.
Addressing multiple levels of analysis, the Handbook shows how performance management can enable high performance if governance, systems, organization and individual components are aligned. Written by an international team of both academics and practitioners, chapters offer insights into why changes in practice need to occur, how to make such changes possible, and what these changes require from a practical standpoint. The Handbook also highlights current limitations in public sector performance management and suggests new initiatives for performance management frameworks.
Scholars of public policy in human resources, administration and management looking for exemplary current research in these fields will find this Handbook invaluable. It will also be of interest to public administration and human resources practitioners looking to develop new practice and create new ways of thinking and behaving in the aftermath of global upheaval.
Critical Acclaim
‘This is a timely and wide-ranging collection, bringing systems thinking and multi-level analysis to the framing and the analysis of performance management in public organizations. This is a valuable contribution, encouraging the reader to reflect continually on the purposes and goals of performance management in any particular context.’
– Jean Hartley, The Open University, UK
‘Performance is one of the core themes in contemporary public management. This Handbook offers a fascinating collection of perspectives on making performance management work. The contributions skillfully explain how performance management is not about compliance but about the engagement of people. The Handbook on Performance Management in the Public Sector is an essential next step in understanding how performance management can contribute to performance in governance institutions and volatile settings.’
– Wouter Van Dooren, University of Antwerp, Belgium
‘Managing performance is now center stage in business, but the public sector context is different and requires unique solutions. The authors in this Handbook, all experts in their fields, explain everything we need to know to get better at managing this essential task.’
– Peter Cappelli, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, US
– Jean Hartley, The Open University, UK
‘Performance is one of the core themes in contemporary public management. This Handbook offers a fascinating collection of perspectives on making performance management work. The contributions skillfully explain how performance management is not about compliance but about the engagement of people. The Handbook on Performance Management in the Public Sector is an essential next step in understanding how performance management can contribute to performance in governance institutions and volatile settings.’
– Wouter Van Dooren, University of Antwerp, Belgium
‘Managing performance is now center stage in business, but the public sector context is different and requires unique solutions. The authors in this Handbook, all experts in their fields, explain everything we need to know to get better at managing this essential task.’
– Peter Cappelli, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, US
Contributors
Contributors: B. Allen, R.S. Ayers, D. Blackman, F. Buick, A. de Waal, H. Dickinson, J. Drew, E. Eppel, M. French, K. Gardner, M. Glennie, J. Gunn, M. Hawkins, K. Hilyard, S. Johnson, E. Lindquist, P.J. Linker, M. London, T. Lowe, E.M. Mone, D. Moynihan, M. O''Donnell, J. O''Flynn, S. O''Neill, F.L.K. Ohemeng, S. Olney, M.L. Rhodes, J. Rooney, J. Taylor, D. van Meegen, R. Wilson, K. Zwickert
Contents
Contents:
1 Reinventing performance management in the public sector 1
Jane Gunn, Kristy Zwickert and Kathy Hilyard
PART I GOVERNANCE AND SYSTEMS: WHY PUBLIC SECTOR
PERFORMANCE RESEARCH APPROACHES ARE CHANGING
2 Not my problem: the impact of siloed performance management on
policy design and implementation 28
Sue Olney
3 Applying behavioural science to performance management 42
Donald Moynihan
4 Performance measures for governance systems 55
Sharron O’Neill and Jim Rooney
5 How can public service performance management be understood at
a systems level? 72
Karen Gardner
6 Causes of gaming in performance management 82
Jeannette Taylor
7 A test of wills? Exploring synecdoche and gaming in the national
literacy and numeracy performance monitoring regime 96
Joseph Drew and Janine O’Flynn
8 Managing the complexity of outcomes: a new approach to performance
measurement and management 111
Max French, Toby Lowe, Rob Wilson, Mary-Lee Rhodes and Melissa Hawkins
PART II ORGANIZATIONS AND EMPLOYEES: PERFORMANCE
MANAGEMENT AND CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT –
THE AGENDA OF THE FUTURE?
9 Prospects for more informal and continuous performance conversations
in the Australian Public Service 140
Michael O’Donnell
10 The changing nature of work: time to return to performance fundamentals? 152
Helen Dickinson and Janine O’Flynn
11 Assessing organization performance in public sector systems: lessons
from Canada’s MAF and New Zealand’s PIF 169
Barbara Allen, Evert Lindquist and Elizabeth Eppel
12 Making performance management work in developing countries
through system integration: the perspective from Ghana 185
Frank Louis Kwaku Ohemeng
13 The high performance government organization: a different approach to
effective improvement 209
André de Waal and Paul Jan Linker
14 Performance management and common purpose: rethinking solutions to
inter-organizational working 229
Fiona Buick
15 Who is accountable for capability development? 249
Samantha Johnson
16 Modern employee performance management in the U.S. Federal Government 259
Rebecca S. Ayers
17 Using performance management to drive employee engagement in the
public sector 276
Edward M. Mone and Manuel London
18 Designing performance management to be an ethical tool 294
Deborah Blackman, Fiona Buick and Michael O’Donnell
19 Conclusion to the Handbook on Performance Management in the Public Sector 308
Deborah Blackman, Fiona Buick, Karen Gardner, Miriam Glennie, Samantha
Johnson, Michael O’Donnell and Sue Olney
Index
1 Reinventing performance management in the public sector 1
Jane Gunn, Kristy Zwickert and Kathy Hilyard
PART I GOVERNANCE AND SYSTEMS: WHY PUBLIC SECTOR
PERFORMANCE RESEARCH APPROACHES ARE CHANGING
2 Not my problem: the impact of siloed performance management on
policy design and implementation 28
Sue Olney
3 Applying behavioural science to performance management 42
Donald Moynihan
4 Performance measures for governance systems 55
Sharron O’Neill and Jim Rooney
5 How can public service performance management be understood at
a systems level? 72
Karen Gardner
6 Causes of gaming in performance management 82
Jeannette Taylor
7 A test of wills? Exploring synecdoche and gaming in the national
literacy and numeracy performance monitoring regime 96
Joseph Drew and Janine O’Flynn
8 Managing the complexity of outcomes: a new approach to performance
measurement and management 111
Max French, Toby Lowe, Rob Wilson, Mary-Lee Rhodes and Melissa Hawkins
PART II ORGANIZATIONS AND EMPLOYEES: PERFORMANCE
MANAGEMENT AND CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT –
THE AGENDA OF THE FUTURE?
9 Prospects for more informal and continuous performance conversations
in the Australian Public Service 140
Michael O’Donnell
10 The changing nature of work: time to return to performance fundamentals? 152
Helen Dickinson and Janine O’Flynn
11 Assessing organization performance in public sector systems: lessons
from Canada’s MAF and New Zealand’s PIF 169
Barbara Allen, Evert Lindquist and Elizabeth Eppel
12 Making performance management work in developing countries
through system integration: the perspective from Ghana 185
Frank Louis Kwaku Ohemeng
13 The high performance government organization: a different approach to
effective improvement 209
André de Waal and Paul Jan Linker
14 Performance management and common purpose: rethinking solutions to
inter-organizational working 229
Fiona Buick
15 Who is accountable for capability development? 249
Samantha Johnson
16 Modern employee performance management in the U.S. Federal Government 259
Rebecca S. Ayers
17 Using performance management to drive employee engagement in the
public sector 276
Edward M. Mone and Manuel London
18 Designing performance management to be an ethical tool 294
Deborah Blackman, Fiona Buick and Michael O’Donnell
19 Conclusion to the Handbook on Performance Management in the Public Sector 308
Deborah Blackman, Fiona Buick, Karen Gardner, Miriam Glennie, Samantha
Johnson, Michael O’Donnell and Sue Olney
Index
