Monitoring performance in the public sector

the long version

Monitoring Performance in the Public Sector is based on experiences derived from comparative analysis in different countries. It explains why there is interest in performance monitoring in a given setting, why it has failed or created uncertainties, and identifies criteria for improving its design and use. One of the challenges this book offers is the need to consider dimensions of performance beyond the traditional ones of economy, efficiency, and effectiveness. With an increasingly diverse, interdependent, and uncertain public sector environment, for some stake holders meeting objectives fixed some time ago may not be as important as the capacity to adapt to current and future change. In this vein, the contributors address a number of themes: the critical importance of organizational support for performance monitoring and making it consistent with the organizational culture; the need for active and effective leadership in defining criteria and implementing practical performance monitoring; the value of linking ongoing measurement with more than the traditional, strictly quantitative aspects of public sector performance. The editors conclude that performance monitoring is an increasingly complex environment and needs to expand its scope to include the three D's: the manager's capacity for diagnosis of new problems, design of new solutions, and development of their implementation. This book will be of deep interest to public managers, government officials, economists, and organization theorists.