A combination of conceptual and practical applications with an emphasis on cutting-edge practices in the US and abroad, this text represents the most notable examples of performance measurement in Canada, Latin America and Eastern Europe, and supports the integration of theory and practice, with linked chapters.

"The orientation of this text, the variety of applications examined, and the grouping of chapters around concepts such as the role of citizens, quality measurement, and performance budgeting makes this an ideal book for the classroom as well as for reference." —PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW The International Handbook of Practice-Based Performance Management presents the latest scholarship in performance measurement strategies in the field of evaluation. This important resource combines cutting-edge theory and practice of performance management in the United States and abroad. The book includes contributions from internationally known scholars and practitioners who present chapters that introduce the literature on key topics and provide clear guidance on practical skill building. Key Features: Offers an international perspective: Though most of the chapters deal with performance measurement in the United States, the text represents the most notable examples of performance measurement in Canada, Latin America, Asia, Oceania, and Europe. Integrates theory and practice: The book′s unique structure links literature-based conceptual knowledge with the lessons from practice and specific applied skills. Puts theoretical discussions into context: Case examples and lessons learned connect concepts to the real world while discussion questions allow for further deliberation. Intended Audience An excellent addition to any academic library, this resource is ideal for practitioners, academics, and researchers in public administration, non-profit organizations, management, public policy, health care services administration, and health care planning and policy. It can also be used as a text for graduate courses such as Performance Management, Management Reforms, International Performance Management, and Performance Improvement in Public Administration.

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.

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.

New edition of a classic guide to ensuring effective organizational performance Thoroughly revised and updated, the second edition of Managing and Measuring Performance in Public and Nonprofit Organizations is a comprehensive resource for designing and implementing effective performance management and measurement systems in public and nonprofit organizations. The ideas, tools, and processes in this vital resource are designed to help organizations develop measurement systems to support such effective management approaches as strategic management, results-based budgeting, performance management, process improvement, performance contracting, and much more. The book will help readers identify outcomes and other performance criteria to be measured, tie measures to goals and objectives, define and evaluate the worth of desired performance measures, and analyze, process, report, and utilize data effectively. Includes significant updates that offer a more integrated approach to performance management and measurement Offers a detailed framework and instructions for developing and implementing performance management systems Shows how to apply the most effective performance management principles Reveals how to overcome the barriers to effective performance management Managing and Measuring Performance in Public and Nonprofit Organizations identifies common methodological and managerial problems that often confront managers in developing performance measurement systems, and presents a number of targeted strategies for the successful implementation of such systems in public and nonprofit organizations. This must-have resource will help leaders reach their organizational goals and objectives.

The Local Government Development Framework (LGDF) is a local governance performance measurement and monitoring tool based on government-citizen collaboration. Developed by RTI International, the LGDF provides for the establishment of demand-driven benchmarks and participatory assessments for the improvement of local governance, service delivery in particular. The paper presents the development-project origins of the LGDF beginning in the 1980s, comparatively examines LGDF’s strengths and weaknesses, and provides a step-by-step discussion of its utilization. Four developing countries in which the LGDF has been applied serve as examples. The LGDF involves, first, the establishment of performance benchmarks for the priority functions of the local government. Second, local officials and community stakeholders come together to collaboratively assess and score progress toward achieving the benchmarks. Third, local officials working with stakeholders develop action plans for achieving priority objectives. Finally, the process is regularly repeated to identify areas of improvement and future capacity-building needs. Successful implementation of the LGDF, we conclude, requires leadership, well-aligned political incentives, proper design and implementation, and dedication to the process. Yet it has withstood the test of time and proven to be an effective tool for bringing government together with the community to achieve local development objectives.

The present study exploratively investigated the role of organizational culture in performance management practices in Kenyan higher education institutions. Specifically, the influence of organizational culture on the purpose and extent to which performance information is used was explored. Qualitative interviews were conducted followed by quantitative surveys, which were filled out by teaching and non-teaching staff in various universities in Kenya. The findings provide evidence of linkages between performance information use, diversity of measure and organizational culture. It has been established that, depending on whether flexibility or control values are dominant in the culture of an institution; performance information is used in varying ways. Institutions where flexibility values were dominant in their organizational cultures used performance information for attention focus, monitoring and decision making to a higher extent than universities where control values were dominant. Institutions where Flexibility values were dominant also showed a more diverse set of performance measures than in those where control values were dominant.

In times of rising expectations and decreasing resources for the public sector, performance management is high on the agenda. Increasingly, the value of the performance management systems themselves is under scrutiny, with more attention being paid to the effectiveness of performance management in practice. This new edition has been revised and updated to examine: performance in the context of current public management debates, including emerging discussions on the New Public Governance and neo-Weberianism; the many definitions of performance and how it has become one of the most contested agendas of public management; the so-called perverse effects of using performance indicators; the technicalities of performance measurement in a five step process: prioritising measurement, indicator development, data collection, analysis and reporting; and the future challenges and directions of performance management Performance Management in the Public Sector 2nd edition offers an approachable insight into a complex theme for practitioners and public management students alike.

Public Budgeting in African Nations aims to provide usable budgeting and fiscal policy management information to development practitioners interested in improving the performance of governments in the context of good governance. It shares regional and cross-cultural experiences with international audiences and gives reflective attention to comparative budgeting and fiscal policy management. With a promising economic and fiscal forecast, such information is timely for international development practitioners and for scholars and researchers interested in advancing development management. This book adopts an interdisciplinary/pragmatic approach to analyze and present research findings on public budgeting as a sustainable development tool. The central argument is that development practice will benefit from a bottom-up, decentralized approach to budgeting and fiscal policy management, involving national, sub-national, and civil society institutions. From this perspective, a balanced budget should draw from and reflect values and priorities across the full spectrum of social and political life.

Public Administration Evolving: From Foundations to the Future demonstrates how the theory and practice of public administration has evolved since the early decades of the twentieth century. Each chapter approaches the field from a unique perspective and describes the seminal events that have been influential in shaping its evolution. This book presents major trends in theory and practice in the field, provides an overview of its intellectual development, and demonstrates how it has professionalized. The range from modernism to metamodernism is reflected from the perspective of accomplished scholars in the field, each of whom captures the history, environment, and development of a particular dimension of public administration. Taken together, the chapters leave us with an understanding of where we are today and a grounding for forecasting the future.