Public Management and Administration - Owen E.hughes

given to respectability (read good connections), reliability (reputation for avoiding innovation),
seniority (length of routine service), and group conformity. Such traits might
have suited the tempo of past times but they need to be transformed to meet today’s needs
and to prepare for tomorrow’s surprises.
In the best public services this transformation is indeed happening and there is
certainly no real possibility of returning to the rigidity of the past. But it is also
the case that the transition period has been difficult for many public servants.
The public sector is a difficult place to work at the best of times. Poor morale
may be endemic or, at least, hard to combat. The public service is likely to be
much smaller, although it will probably have to offer higher salaries to compete
for the scarce, competent staff it will need. Such a service might be much
better, but trying to improve the perception of outsiders and to recover some
respect from the community at large will be much more difficult.
Performance management
Personnel and Performance Management 157
By any standard, performance management in the traditional model of administration
was inadequate, and this applies to both the performance of individuals
and the organization. Measures which did exist were ad hoc and far from
systematic. It is true that there are difficulties in measuring performance in the
public sector when compared to the private sector, but it seemed that little effort
was made. Perhaps it was assumed that results would follow from bureaucratic
organization, so that any explicit measure was unnecessary. There was often no
idea what was produced, how well it was produced, who was to take the praise
or blame, or even who was a good worker. In any case, an administrator does
not need to worry about performance as all he or she is doing is carrying out
instructions, and performance measurement is the problem of those giving the
instructions. Evaluation of programmes or people was infrequent and inadequate,
with no idea of progress towards objectives, if indeed there were any
clear objectives.
Reforms to performance management are a particularly important part of the
managerial programme. Agencies in many parts of government are now
expected to develop ‘performance indicators’, that is, some way of measuring
the progress the organization has made towards achieving declared objectives.
Statistical measures can be developed in any organization, although there are
more difficulties in practice in the public sector than usually experienced in the
private sector. Performance of staff is also to be measured more systematically
than before. The performance appraisal system aims to measure the performance
of individual staff, even to the extent of defining the key contributions
expected over the year, which are then compared with actual achievement at
the end of the year. This can extend to rewarding or sanctioning staff according
to progress towards agreed objectives. Informal methods of appraisal
are considered to be ineffective and lead to inferior organizational outcomes.