Challenging the Performance Movement: Accountability, Complexity, and Democratic Values

Radin, B. A. (2006). Challenging the Performance Movement: Accountability, Complexity, and Democratic Values. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.

CHAPTER 1

The Ubiquitous Nature of Performance

Citizens are growing more skeptical about the quality of work produced by various institutions in our society. Performance measurement strategies have been put in to place, creating formal processes that determine if the goals of the program have been achieved effectively and efficiently. Traditional effectiveness in organization has been measured by evaluating the inputs and the activities and process utilizing these inputs to produce specific outputs. A shift has been made in contemporary society; the focus is now on outcomes. Despite the inherent problems with this (often, outcome measurement is hard to do, especially in the public sector because the "complexity of public action frequently involves a range of actors with different agendas and conflicting values operating within a fragmented decision process (pp 2)".

In this volume, several paradoxes are addressed, including the fact that citizens are concerned with the outcomes of policies and programs at the hands of public officials, yet they recognize the need for these officials, since they have the specialized knowledge necessary to maneuver through politics. As the author put is, "it is difficult to criticize these specialist and yet rely on them to deliver a service or implement a policy (pp 2)".

This book unravels three paradoxes: 1) Ambiguous rhetoric turned into formal process; 2) An emphasis on undesirable outcomes; 3) A critical stance on officials and professionals but ultimately relying on them. Further, the author also outlines three agendas that the current analytical approaches evaluation is not equipped to disentangle include the following. 1) Eliminate programs and blame bureaucrats and program officials for problems; 2) Find ways to modify programs, arguing that what worked in the past does not work today and will likely not work in future environments; 3) Performance information will allow certain individuals to make a case for their won programs and respond effectively with that data to those to whom they are accountable. The method of this book is not to follow traditional literature supports performance measurement, nor does it argue against, but attempt to discuss performance measurement in a broader context. This book offers a "cautionary tone" theorizing that performance measurement may not be effective at producing the expected results and the traditional methods are not nuanced enough to address a variety of situations.

CHAPTER 2

The Performance Mindset

This chapter contrasts the traditional methods of performance measurements with an alternative perspectives