Benchmarking and performance measurement in public sectors

Kouzmin, Alexander; Loeffler, Elke; Klages, Helmut and Korac-Kakabadse, Nada (1999). Benchmarking and performance measurement in public sectors. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 12(2) pp. 121–144.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/09513559910263462

Abstract

Given the prevailing emphasis on agency performance, customer focus, stakeholder's interests and other methods of assessment under new public administration and prevailing managerialism in many public sectors around the world, administrative practitioners have taken to benchmarking as an instrument for assessing organizational performance and for facilitating management transfer and learning from other benchmarked organizations. The introduction of benchmarking into the public sector is still in its early stages. Technical problems, scepticism about usefulness and the appropriateness of transferring putative private sector competencies into public administration and the resistance in accepting organizational change as a necessary consequence of benchmarking exercises in the public sector, prevent the widespread acceptance and use of benchmarking in public sectors, arguably "punch-drunk" with systemic change. Nevertheless, there are some encouraging examples of benchmarking within the public sector. This paper critically analyzes these examples in order to establish the vulnerability points of such measurement instruments which, possibly, need more research in order to establish the specific leaning dimensions to benchmarking and to illustrate the importance of such benchmarking and learning within the highly risky, information technology (IT)-driven experiences of systems development and failure.Given the prevailing emphasis on agency performance, customer focus, stakeholder's interests and other methods of assessment under new public administration and prevailing managerialism in many public sectors around the world, administrative practitioners have taken to benchmarking as an instrument for assessing organizational performance and for facilitating management transfer and learning from other benchmarked organizations. The introduction of benchmarking into the public sector is still in its early stages. Technical problems, scepticism about usefulness and the appropriateness of transferring putative private sector competencies into public administration and the resistance in accepting organizational change as a necessary consequence of benchmarking exercises in the public sector, prevent the widespread acceptance and use of benchmarking in public sectors, arguably "punch-drunk" with systemic change. Nevertheless, there are some encouraging examples of benchmarking within the public sector. This paper critically analyzes these examples in order to establish the vulnerability points of such measurement instruments which, possibly, need more research in order to establish the specific leaning dimensions to benchmarking and to illustrate the importance of such benchmarking and learning within the highly risky, information technology (IT)-driven experiences of systems development and failure.

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About

• Item ORO ID
• 86404
• Item Type
• Journal Item
• ISSN
• 0951-3558
• Extra Information
• Unmapped bibliographic data:
  M3 - Article [Field not mapped to EPrints]
  U2 - 10.1108/09513559910263462 [Field not mapped to EPrints]
  AN - SCOPUS:0005008710 [Field not mapped to EPrints]
  JO - International Journal of Public Sector Management [Field not mapped to EPrints]
• Keywords
• benchmarking; information technology; learning; performance assessment; quality assurance; self-assessment
• Academic Unit or School
• Faculty of Business and Law (FBL) > Business
  Faculty of Business and Law (FBL)
• Copyright Holders
• © 1999 MCB University Press
• Depositing User
• Elke Loeffler