Managing for Organisational Performance (M4P)

A former senior minister commented “no-one in their right mind would rely on the formal accountability documents of central government agencies.” What explains the poor quality of performance information and the lack of any significant progress on outcomes focussed management systems in New Zealand after nearly 20 years of reforms? These questions are to be examined in a project commissioned by Public Service Chief Executives under the Emerging Issues Programme (EIP) based on a partnership between Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) and the public service. The core research team consists of researchers from School of Government at Victoria University academics and public sector practitioners: Derek Gill (project leader), Rob Laking, Bill Ryan, Rodney Dormer, David MacDonald, Richard Norman, Rose Anne McLeod, Lynley Hutton, Susan Hitchiner and Tyson Schmidt. The project runs from June 2008 to August 2009.
Project overview

The Managing for Performance (M4P) project aims to fill the current lacunae in understanding what information decision-makers (whether front-line managers or head office analysts) rely on for assessing performance and taking action in the New Zealand state sector. It seeks to identify what information public managers really use and explore how this relates to the form system. Better understanding of the real system in use will enable exploration of whether the present formal system can be enhanced to get closer to a requisite system of the real information needs of key information users.

The point of departure for the research was published in the Controller and Auditor General’s (C&AG’s) June 2008 discussion paper on performance reporting in central and local government. Despite statutory requirements for nearly 20 years for information on outcomes and non-financial performance measures, the quality of the public information on performance has been politely described as uneven and disappointing. The C&AG’s work highlights that while the quality of financial information and the quality of the systems is satisfactory, non-financial information is not supported by robust systems and the quality is patchy at best.

The objective of the project is to identify how to reform the formal system so that decision-makers can focus more on performance to achieve outcomes. In order to achieve that objective the research will first need to assess “what information do politicians, managers and front line staff actually use to assess performance and what, if any, use is made of the current performance information that they receive. The research involves qualitative research, based on case studies, and quantitative research, based on a survey, to ensure the research findings apply to the full range of public organisations.

Timeframe and Deliverables

The project commenced in June 2008 and will be completed in August 2010. Initially the research focussed on a literature review and a series of six case studies looking at organisation performance measurement and management in a variety of public sector settings. In addition to the qualitative research, a major online survey of managers in selected public agencies has been carried out in February 2009.

Work is currently underway on synthesising the findings from the research. The final stage of the project will involve drawing out the policy implications and developing the directions for reform.
A series of workshops and public lectures will be held in April and May 2010 to allow for discussion of the research findings and their policy implications. The research project’s results will be published in a book by the Institute of Policy Studies in August 2010.

Project papers and presentations

Managing for Performance in New Zealand – the search for the Holy Grail? Publication by KPMG International 2008. Download here.
Presentation of M4P Survey key headlines and results held on 15 and 21 May 2009 at School of Government in cooperation with IPANZ. Download here.
Whole of Government Report (M4P Survey) published May 2009. Download here.
Managing for Performance in New Zealand’s Public Service – A loosely coupled framework? Conference paper presented in April 2009. Download here.
Managing for Organisational Performance : Directions for Reform - Presentation to IPANZ 16 June 2010 by Derek Gill & Susan Hitchiner. Download here

Contact

For any further questions on the project, please contact Derek Gill at the Institute of Policy Studies

E-mail: derek.gill@vuw.ac.nz
Phone: (04) 463 6996