Conclusions: a puzzle, three pieces, many theories and a problem

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511762000.014

13 - Conclusions: a puzzle, three pieces, many theories and a problem

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2011

Edited by

Gill Harvey and

Colin Talbot: Affiliation:
Manchester Business School
Kieran Walshe: Affiliation:
Manchester University
Gill Harvey: Affiliation:
Manchester University
Pauline Jas: Affiliation:
University of Nottingham

Book contents

Get access

Summary

All a Dan grade means to me is that I am even more acutely aware of how much I don't know. I hate the term ‘expert’. My late father described an expert as ‘an ex is a has been, and a spurt is a drip under pressure’. Wise man!!

Jim Ashby, aikidoka, California

In most Japanese martial arts after several years of diligent study and practice you may be awarded a dan grade, or black belt as it is popularly known. Many in the West think this means you are an expert, but what it actually means is that you are now a proper student, a learner, a seeker after true knowledge of your chosen art. In that spirit this concluding chapter is more of a statement of what we don't know than what we do, and an outline of some ideas about how we might become proper dan grade students of performance in the public sector.

The editors of this volume, who were kind enough to ask me to write this chapter, set out in the Introduction that this book is not an attempt at ‘grand theorising’ of performance in public sector activities, but rather tackles a particular, knowledge-focused perspective on performance. Perhaps they are correct in their implied assumption that such grand theorising is either premature or downright impossible, and that progress is better made by tackling less ambitious goals.

However, it seems to me that issues of ‘grand theorising’ are unavoidable if we are going to take our work seriously.

Type: Chapter
Information: Connecting Knowledge and Performance in Public Services
From Knowing to Doing
, pp. 276 - 289

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511762000.014 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Ariely, D. (2008). Predictably Irrational – The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions. London: Harper.Google Scholar

Barney, J. B. and Clark, D. N. (2007). Resource-based Theory – Creating and Sustaining Competitive Advantage. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Bozeman, B. (2007). Public Values and Public Interest – Counterbalancing Economic Individualism. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar

Brignall, S. (2002). ‘The Unbalanced Scorecard: A Social and Environmental Critique’, in Neely, A., Walters, A. and Austin, R. (eds.), Performance Measurement and Management: Research and Action. Cranfield School of Management.Google Scholar

Brookes, S. and Grint, K. (eds.) (2010). The New Public Leadership Challenge. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRef

Cameron, K. and Whetten, D. (1983a). Organizational Effectiveness – A Comparison of Multiple Models. San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar

Cameron, K. and Whetten, D. (1983b). ‘Organizational Effectiveness: One Model or Several?’, in Cameron and Whetten.

Cameron, K., R. E. Quinn, J. Degraff and A. Thakor (2006). Competing Values Leadership. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.CrossRef Google Scholar

General, Comptroller and Auditor (2009). Assessment of the Capability Review Programme. London: National Audit Office.Google Scholar

Denhardt, J. V. and Denhardt, B. D. (2003). The New Public Service. London: M. E. Sharpe.Google Scholar

Denhardt, R. B. (1993). The Pursuit of Significance – Strategies for Managerial Success in Public Organisations. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.Google Scholar

Guba, E. G. (ed.) (1990). The Paradigm Dialog. London: Sage.

Harkin, J. (2008). Big Ideas – The Essential Guide to the Latest Thinking. London: Atlantic Books.Google Scholar

Hirschman, A. O. (2002 [1982]). Shifting Involvements: Private Interest and Public Action. Princeton University Press.CrossRef Google Scholar

Holzer, M. and Callahan, K. (1998). Government at Work: Best Practices and Model Programmes. London: Sage.Google Scholar

Hood, C. (1983). The Tools of Government. London: Macmillan.CrossRef Google Scholar

Hood, C. and Margetts, H. (2007). The Tools of Government in a Digital Age. Basingstoke: Palgrave.CrossRef Google Scholar

Hood, C., James, O., Jones, G.et al. (1999). Regulation Inside Government. Oxford University Press.CrossRef Google Scholar

Horner, L. and Hazel, L. (2005). Adding Public Value. London: The Work Foundation.Google Scholar

Ingraham, P. W., Joyce and A. K. Donahue, P. G. (2003). Government Performance: Why Management Matters. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar

Ingstrup, O. and Crookall, P. (1998). The Three Pillars of Public Management – Secrets of Sustained Success. London: McGill – Queen's University Press.Google Scholar

Johnson, C. and Talbot, C. (2007). ‘The UK Parliament and Performance: Challenging or Challenged?’, International Review of Administrative Sciences 73(1).CrossRef Google Scholar

Johnson, C. and Talbot, C. (2008). ‘UK Parliamentary Scrutiny of PSAs: Utilizing Public Sector Performance Information’, in Dooren, and Walle, (eds.).

Kaplan, R. S. and Norton, D. P. (1996). The Balanced Scorecard. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar

Kelly, G., Mulgan, G. and S. Muers (2004). Creating Public Value – An Analytical Framework for Public Service Reform. London: Cabinet Office Strategy Unit (www.strategy.gov.uk).Google Scholar

Kennedy, A. (2000). The End of Shareholder Value – Corporations at the Crossroads. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing.Google Scholar

Lynch, R. L. and Cross, K. F. (1995). Measure Up! How to Measure Corporate Performance (2nd edn.). Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar

Lynn, L. E. Jr., Heinrich, C. J. and Hill, C. J. (2001). Improving Governance: A New Logic for Empirical Research. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar

Moore, M. (1995). Creating Public Value. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar

Moore, M. (2003). The Public Value Scorecard: A Rejoinder and an Alternative to ‘Strategic Performance Measurement and Management in Non-Profit Organizations’ by Robert Kaplan, Working Paper 18. Boston, MA: The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.Google Scholar

Neely, A., Adams and M. Kennerley, C. (2002). The Performance Prism. London: FT Prentice Hall.Google Scholar

,OECD (2005). Modernising Government – The Way Forward. Paris: OECD.Google Scholar

,OECD and European Commission (2008). Handbook on Constructing Composite Indicators – Methodology and User Guide. Paris: OECD.Google Scholar

O'Flynn, J. (2005). Adding Public Value: A New Era of Contractual Governance? Public Administration & Management – PAC Annual Conference, Nottingham.

Osborne, S. (ed.) (2009). The New Public Governance. London: Routledge.

Pascale, R. and Athos, A. (1981). The Art of Japanese Management. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar

Peters, T. and Waterman, R. (1982). In Search of Excellence – Lessons From America's Best Run Companies. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar

Pfeffer, J. and Sutton, R. I. (2006). Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-truths and Total Nonsense – Profiting from Evidence-based Management. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar

Pohlman, R. A. and Gardiner, G. S. (2000). Value Driven Management – How to Create and Maximize Value Over Time for Organizational Success. New York: American Management Association.Google Scholar

Pollitt, C. and Bouckaert, G. (2004). Public Management Reform – A Comparative Analysis (2nd edn.). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Power, M. (1997). The Audit Society – Rituals of Verification. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Quinn, R. E. and Rohrbaugh, J. (1981). ‘A Competing Values Approach to Organizational Effectiveness’, Public Productivity Review 5(2).CrossRef Google Scholar

Radin, B. (1998). ‘The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA): Hydra-headed Monster or Flexible Management Tool?’, Public Administration Review 58(4): 307–16.CrossRef Google Scholar

Radin, B. (2000). ‘The Government Performance and Results Act and the Tradition of Federal Management Reform: Square Pegs in Round Holes?’, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 10(1).CrossRef Google Scholar

Radin, B. (2006). Challenging the Performance Movement: Accountability, Complexity, and Democratic Values. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar

Rhodes, R. A. W. (1986). Control and Power in Central–Local Relations. Aldershot: Gower.Google Scholar

Salamon, L. (ed.) (2002). The Tools of Government – A Guide to the New Governance. Oxford University Press.

Stoker, G. (2005). ‘Public Value Management – A New Narrative for Networked Governance?’, American Review of Public Administration 36(1).Google Scholar

Talbot, C. (1999). ‘Public Performance – Towards a New Model?’, Public Policy and Administration 14(3).CrossRef Google Scholar

Talbot, C. (2005). ‘Performance Management’, in Ferlie, E., Lynn, L. and Pollitt, C. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Public Management. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Talbot, C. (2008). ‘Performance Regimes – the Institutional Context of Performance Policies’, International Journal of Public Administration 31(14).CrossRef Google Scholar

Talbot, C. (2009). ‘Public Value – The Next “Big Thing” in Public Management?’, International Journal of Public Administration 32(3–4): 167–70.CrossRef Google Scholar

Talbot, C. (2009 (29 February)). Mandarin Tinted Glasses. Public Finance. London: CIPFA.Google Scholar

Talbot, C. (in press). Theories of Performance – Organizational and Service Improvement in the Public Domain. Oxford University Press.

Talbot, C., Johnson, C. and Wiggan, J. (2005). Exploring Performance Regimes – A Report for the National Audit Office, Centre for Public Policy and Management, Manchester Business School.

Thaler, R. H. and Sunstein, C. R. (2008). Nudge – Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press.Google Scholar

Dooren, W. and Walle, S. (eds.) (2008). Performance Information in the Public Sector. Basingstoke: Palgrave.CrossRef

Wilson, E. O. (1998). Consilience – The Unity of Knowledge. London: Little, Brown and Company.Google Scholar