Summary:

Review
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Challenging the Performance Movement is an apt name for this wide-ranging
critique. Since it knits ideas and illustrations from a variety of knowledge sources and experiences, this book unmasks the conceptual shallowness of
what is tellingly called the performance movement rather than the performance
school or the performance model. Challenges come from intellectual
frameworks such as complexity, multiple intelligences and symbolic politics.
These are fortifi ed with illustrations from the author ’ s inside knowledge of
performance measurement endeavours in the United States.
Each of the seven chapters that comprise the body of the volume addresses
a distinct performance measurement issue area: intelligence, the nature
of the world, organization theory, approach to professionals, values, the
American political system and numbers and information. For each issue
area, Radin imputes a number of what she terms ‘ classical assumptions ’ to
the performance movement. As she notes, these are implicit, generally unarticulated
assumptions. After identifying the relevant classical assumptions,
each chapter proceeds to build an argument to demonstrate their folly. Radin
bolsters her arguments with alternative approaches garnered from a range
of literature and, in most chapters, with illustrative examples.
Chapters begin and end with vignettes – fi ctitious stories of people grappling
with issues in the implementation of performance measurement systems.
While the vignettes do provide a link with potential real life situations,
many are rather forced. They appear almost exclusively at the beginning and
end of chapters and then make another appearance in the concluding chapter.
Closer linkage to the vignettes in the body of the chapters would have been
helpful. Their fi ctitious nature is somewhat irritating considering that one of
the author ’ s purported relative advantages is having been closely involved
with implementing performance measurement in several American contexts.
In addressing ‘ intelligence ’ , Chapter 2 delineates how the performance
measurement community assumes that decision making follows a linear
or scientifi c approach with a straightforward progression from inputs to
outputs to outcomes. Three alternative approaches – multiple intelligence,
complexity, and approaches to numbers – demonstrate that the world may
not work in quite such a linear fashion. The argument in this chapter relies
exclusively on sources drawn from the psychology, systems analysis and
philosophy. No examples from the American or international experiences are
provided.
In another example, Chapter 3 critiques the classic performance mindset
understanding of organizations. Promoters of performance measurement
have adopted a ‘ one size fi ts all ’ approach in which all organizations are
subject to similar systems. The performance movement is portrayed as turning
a blind eye to the well known alternative approaches of Herbert Simon
and James Q. Wilson, which distinguish among organizations that are public,
private, regulatory, service provision, production oriented, procedural
oriented and so on. Also ignored are the writings of Judith Gruber, James
Fesler and Donald Kettl, which demonstrate how varying political and administrative
organizational settings necessitate differing modes of control.
The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) and the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) experiences in the US illustrate the problems
of trying to implement ‘ one size fi ts all ’ performance measurement systems
on a variety of organization types.
Chapter 5 includes a wealth of examples to illustrate the problems that
result from performance measurement, focusing almost exclusively on effi -
ciency while excluding other values, notably equity. The classic performance
movement assumes that effi ciency trumps all other values in determining the
worth of a programme. An alternative approach is to recognize ‘ that most
programs contain multiple goals that require opportunities to trade off multiple
values ’ . Telling stories from a number of experiences, including ‘ No Child
Left Behind ’ and the ‘ Program Assessment Rating Tool ’ (PART) illustrate the
problematic focus on effi ciency to the exclusion of equity and other values.
Overall, the volume provides an impressive array of challenges to the performance
movement which do, however, leave the reader wondering about
the balance of the account rendered. There is a certain sense of a treatise,
backed up by illustrations or examples chosen to help prove a point that the
author wants to make. What emerges reads as an unbalanced account with
few allusions to situations in which performance measurement seems to be
working well. One example of this occurs on page fi ve: ‘ Whether it is a parent
dealing with the education sector, a doctor or teacher, a public sector
offi cial, or a leader in the private sector, all are currently facing what appear
to be unanticipated consequences of the performance measurement movement
’ . Only on page 235 does the author acknowledge that: ‘ There are specifi
c performance measurement activities that seem to be effective, particularly
a state or local levels ’ .
The major contribution of this volume is in the articulation of an overarching
conceptual framework for analysing the implementation of performance
measurement systems. While many parts of this framework will be familiar
to public administration scholars, the book adds perspectives from other
disciplines creating an impressive challenge to the performance movement.
Harnessing so many arguments against performance measurement provides
strength and is a welcome contribution to the literature.
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Robert Schwartz
University of Toronto
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www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-9299.2007.00656_9.x