7. Performance Management in the Public Sector, Effective Governance, and Democracy

The chapter develops a performance management policy approach that includes several principles. First, policy making and implementation can be enriched by performance management mechanisms in a way that will improve government effectiveness and strengthen accountability and public responsibility in democracies. Second, performance management mechanisms should be integrated into the policy-making process. Third, on the macro-level effective performance-based policy should emphasize systemic performance indicators. However, on the meso and micro levels, such policies should emphasize organizational performance indicators, the incorporation of employees into the design of the performance management mechanisms, and learning. Fourth, public officials emerge as key players in advancing reforms and directing them toward social change to the extent that they may be considered institutional entrepreneurs who function as agents of social change.