Title: Performance decline and turnaround in public organisations: A theoretical and empirical analysis
1Performance decline and turnaround in public
organisations A theoretical and empirical
analysis
- 17 February 2005
- Pauline Jas Chris Skelcher
- http//www.inlogov.bham.ac.uk/research/recoveryres
earch.htm
2Components of CPA
- Service performance
- Available information inspection reports, i.e.
Best Value - Corporate assessment or ability to improve
- Trying to achieve
- Delivering priorities
- Achieved to date
- Lessons learnt
3Research design
3 year evaluation action-learning 5 in-depth
cases 10 overview cases Cases pre-defined by
CPA 3 rounds of interviews, observations,
surveys, etc. Specific research investigations
interim managers, political mentors,
outsourcing/partnerships etc. Dissemination to
policy and academia
4Process of theory building
- Highly iterative
- Within case analysis cross case comparison
- Shaping hypotheses evidence, logic, explanation
- Enfolding literature conflicting, similar
- Theoretical saturation
- (Eisenhardt, 1989)
5Proposition 1
- Public organisations typically exhibit
fluctuations in performance achievement over
time. This is explained by inertial effects
within the organisation, accentuated by the
conditions of publicness to which it is exposed. - Success breeds failure
- Avoiding public U-turns
- Holding on to out-dated best practice
6Proposition 2
- Organisations defined as poorly performing at the
aggregate level exhibit a range of performance
levels across their individual functions. This
is due to loose coupling between the service
functions and the corporate centre. - Internal variation
- Departmentalisation
- Accidental rather than systemic good management
7Proposition 3
- Performance decline is associated with a
judgement about a public organisations alignment
with institutional norms in its environment. - Institutional fit
- Perception, reputation
- Prescriptive best practice
8Performance trajectories
Performance
Disjunction between normal turnaround and
permanent failure
High
Low
Time
9Proposition 4
- In times of performance decline, turnaround will
be self-initiated to the extent that the
organisations political and managerial
leadership is (a) cognisant of poor performance,
and (b) has sufficient leadership capability to
address the need for change. - Awareness of actual performance
- Balance political/managerial leadership
10Proposition 5
- Cognisance of poor performance is limited by (a)
weaknesses in the feedback mechanisms, and (b)
particular characteristics of political
leadership - Performance management systems
- Contact with peers, residents, partners
- Democratic system
11Proposition 6
- The ability to act on performance information is
dependent upon leadership capability to (a)
overcome the motivational investment in the
status quo, and (b) resolve collective action
problems in the organisation - Reluctance to change
- Defence mechanisms
- Groups with divergent interests
12Proposition 7
- Turnaround in permanently failing organisations
will be effective to the extent that external
pressure is able to facilitate an orientation
towards creating leadership capability for
improvement - stress inertia
- Steer in the right direction
- Engagement rather than intervention
13Implications
- Differentiated improvement strategies vs.
normative model - Performance trajectories organisational ecology
- Political mechanisms electoral processes,
external pressure of one level of democratically
elected government over another