In Search of Results: Performance Management Practices
Performance management is a key factor in public sector reforms in many OECD countries; an increased focus on results is the key objective of reforms. Performance management encompasses both the measurement of performance and how it is used by management for decision making and by external parties for accountability purposes.
This publication responds to the need for information on performance management practices that enables individual countries to compare and contrast their approach to other countries. It describes and analyses, in a comparative setting, performance management developments in ten OECD countries: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. Each country chapter is intended to be an analytical and reference document of value to other countries. The country chapters have been standardised in structure to make them as comparable as possible, and information on each country has been summarised in tables on key performance management issues. The publication also contains an overview and synthesis where country approaches are compared and contrasted.
All ten countries have for a number of years been active in developing and implementing performance management. This publication demonstrates that while a wide range of approaches and instruments have been developed, there is considerable convergence in approaches and instruments used by the different countries. There are nevertheless important differences. It is clear that each country
must find its own approach to performance management, appropriate to its needs and traditions.
Long abstract
