Modern paradigms for evaluation and measurement of public administration performance

Performance measurement is a concept whose definition cannot be made precisely because it goes beyond the scope of a particular scientific field. In the public sector, performance is extremely difficult to identify, as no clear and concrete criteria are set to accurately reflect the purpose of the work of public institutions. The concern for measuring performance in public institutions has arisen as a result of the increasing difficulty of solving the increasingly complex problems that citizens face. The relevance of measuring performance in PA is provided by the way in which this process influences the entire activity of an organization, in all internal managerial directions.

Internal audit’s evolving performance role: lessons from the South African public sector

Purpose The formal adoption of internal auditing within the South African public sector was made compulsory by the Public Finance Management Act, No. 1 of 1999. Despite internal auditing’s primary role of adding value and assisting organisations to accomplish pre-defined strategic objectives, the increasing frequency of service delivery protests in South Africa, suggests that mandatory internal auditing may not have contributed to improving public sector performance and enhancing service delivery, as envisaged. This paper aims to identify the factors preventing internal audits from effectively contributing to improved public sector performance and service delivery. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted a sequential mixed-methods research approach. Firstly, a survey instrument was used to collect empirical data from survey respondents at South African national government departments. Secondly, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions were held with a purposively selected sample of participants to explore the observations from the first phase. The observations from the first two phases were validated through an analysis of pertinent documents and records. Findings Despite all departments adopting internal auditing, management’s expectations of internal auditing and the services provided by the internal audit function diverged. The results suggest that the emergence of a compliance approach to organisational governance together with poor performance management skills has impaired internal auditing’s ability to effectively contribute to strategic and performance management. Research limitations/implications Despite its South African orientation, as internal auditing is a global association and given that service delivery protests continue to occur in several countries around the world, increases the study’s international relevance. Moreover, the mandate of internal auditing requires it to add value to an organisation irrespective of its geographical location. Originality/value The study contributes to the existing body of knowledge on internal auditing, particularly its adoption and implementation in the South African public sector. In addition to identifying the factors inhibiting effective internal auditing, the study advances a suggested framework for the future of internal auditing.

The Effects of ICT Adoption on Public Sector Performance

Governments around the world are increasingly adopting innovative ways that facilitate the easy provision of public sector services through efficient and effective ways. However, the linkages between ICT adoption, human resource (HR) quality, and public sector performance remains under-examined. This study examines the effects of ICT adoption and HR quality on public sector performance on one hand and the mediating effects of HR quality on the linkage between ICT adoption and public sector performance on the other using archival sources of data for 140 countries and a conceptual model based on the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework. The data analysis using partial least squares-structural equation modeling shows that ICT adoption influences HR quality but not public sector performance directly. However, HR quality was found to positively influence public sector performance. Furthermore, HR quality was found to significantly moderate the relationship between ICT adoption and the public sector performance.

Integrating human resource development and knowledge management for sustainable botswana public sector performance

The aim of this paper investigate strategies that could be used for the effective integration of human resource development and knowledge management for sustainable public sector performance. With the calls for improved service delivery in the Botswana Public service sectors, there is need to adopt modern and effective way of managing change in the public sector part of which includes effective management of human resource development foreffectiveness competitive advantage. The only source of sustainable competitive advantage is to learn faster and more creatively than competing organizations. To the Botswana public service the foregoing affirmation remains challenges range from lack of quality leadership to the implementation of swift and effective HRD strategies combined with knowledge management. The methodology used for this paper is desktop research with emphasis on theoretical framework for improving public sector effectiveness. The results of emanating from the theoretical points to a number of strategies for integrating human resource development and knowledge management for sustainable public sector performance. This paper concludes with recommend implementation of relevant strategies are required for the effective human resource development and the management thereoffor a sustained public sector performance.

TANTANGAN MEMBANGUN MANAJEMEN DAN PENGUKURAN KINERJA SEKTOR PUBLIK DI INDONESIA

Management and performance measurement in the public sector are inherently more complex compared to the business sector. Conflicting values such as politics and abstract performance targets make public sector performance management and measurement have distinctive points with different challenges as well. This study aims to describe the various challenges that occur in the context of developing management and performance measurement of the public sector in Indonesia after the implementation of The Law Number 5 of 2014 concerning Civil Servants. The researcher applied a literature study by conducting literature inclusion on two main bases, namely internal and external problems in management and public sector performance measurement. In the end, there are four challenges that must be considered in order to further improve the management and performance measurement of the public sector in Indonesia, namely managing the good and bad impacts of management and performance measurement, managing bias and independence of performance appraisal, managing performance during times of disruption and pandemic and managing the performance of the millennial generation.

How Should we Measure Public Sector Performance?

The methodology applied for measuring the public sector performance is a disputed topic both in academia and for decision-making policies implementation. Thus, in this paper, we analyze the importance of the topic for researches and also try to identify the methodologies considered within the literature for measuring public sector performance, which would allow comparison between states, and reporting to certain values. The novelty of our approach is that, firstly, we draw a content analysis, with a focus on the methodologies applied for measuring the performance in the public sector in terms of productivity, efficiency, and performance. Secondly, with the support provided by the VOSviewer it is performed a bibliometric analysis and science mapping. We focus our research on keywords co-occurrence, authors co-citation and co-authorship to observe countries and institutions that generate publications on “public sector performance”. On the one hand, our results reveal that entail Analysis of Main Components has proven to be an effective tool to perform complex analysis of public sector performance, through the composite indicator that achieves an aggregation of several important areas of the public sector, considering its complexity and large size. On the other hand, strong links between keywords, researcher’s networks and country and institutions where the research is concentrated where highlighted.

The Performance Lens

This chapter makes three important contributions to the literature on the relationship between human resource management (HRM) and public-sector performance. First, the chapter presents a nuanced Harvard model that is developed by blending contemporary general HRM insights with public administration and public management literature. This refined model is more meaningful for the specific context of the public sector because it highlights multiple stakeholder interests, situational factors, and mediating factors (HRM policy choices and HRM outcomes), as well as long-term consequences from a public-sector context perspective. Second, the chapter presents an overview of studies on HRM and public-sector performance. This overview summarizes what is already known about the added value of HRM in a public-sector context. Third, on the basis of this literature review, the chapter identifies five important gaps in the literature, thereby providing a research agenda for future research.