Advocates of this ambitious attempt to extend a results orientation to
government as a whole hope that it will produce several benefits. It is hoped
that the process of drafting and refining a governmentwide plan will help to
build consensus inside and outside government about priorities, thus making
it easier for governments to make re-allocative decisions in a period of
retrenchment.Annual plans might also improve popular confidence in government,
by showing the connection between governmental actions and
aspects of community well-being that are regarded as important by the public.
Such plans might also demonstrate the ineffectiveness of some government
interventions, reducing popular pressure on governments to make
irrational expenditure decisions.
Before governmentwide performance plans can realize these goals, governments
must overcome four problems in implementation. Limited experience
has already shown that care must be taken in designing processes for
the selection of performance measures. The collection of credible data that
measure progress toward important aspects of societal well-being may also
prove difficult, as may attempts to draw causal links between the everyday
activities of government bureaus and high-level social indicators. It may also
prove difficult to ensure that governmentwide performance plans have a real
influence on broader popular debate about governmental priorities.
Experience seems to suggest that governmentwide performance monitoring
is more likely to prove effective when it is done in smaller, more
homogeneous communities, in which agreement on appropriate outcome
measures is easier to attain. Such schemes may also be more effective where
Issues Associated with the Implementation of Performance Monitoring 3
the task of selecting outcomes is left to a body that is partly or wholly independent
of government. At first, such an arrangement seems one of doubtful
legitimacy, particularly if the outcome measures selected are expected to
have a real influence on the shape of policy debate. However, an independent
body is not constrained by some of the bureaucratic and political considerations
that may make it difficult for governments to select a narrow
group of outcome measures and report regularly on those measures. In the
end, however, even a well-designed performance monitoring scheme may
have only a limited impact on internal budgetary decision making or on
popular opinion about government priorities