How Organisations Measure Success The Use of Performance Indicators in Government

Throughout the 1980s the British Civil Service devoted much time and energy developing indicators to measure the performance of government. Never before had so much stress been placed on accountability and performance; a trend which will be reinforced as government continues to devolve activities to agencies and looks for methods to assess their performance. How Organisations Measure Success analyses existing methods from their origins in the 1960s to their revival in the 1980s as part of the Financial Management Initiative and its apotheosis in the 1990s Next Steps Initiative. How Organisations Measure Success reports on two years of field research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and will be of great interest to students of social policy and public administration as well as professionals working in government and public sector management.

List of tables; List of abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Revolution or resurrection? The history of a concept; 2. Models, measures and muddles: organisational and conceptual dimensions of performance indicators; 3. The criminal justice system: police, courts, and prisons; 4. The welfare system: Social Security and the National Health Service; 5. The private sector: banks, building societies, and retail stores; 6. Managing monopolies: railways, water and airports: 7. Performance indicators in the 1990s: tools for managing political and administrative change; References; Name index; Subject index