ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

“No Better Way to Manage Performance”

Government Executive (Op-Ed – Howard Risher)

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s new performance management guidance looks to refine how federal agencies tackle employee performance, but to reach its mark, the federal government’s HR agency should explore how to empower employee problem-solving.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Performance-Based Budgeting

The Journal of Academic Science

Performance-Based Budgeting can enhance financial accountability, improve resource allocation, and foster a results-oriented culture in public administration. However, the effectiveness of PBB is contingent upon several factors, including the political environment, organizational capacity, and stakeholder engagement

Resource of the Week:  EU Justice Scorecard for 27 Countries

LinkedIn (John Mercer’s “Performance for Government” Group)

This is an interesting example of “benchmarking” governmental performance at the national level. The European Union has just published its latest annual report on the justice systems of its 27 member countries, its “EU Justice Scorecard.” The many bar graphs compare the recent performance of each of these countries to its peers across a wide range of justice administration metrics.

Federal Auditing Does Not Work

U.S. Office of Management and Budget

OMB released new audit guidance to agencies (M-25-30) that decries existing procedures as “rote exercises that do no ensure sound financial management.” It is initiating a governmentwide “strategic reset” of how it approaches financial accountability and oversight by focusing on current-year activity and balances. It also promises additional reforms by “auditing the auditors,” “focusing on high-impact audits,” and “linking transparency to reform.” Past efforts at reform had been unsuccessful, according to a story in Federal News Network.

New OPM Performance Management Rules – Mostly on Target?

Government Executive (op-ed by Ron Sanders)

OPM’s new performance management rules aim to end inflated ratings and eliminate pass-fail systems—but do they go too far in prescribing a one-size-fits-all approach?

Beyond the Performance Review

Careers in Government

Many government managers still treat performance management as purely transactional—a checklist of metrics and improvement plans. This outdated approach misses a profound opportunity: the chance to lead from the inside out and create transformational change during times of transition.

Bad Data Is Everywhere

Barrett & Greene

As the trend toward greater reliance on data has accelerated over the past decades, the information itself has fallen dangerously short of the mark. . . .Sadly, many people throw statistics around without the context that truly makes them useful.

Improving Spending Efficiency

RouteFifty (op-ed by Jed Herrmann)

Governments have an opportunity to improve the efficiency of their programs to maximize the impact of taxpayer dollars with technological advances paving the way for this progress. Here are five ways.

Making Non-Punitive Accountability Matter

Public Administration (open access)

Punitive measures (sanctions) are central to accountability. Their use is however costly as they harm relationships. Against this background, the authors study when and why nonpunitive accountability can be effective. They studied decisions by administrative leaders in Denmark that were subject to various forms of nonpunitive accountability.