Performance is Political

John Harris

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    3 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Performance management is usually presented as a technical tool to monitor policies and programmes. Performance indicators are presented as neutral and as having been developed in pursuit of economy, efficiency and effectiveness. According to this approach, if properly conceptualised and constructed, performance indicators illuminate the extent to which agencies or services are achieving goals and provide accountability. In contrast, understanding performance indicators as political requires examination of their social as well as their technical aspects. From this perspective, the effectiveness of an indicator as a means to measure performance is not as important as other roles, such as embedding policy and shaping practice. Accordingly, performance management represents a significant technology of control over social work. It acts as a powerful determinant of which forms of practice are approved by deciding which of them are drawn into the accountability framework and are therefore authorised.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)149-160
    Number of pages12
    JournalCritical and Radical Social Work
    Volume11
    Issue number1
    Early online date20 Sept 2021
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Mar 2023

    Keywords

    • Sociology and Political Science
    • managerialism
    • performance measurement
    • neoliberalism
    • performance indicators
    • performance management

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