Abstract
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Bureaucracy and Society in Transition |
| Editors | Haldor Byrkjeflot, Fredrik Engelstad |
| Place of Publication | Bingley |
| Publisher | Emerald Group Publishing |
| Date | 2018 |
| Pages | 89-107 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781787432840 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781787432833 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2018 |
| Series | Comparative Social Research |
|---|---|
| Volume | 33 |
| ISSN | 0195-6310 |
Keywords
- Outcomes
- Performance management systems
- Public administration
- Tax administration
- Denmark
- Sweden
Cite this
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Outcome-based Performance Management Systems : Experiences from the Danish and Swedish Tax Agencies. / Boll, Karen.
Bureaucracy and Society in Transition. ed. / Haldor Byrkjeflot; Fredrik Engelstad. Bingley : Emerald Group Publishing, 2018. p. 89-107.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Book chapter › Research › peer-review
TY - CHAP
T1 - Outcome-based Performance Management Systems
T2 - Experiences from the Danish and Swedish Tax Agencies
AU - Boll,Karen
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - This chapter focuses on the use of outcome-based performance management systems within public administration. It reports two qualitative case studies from respectively the Danish Tax and Customs Administration and the Swedish Tax Agency. Both of these administrations use outcome-based performance management systems to steer subsets of their administrative work. The chapter shows that the systems respond to broader demands for accounting for outcomes, yet, the systems also operate in very different ways. The Danish case shows a quantitative system which measures on a daily basis, the Swedish case shows a qualitative system which measures on a four to five-year basis. What is striking about both cases is that they balance meeting the demands for accounting for diffuse outcomes, with developing measurements that ‘fit’ local contingent concerns. While much of the current research on performance management systems in public administration is critical and stresses the downsides of such systems, this chapter shows that these systems should not always be assumed to be connected to gaming, strategic behaviour and/or reductionism. Instead, the performance management systems can be seen as attempts to reconcile and make ends meet in ‘post-bureaucratic’ organisations that are increasingly expected to account for rather diffuse and abstract outcomes and expected at the same time to steer and prioritise daily administrative work.
AB - This chapter focuses on the use of outcome-based performance management systems within public administration. It reports two qualitative case studies from respectively the Danish Tax and Customs Administration and the Swedish Tax Agency. Both of these administrations use outcome-based performance management systems to steer subsets of their administrative work. The chapter shows that the systems respond to broader demands for accounting for outcomes, yet, the systems also operate in very different ways. The Danish case shows a quantitative system which measures on a daily basis, the Swedish case shows a qualitative system which measures on a four to five-year basis. What is striking about both cases is that they balance meeting the demands for accounting for diffuse outcomes, with developing measurements that ‘fit’ local contingent concerns. While much of the current research on performance management systems in public administration is critical and stresses the downsides of such systems, this chapter shows that these systems should not always be assumed to be connected to gaming, strategic behaviour and/or reductionism. Instead, the performance management systems can be seen as attempts to reconcile and make ends meet in ‘post-bureaucratic’ organisations that are increasingly expected to account for rather diffuse and abstract outcomes and expected at the same time to steer and prioritise daily administrative work.
KW - Outcomes
KW - Performance management system
KW - Public administration
KW - Tax administration
KW - Denmark
KW - Sweden
KW - Outcomes
KW - Performance management systems
KW - Public administration
KW - Tax administration
KW - Denmark
KW - Sweden
U2 - 10.1108/S0195-631020180000033009
DO - 10.1108/S0195-631020180000033009
M3 - Book chapter
SN - 9781787432840
SP - 89
EP - 107
BT - Bureaucracy and Society in Transition
PB - Emerald Group Publishing
CY - Bingley
ER -