Effectiveness Assessment in Public Service Systems

Abstract

The study combines research on effectiveness and organizational assessment. The reliability model enables a qualitative and quantitative assessment of level of performance and quality of performance of public service systems in two structural networks: parallel and sequential. The two levels of analysis used here, the unit and the system, show (1) how unit's level of performance and quality of performance affect the effectiveness of a system as a whole, and (2) the extent of a unit's detraction or contribution to a system's effectiveness. The reliability model enabled the measurement of (J) effectiveness as a product of structure and human interrelationships, and (2) areas amenable to corrective policies. The holistic approach to the unit-system relations makes the analytical and measurement distinction between performance with and without citizen participation. The measurements make it possible to deal with a concept, which in the past was on unstable theoretical and methodological grounds. For example, these measurements show that participation can be treated not only as a democratic preference but also as a concrete administrative tool amenable to measurement of performance in a public service delivery system. In the unit level, participation is contributing to performance ratios more than in the system level.