Towards excellence in public administration: organisation theory-based performance management model

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to develop an integrated performance management model as an important pillar of excellence in public administration. The model is based on organisation theory where an organisation is a set of dynamic relationships between people assuring the existence, development, and specific characteristics of the social unit (e.g. enterprise, public sector organisation) and rational achievement of the social unit's goals. It covers the sequential phases of the management process that consist of specific approaches and include the most useful indicators (measures) associated with the various stakeholders. The indicators reflect the effectiveness of a social unit and the efficient execution of all processes/tasks. The proposed model represented the basis for research on the use of performance management tools, approaches, and indicators on a sample of 104 public administration institutions in Slovenia. The paper provides an important contribution to the public administration performance management body of research. First, the proposed model extends and improves existing models as it consistently follows the governance-management process to assure excellence. Second, the model is developed on the basis of organisation theory which assures repetitive use of the model over many time-periods. Third, all social units' stakeholders are included in the model. The model represents an original solution and is applicable in any type of public administration organisations, with some modifications also in any kind of private or public organisations, all striving for excellence.