Jan Mattijs

How Organizational Learning Is Supported by Performance Management Systems: Evidence from a Longitudinal Case Study

Abstract Performance management is meant to encourage organizational change by providing better and more relevant feedback to managers. But there is no denying the complexity of learning and change. How performance management helps this process goes beyond the simple availability of performance information. In this study, we examine the learning processes in a large Belgian public organization through interviews of managers, directors, and administrators. By using 4Is framework of organizational learning—from Intuitions to Interpretation to Integration to Institutionalization—we identify critical blocks and enablers of learning and change. Critical impediments include off-topic discussions of performance information, lack of opportunity to share and discuss management practices, and limited motivation to change entrenched processes of work. Performance management also provides reliable enablers of organizational learning, such as giving credibility-by-results to new management practices, focusing discussions on processes that lead to measurable results, the ability to follow new innovations closely as they are implemented, and the possibility of creating a learning culture supported by performance information. Finally, we discuss how perceived credibility of performance information is crucial to organizational learning and how it is reinforced by use and dialogue.

Linking turnover to organizational performance : The role of process conformance

ABSTRACT Despite substantial evidence for the negative effect of turnover on performance, several studies also note offsetting positive effects hereby recognizing an optimal rate of turnover. These mixed results stress the need to examine under which conditions turnover is more harmful or beneficial to the organization. Using panel data from 30 divisions of the same agency, this study examines the impact of process conformance – the extent to which there are prescribed standards and rules related to the task. Results support a non-linear, inverted U-shaped relationship for those tasks with a high process conformance.

Sustainable goal setting: a large-scale case in management practice

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to give evidence of effective, large-scale, and time-sustained goal setting through the use of performance indicators (PIs) in managing a fairly large and decentralized social-security organization, despite indications that the motivational effects of goal setting are hard to sustain in the long term. Design/methodology/approach The authors analyze five years of monthly organizational performance data across 30 regional offices and five activities to identify the links between PIs and productivity. Findings The authors identify correlations that demonstrate a cycle where low performance scores on indicators increase productivity in the next period, but high performance decrease it, thus renewing the cycle. Research limitations/implications While long-term gains in the productivity are not the direct product of goal setting, the close relationship between goals and productivity illustrates the motivational potential of communicable targets and close feedback that led to a culture of performance within the organization. Practical implications The case studied demonstrates how a performance management system can be designed and managed so that long-term fatigue is avoided while maintaining a dynamic workforce that adapts in the face of environment change by increasing its efforts as needed. Originality/value This paper answers a call to connect management control studies with managerial work done in practical settings.

Opening Up Public Strategic Management: Foresight’s Contribution to Policy Relevance, Cooperation and Consistency

What is the path from policy intent to administrative reform, and conversely how do reform paths affect policies? How can strategic public management improve the relevance, coherence, cooperation and coordination of policy and administration? These questions, at once theoretical and very practical, have been discussed by implementation studies (Pressman and Wildavsky, 1973) and, later, by more managerial research about policy execution (Schedler and Proeller, 2010). Most management and implementation studies, however valuable, tend to repeat a top-down, instrumental, problem-solving pattern. We put these in perspective by proposing an alternative that emphasizes exploration and creates structured bottom-up participation opportunities.