Exploring the Involvement of All Managers and Employees in Developing and Implementing Performance Management Systems in Canadian Public Sector Organizations

Abstract

This thesis investigated the extent of involvement of Front-line Employees and Senior- Mid- and Operational-level Managers in the conception, design, development and implementation of their Performance Management System (PMS) and outcomes from their involvement in four public sector organizations. Performance Measurement (PMe) and Performance Management (PM) have a lengthy history in the measurement and management of organizational and employee performance. Measuring performance in organizations began in the early 1800s when municipal performance data were collected and analyzed with the goal of increasing employee and organizational performance. PMe and Performance Management Systems (PMSs) originated following a general dissatisfaction with the traditional financial performance measures. A review of the literature revealed that even though many PMe systems and PMSs such as the BSC were originally developed for use in private sector organizations, recent pressures have resulted in the adoption of similar systems in public sector organizations. New and growing challenges, driven by changing demographics, deregulation, technological advances, free-trade, global economic change, changing public attitudes, emphasis on customer satisfaction and competition for qualified employees have led to greater demand for accountability and transparency in public sector organizations. These changes require public sector organizations to adopt private sector PMS initiatives such as Kaplan and Norton's (1992) Balanced Scorecard (BSC).