Results, Targets and Measures to Drive Collaboration: Lessons from the New Zealand Better Public Services reforms

Abstract

Performance measurement is a hotly contested topic in government (Brignal and Modell 2000) and the not-for-profit (NFP) sector (Kaplan 2001) and in interaction between the two (Macpherson 2001). This chapter presents lessons from the use of impact measures in the New Zealand Government as examples to be applied in other contexts. The use of impact measures is complicated by problems of control and attribution (Smith 2009). Many organisations have instead resorted to output measures, or even input and activity measures, which may promote efficiency but do not address the effectiveness of interventions (de Lancer-Julnes and Holzer 2001).