Accountability, Rhetoric, and Political Interests: Twists and Turns of NHS Performance Measurements

Abstract

This study draws upon institutional theory to examine the extent to which the political interests of New Labour influenced the application of NHS performance measurements devised for accountability purposes between 1997 and 2007. This study adopts an interpretative perspective and emphasises the ‘ethos’ of New Labour's policy initiatives to convey its beliefs and moral superiority to the electorate. It argues that the performance measurements constituted by political interests served as a source of power deployed by New Labour to strengthen its credibility as being an accountable person. Where political interests were in play, multi‐dimensional performance measurements did not necessarily promote a balanced pursuit of performance improvements but led to various distortions and dysfunctional behaviour which hindered the stated aims of the NHS reforms and undermined the ethos of New Labour.

Building trust in public sector networks: The role of rhetoric and persuasion

“…Rhetoric has been a popular theoretical and methodological construct in this journal (Chang, ), but it has been used primarily to mean ‘discourse’, use of language, in contrast with, or explaining, practice (e.g. Brusca & Montesinos, ; Yamamoto, ; Guthrie, ; Pettersen, ).…”

“…Brusca & Montesinos, ; Yamamoto, ; Guthrie, ; Pettersen, ). In our arguments, we have used it differently, in the Aristotelian sense of a persuasion tool, similarly to Chang (), who, however, limited his analysis to ethos‐led (credibility) persuasion. Taking a wider perspective on rhetoric contributes to a fuller spectrum analysis of how rhetoric contributes to trust among members of inter‐organisational networks.…”

Performance Management in the Public Sector: The Ultimate Challenge

“…This is the context which we use to illustrate the challenges confronting performance management in public services. It is interesting to note that a number of complexity theory advocates have identified health care as a suitable context for study (Arndt and Bigelow, ; Geyer and Rihani, ; and Rhodes et al., ) and performance management in health care is as complex and elusive as ever (Chang, ; and Kelly et al., ).…”

The failed implementation of performance management in Irish central government

“…Closely allied to this are concerns that measurable objectives will replace important goals that are not readily measurable (Denhardt & Aristigueta, 2008, p. 113). This can result in gaming where targets are achieved but the overall result is poorer service (Arnaboldi et al, 2015;Chang, 2015). For Arnaboldi et al (2015, p. 17), however, such outcomes can also indicate that there is "… too little performance management rather than too much"; which suggest that perhaps other factors such as the complex and often politicized nature of public services provision militate against an easy adoption of credible PMSs.…”