Changing Times for Charities: Performance management in a Third Sector Housing Association

Abstract

This paper illustrates the progress from the application of a performance measurement system to that of a performance management system within a registered charity operating in the United Kingdom Third Sector. The organization is a housing association and its service users are socially excluded members of society. The balanced scorecard (BSC) was chosen as a catalyst for improving the performance management system between 2004 and 2006. A case study analysis using semi-structured interviews and secondary data sources over a four-year period provides empirical insight into an evolving performance management culture. This research reveals that culture as well as trust and capability building are inextricably linked and govern organizational performance. These elements are also bounded by the ‘steering media’ of the Big Society philosophy currently being rolled out across UK public services which is affecting the general lifeworld of this sector

Financialization and the third sector: Innovation in social housing bond markets

“…This has required the translation of market knowledges, cultural change and financial performance metrics (Manville and Broad 2013;Miller and Rose 2008;Engelen et al 2010), which remain understudied in the third sector context.…”

“…While the introduction of real estate financialization practices has enabled HAs to bridge a funding gap left by the withdrawal of state funding, it has also introduced new politics to the sector to protect investor returns as the objectives and performance metrics of the sector have been recoded (Beunza and Garud, 2007;Engelen et al, 2010;Manville and Broad, 2013). While accessing international capital markets has been successful for meeting finance needs, it is clear that the sector faces new pressures that have seen larger HAs begin to drift from their social objectives.…”

“…A nascent HA bond market began in 1988, when The Housing Finance Corporation (THFC) was established, predating attempts to create a broader social finance market in the UK, although the use of capital markets and bond issuance did not grow substantially until the late 2000s, as governments reduced funding (Lennartz, 2011;Rolink, 2013;THFC, 2016; Table 1). This has seen the widespread adoption of performance management metrics and market-orientated narratives, where HAs have begun to displace social and regulatory frameworks with a private sector agenda, focussing on 'asset management', valuations and risk modelling (Gruis, 2002;Kok and Driessen, 2012;Manville and Broad, 2013) making the sector more compatible with financialization, as seen in the nascent social impact bond market. In this sense, HAs are not reshaping the practices of financialization, but are reshaping their activities to become compatible with existing real estate valuation and risk metrics used in the private sector.…”

“…For example, French et al (2011) have been careful to point out that while state institutions designed regulation to be compatible with financialization, the state too has become increasingly financialized. Since the 1980s, the implementation of new public management paradigms, performance management (Manville and Broad 2013) (Aalbers at al. 2015;Ashton et al 2014;Acerete, et al 2011;O'Neill 2013), where the equity politics and knowledge of financialization are redeveloped to create new financial innovations through bricolage (Engelen et al 2010).…”

People in suits: a case study of empowerment and control in a non-profit UK organisation

“…The non-profit sector is currently playing an increasingly prominent role within our society (Milbourne, 2013, Manville and Broad 2013, Moxham and Boaden, 2007, providing unique added value in the delivery of services that are important to communities and to the wider public (Greatbanks et. al., 2010).…”