Do performance management schemes deliver results in the public sector? Observations from the Czech Republic

Plaček, Michal; Němec, Juraj; Ochrana, František; Půček, Milan Jan; Křápek, Milan; Špaček, David

doi:10.1080/09540962.2020.1732053

Cited by 19 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Regarding the regional settings of the Czech Republic, the pace of public administration reforms appears to be slow with the only recent introduction of performance management elements in public administration (Špaček 2018). While the results of this performance-related eff ort still appear to be inconclusive, as suggest the conclusions of Plaček et al (2020) in their study examining the impact of the implementation of performance management tools into Czech public institutions, the use of advanced management practices could be observed even in hospital management (Krupička 2020). For example, Popesko et al (2015) illustrate the application of Activity-Based Costing in the Czech regional hospital and the benefi cial eff ect of this practice on the decision-making activity of hospital management.…”

Section: Issues Accompanying Performance Evaluation In Healthcarementioning

confidence: 95%

The Performance Management Design in Public Hospitals: A Case Study

Krupička

2021

NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy

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In response to the growing pressure on public budgets, many countries introduced various private-sector-inspired management practices to improve the performance of publicly funded health systems. Regardless, the non-negligible share of health-care spending is still considered wasteful, and the search for efficiency gains in healthcare is still relevant. The relevance even increases in the context of events related to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease in 2020, presenting new challenges for performance management in hospitals. Considering the gaps between the environmental settings of various countries, a finding of one universal theory of effective hospital management is unlikely. The contextual examination of hospital management on the national level and knowledge-sharing is then a more suitable approach to aid the practitioners in search of the most appropriate mix of management practices. This study employed a mixed methodological approach to examine individual aspects of performance management from the hospital management’s perspective to identify the areas of potential efficiency gains. The core research phase consisted of on-site visits in three public hospitals taking place since September 2019 with the respondents from various management levels and both clinicians and non-clinicians. During an approximately hour-long session the respondents were asked to fill out the questionnaire examining the aspects of the performance management system employed in their institution (e.g., the scope of measurement, reliability of data, communication of results, engagement of management) and interviewed to examine the rationale of provided responses. The on-site research stage resulted in 87 complete data sets further analyzed using statistical analysis with results interpreted using commentaries and rationales obtained from interviews. The findings were similar among all examined institutions and mostly consistent with similarly natured studies. While the performance measurement appeared to reflect the clinical performance better than the organizational one, it is also perceived as inadequate to the complexity of service. The management seemed to consider performance management for operational purposes rather than being incentive-oriented or exploratory, in line with the perceived lack of connection between the performance measurement and the organizational strategy. Combined with poor communication of performance management principles, this discrepancy appears to contribute to the potential tension between the hospital and clinical management in setting priorities between the economic performance and the quality of care. Overall, these findings should provide insight into aspects influencing performance management employed in public hospitals in the Czech Republic and present the evidence for the discussion of potential efficiency gains in practice.

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Section: Issues Accompanying Performance Evaluation In Healthcarementioning

confidence: 95%

The Performance Management Design in Public Hospitals: A Case Study

Krupička

2021

NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy

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“…Another difference lies in the selection output and input indicators. The studies (Plaček et al, 2019(Plaček et al, , 2020b tried to work with an indicator describing the quality of life on the output side. Our approach was different as we expected that the efficiency itself is positively associated with the quality of life.…”

Section: Efficiency Policy Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Our article builds upon our previous research (Plaček et al, 2019(Plaček et al, , 2020b which analyzed the association between performance measurement, excellence awards, and local government efficiency. Our conclusions were rather skeptical regarding the association between excellence and efficiency.

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confidence: 99%

The Influence of Excellence on Municipal Performance: Quasi-Experimental Evidence From the Czech Republic

et al. 2020

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This article examines the impact of excellence-promoting policies on the actual performance of municipalities in the Czech Republic. In this analysis, the performance of municipalities that have received awards for the use of quality management tools is compared with a selected group of municipalities that did not receive awards. Data envelopment analysis (DEA; with constant and variable returns on the scale), free disposal hull (FDH), and Order-M methods were utilized to represent performance. For the actual performance comparison, a quasi-experimental design was used. The analysis of outputs using the difference impact method found that this specific public policy did not have a positive impact on the efficiency of municipalities. If the difference-in-differences method is used, the opposite is achieved. However, the technical efficiency gains are very small. The use of the quasi-experimental design along with the determination of inputs and outputs which are characteristic of the Czech Republic also offers a contribution when this method is being applied to the assessment of institutions in the form of local governments.

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“…A similarly precarious relationship between stewardship and administrative capacity is likewise suggested by recent investigations into the capacity of local governments in the Czech Republic to implement new managerial tools or policies. Several studies have found the e ciency of local governments to remain unaffected by the adoption of management tools supported by funds from the EU such as benchmarking, CAF, ISO, and national excellence policy (Plaček et al, 2020c;Plaček et al, 2020d). The authors take these ndings to be indicative of a number of administrative problems, including a predominantly ceremonial and formalistic approach to the implementation of public policies, and purely Loading [MathJax]/jax/output/CommonHTML/fonts/TeX/fontdata.js verbal commitment to reforms on the part of local policy makers (ibid).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stewardship and administrative capacity in green public procurement in the Czech Republic: evidence from a large-N survey

Plaček

Valentinov

Campo

et al. 2021

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Background The uptake of green public procurement in the Czech Republic is known to lag behind the European standards. We trace this condition back to the adverse effects of a specific type of decision-making tradeoff faced by the Czech public procurement officials, namely the tradeoff between stewardship and administrative compliance. The tradeoff means that public procurers are aware of, and seek to forestall, administrative risks and complications attendant on the conscientious non-perfunctory implementation of green public procurement. Results The overall result is that public procurers ultimately come to prioritize the contract criterion of the lowest price over ecological criteria. The existence of the tradeoff has been generally confirmed by the results of a unique large-N survey of more than 1,100 respondents from a group of local public officials and mayors in the Czech Republic. Conclusion We have found that the decision-making of Czech public procurers is affected by the tradeoff between stewardship and administrative compliance, which turn out to be mutually conflicting goals. On the one hand, many public procurers do possess stewardship motivation that shapes their positive attitude to GPP. On the other, they are painfully aware of, and seek to forestall, administrative risks and complications attendant on the conscientious, i.e., non-perfunctory, implementation of GPP.

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Do performance management schemes deliver results in the public sector? Observations from the Czech Republic

Cited by 19 publications

References 38 publications

The Performance Management Design in Public Hospitals: A Case Study

The Performance Management Design in Public Hospitals: A Case Study

The Influence of Excellence on Municipal Performance: Quasi-Experimental Evidence From the Czech Republic

Stewardship and administrative capacity in green public procurement in the Czech Republic: evidence from a large-N survey

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