Productivity Analysis: A Search for Definition and Order

Burkhead, Jesse; Hennigan, Patrick J.

doi:10.2307/975408

Cited by 20 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…This study of the Ghana district assemblies forms part of a cross-national comparative research project aimed specifically at exploring the connection, if any, between democratic decentralization and changes in institutional perf~rmance.~ The concept of performance in relation to a public body such as a local government authority is widely acknowledged to be multidimensional and difficult to measure (Burkhead and Hannigan, 1978;Harmon and Mayer, 1986;Robbins, 1990). At the very least it involves relating outputs (in so far as these can be identified) to objectives, the total resources available, costs, the general environment of the organization, internal organizational factors, the impact or quality of the outputs and 'social states' or the question of 'who benefits' and what values are served (Burkhead and Hannigan, 1978). For analytical purposes the concept may therefore be broken down into the related subcategories of efficiency, effectiveness, responsiveness and process (Harmon and Meyer, 1986).…”

Section: Democratization Decentralization and The Assessment Of Perfmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Efficiency normally refers to the search for the optimum ratio of inputs or costs to outputs and is a form of productivity measure (Israel, 1987, p. 12;Likierman, 1988, p. 91). Even within the context of the highly developed public bureaucracies of the industrial world, it is fraught with technical difficulties including the establishment of production functions and the existence of multiple 'reciprocal externalities', and was therefore excluded from this study (Burkhead and Hannigan, 1978).…”

Section: Democratization Decentralization and The Assessment Of Perfmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Four years of the Ghana district assemblies in operation: Decentralization, democratization and administrative performance

Crook

1994

Public Admin & Development

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Ghana's District Assemblies were created in 1989 as ‘integrated’ decentralised authorities, combining oversight of deconcentrated line Ministries with the revenue powers and functions of devolved democratic local government. The frequently invoked but little studied relationships among democratisation, decentralisation and changes in the performance of government institutions are analysed on the basis of two case‐study Districts, defining performance as output effectiveness, responsiveness and process acceptability. Although development output did increase after democratisation, it remained inadequate and did not show any significantly closer responsiveness to popular needs. This was mainly because local accountability was undermined by continuing central control over staffing and finances, the clash with national policies of retrenchment and the continued power of central government agents. The communal, non‐party basis of representation also had a perverse effect on the ability of elected representatives to enhance the legitimacy of local taxation, particularly as the system embodied an unresolved contradiction between notions of community based self‐help and representative district government. One of the lessons of the Ghanaian experience is that genuine local autonomy in an agreed area‐the basic condition for effective accountability‐is better based on more modest, local‐level authorities, leaving larger, expensive functions as well as supervision of a deconcentrated civil service to more powerful regional administrations.

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Section: Democratization Decentralization and The Assessment Of Perfmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Democratization Decentralization and The Assessment Of Perfmentioning

confidence: 99%

Four years of the Ghana district assemblies in operation: Decentralization, democratization and administrative performance

Crook

1994

Public Admin & Development

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“…This systems analysis approach, which has been conceptualised from inputs towards outcomes in the public sector, has further been extended by Burkhead and Hennigan [15]. The authors have picked the environmental cleaning service rendered by local administrations and, moving thereon, made an assessment of the system implemented by the relevant department by further splitting it up to five basic factors.…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Accordingly, the outcomes of incremental growth in the environmental vector, for instance, may take the form of more municipal waste and garbage collected in response to dirtier streets. Therefore, albeit a productivity increase in public services, the efficiency of these services may have degraded drastically [15].…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Approaches in Public Budgeting

İpek¹

2019

Public Economics and Finance

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This study intends to evaluate the contributions of new budgetary approaches classified as (i) environment-friendly budgetary approach, (ii) citizen-centred budgetary approach, (iii) citizen's budget approach, (iv) participatory budget approach and (v) gender-responsive budgeting approach, to contemporary budgetary system implementations. Although emphasis is placed on establishing a relationship between costs and intentional outcomes when explaining performance within the sphere of contemporary budgetary system implementations, new budgetary approaches facilitate interpretation of performance on the basis of costs versus intended impacts. From this standpoint, the common and most significant merit of new budgetary approaches is that they serve for assuring accountability on the economic and social externalities created with the public budget, for not only the citizens that actively participate in the financing of public activities but also those who benefit from the services thus delivered.

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“…A common feature of many of these efforts is the objective of utilizing personnel in a more cost-efficient manner (Burkhead and Hennigan, 1978). From the standpoint of definition, the term &dquo;productivity&dquo; implies that individuals are engaging in a worthwhile process, generating a product or service of certain value.…”

Section: Productivity Improvement Programmentioning

confidence: 99%

Personnel-Related Management Tools in Municipal Administration

McGowan¹,

Poister

1983

Review of Public Personnel Administration

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For public organizations, municipalities in particular, the issue of personnel costs has taken on more significance as administrators are faced with diminishing sources of revenue and an overall loss in purchasing power. Public managers must therefore face the challenge of this new era of government and develop appropriate strategies for effectively utilizing their human resources. One such set of strategies is the use of formal management tools.Chief administrative officers of 456 municipalities responded to a nationwide survey on such issues as the use and perceived effectiveness of four management tools: MBO, productivity improvement programs, incentive systems, and productivity bargaining. The influences of professionalism and fiscal status were also tested.The findings indicate that the use of these techniques have increased markedly in the last six years. MBO and productivity improvement programs were reportedly used by a clear majority of cities; and those tools that are used city-wide tend to be perceived as more effective.

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Productivity Analysis: A Search for Definition and Order

Cited by 20 publications

References 8 publications

Four years of the Ghana district assemblies in operation: Decentralization, democratization and administrative performance

Four years of the Ghana district assemblies in operation: Decentralization, democratization and administrative performance

New Approaches in Public Budgeting

Personnel-Related Management Tools in Municipal Administration

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