Reassessing and Reconciling Reinvention in the American States: Exploring State Administrative Performance

Revisiting Administrative Reform in the American States: The Status of Reinventing Government During the 1990s

“…Based on the strengths as well as the differences of the two approaches, the Spearman rank-order correlation between the GPP state scores for 1998 and the ASAP state reinvention scales for the same year is .45 (statistically significant at p < .01). As anticipated, the association is positive, healthy, though not overpowering (Burke and Wright 2002). One would also expect the GPP scores for 1998 to bear a much less substantial correlation to the ASAP reinvention measures taken four years earlier.…”

“…In published research, Burke and Wright (2002) make this case. As table 1 shows, the 11 ASAP reinvention items tap the presence (or absence) of such recommended performance strategies as strategic planning to produce clear mission statements, training programs to improve customer service, quality improvement programs to empower employees, reduction in hierarchical levels, benchmarks for measuring outcomes, systems for measuring customer satisfaction, and so forth.…”

“…This expectation is likewise confirmed. The Spearman rank-order correlation between the GPP (1998) and the 1994 ASAP reinvention scales is reduced to .20 (Burke and Wright 2002). Thus, the ASAP state reinvention scales seem to pass this important validation test.…”

“…In contrast to the GPP, the ASAP employs a "bottom-up" approach to administrative performance. It gathers the desired information through a mail survey (with three follow-ups) of a large sample of predominantly line-agency heads in the states who responded to the 11 items tapping the adoption of specific organizational "reinventions" (Burke and Wright 2002). Despite some overlap, the GPP examines centralized, coordinated, executive-based staff controls and information tools as a means of improving management performance in state governments.…”

“…Despite some overlap, the GPP examines centralized, coordinated, executive-based staff controls and information tools as a means of improving management performance in state governments. The ASAP research strategy relies on numerous and predominantly line-agency heads to indicate the extent to which their agency has adopted various and specific proposals recommended in the reinvention literature to enhance performance (Burke and Wright 2002). In sum, the GPP and ASAP research efforts represent contrasting approaches to state-level administrative performance.…”