Performance Measurement and Reporting Critique 6

Performance Measurement and Reporting Critique 6

For this class we read two articles: Improvements in City Government Performance Reporting by Ken Smith and Lee Schiffel, and Is Public Performance .Reporting Living up to it's Expectations? by Alicia Schatteman. Both articles had a common theme of questioning not only the use of performance management and measurement, but also the initiative of reporting findings.

It appears that high quality performance measurement reporting is not occurring throughout our country. In fact, very few cities are providing their communities with reports on their town's progress.

Considering the values of performance measurement and reporting the question to be asked is why? Performance reporting is no longer a new fad. In fact it was in the "early 1900s, when public administrators began thinking about how they could not only measure their performance for internal purposes to improve efficiency and effectiveness but also how they could report their performance to citizens," (Schatteman 14).

Performance Reference Model of the Federal Enterpr...

Citizenship

Market-mix models

In that light performance measurement and reporting is 100 years old. It is a mature and trusted tool, utilized to ensure successful progress and longevity. The value and benefits to reporting performance to the community is truly countless so why is it then that city reporting is so low? What is the challenge here? Even with preparing and sharing performance reports, "city reporting is at the same low level as state reporting with only 1% of reports at the GOLD level," according to Smith and Schiffel. The time has come for that to change.

It is obvious that the government has not caught up with today's citizen. With advanced technology and education citizens are well educated and smart. They will no longer be satisfied with second-rate reports. Today is the time to advance this. The public sector is dependent upon the citizen's voice. It...