Embedding Australian Public Service management reforms: The Secretary could not make it so. Issue 2 (8th April 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Graves, Peter Wayne; Blackman, Deborah; O'Donnell, Michael
• Is Part Of: Australian journal of public administration. Volume 80:Issue 2(2021)
• Page Start: 163
• Page End: 178
• Publication Date: 2021-04-08
• Subjects: embedding change -- extended time -- public sector reform -- qualitative case study; Public administration -- Australia -- Periodicals; Policy sciences -- Australia -- Periodicals; Australia -- Politics and government -- Periodicals; 351.9405
• DOI: 10.1111/1467-8500.12477
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0313-6647

Abstract

Abstract: Public sector leaders in the Australian Public Service (APS) can learn from the demise of programme evaluation introduced as part of managing for results reforms, as they implement the evaluation of agency performance outcomes under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act (2013) (PGPA). This paper demonstrates that public sector management reforms require more than top‐down initiation by agency heads and that implementation needs to occur over an extended time frame. Although there has been increased communication of APS agencies' purpose in annual reports, as required by the PGPA Act (2013), ambiguity continues in relation to how planned performance aligns with performance outcomes. The potential for inertia and resistance to management reforms from middle managers and employees may also re‐emerge where there is insufficient training to develop their skills to conduct performance evaluations; skills shortages and inertia from middle managers and employees may also be more evident in geographically dispersed APS offices. To increase the potential for performance reporting and evaluation reforms to be embedded, central agency and agency public sector leaders need to work together to reinforce the value of these reforms, particularly where government ministers or governments change. Abstract : This paper considers the lessons that can be learned from the limitations of programme evaluation management reforms introduced in the 1980s and 1990s, as public sector leaders report against performance outcomes under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability (PGPA) Act (2013). The PGPA Act seeks to increase the 'line of sight' between policy goals developed by agencies, financial expenditures, and the reporting and evaluation of performance outcomes to Parliament in agency annual reports. We make use of Fernandez and Rainey's framework for examining organisational change in the public sector and qualitative interviews with a range of stakeholders from central and line agencies, to facilitate analysis of programme evaluation and highlight that embedding performance reporting and evaluation reforms under the PGPA requires more than support from public sector leaders. Additional leadership and support for performance reporting is required among other senior and middle management levels of agencies to overcome the potential for inertia and resistance to both performance reporting and the implementation of performance report recommendations. Additional training and development is required across the Australian Public Service (APS) in performance evaluation, particularly in regional offices of APS agencies, along with further investments in information technology and human resource management systems.